About 11 days ago I came down with a case of conjunctivitis bad enough that the swelling from my lower lid on up to my eyebrow caused people to do double-takes and prevented my eye from staying open.
10 days later the antibiotics are done and it’s mostly gone but there are still a couple spots on the outer lids and inside the lower eyelid that they decided to start me on a different antibiotic.
The stuff prescribed for the second round is called Clindamycin, and I’m supposed to take it every 6 hours. I have questions. I should have asked then, but I didn’t think to, so I’m hoping someone can wander by and answer them:
[ul]
[li]Do I really have to set an alarm for 2 in the morning to maintain the every 6 hour schedule?[/li]
[li]The directions say to take it with a large glass of water. Can it be taken with milk, soda, or juice, or does it have to be water only?[/li]
[li]What if I were drinking something other than water before I take it? How soon can I drink something other than water after taking it with water?[/li]
[li]Just how much is a “large glass” of water when it’s in ounces?[/li][/ul]
One would think that any other product which is overwhelmingly water would have the same result. And consequently it wouldn’t matter what else you drink before or after you took the medicine–the goal is simply to prevent irritation of the esophagus when you are taking the medicine.
The above site states every 6 hours.
But for penicillin I see the following answer:
Since you don’t have a life-threatening situation you can probably get away with taking it 4 times spread out during waking hours.
I generally just tell my patients to take it 3 times a day when I prescribe it for them. Or for 4x/day stuff I generally tell 'em to take it breakfast, lunch, dinner, bedtime. My sources indicate 3x/day is adequate for all but severe infections.
Frankly, if it’s going to work, it’ll work with that dosing regimen.
I also tell 'em to take some active culture yogurt while they’re on it to reduce the risk of C. Difficile diarrhea hitting.
Did they do a culture? What were you taking before? I’m surprised they didn’t just keep you on it, unless a culture revealed that clindamycin would hit it better.
Qadgop is right - breakfast, lunch, supper, and bedtime. No need to wake up in the middle of the night to take it, and eat yogurt with live cultures or take a probiotic to prevent diarrhea. (or do both, if you’re so inclined) Taking it with a full glass of water ensures that it was washed down and won’t dissolve in your esophagus and irritate it.
Also, if you are a woman, BOLO for vaginal yeast infections. I got an awful one when I was on it years ago for a dental infection.
C.diff damn near killed my dad in the short term, and made his life a bedridden misery for its last 4 years. I *know *I don’t want it.
I have some Dannon Light & Fit which has L. acidophilus in it. Only 4 though. I may check the CVS nearby to see if they have probiotics. Suggestions on how many yogurts or how much probiotic to take in a day?
Thanks, Qadgop. I appreciate the advice. The infection is certainly not severe (any more), so I think I’ll do the 3x for today (this was the first day) and call the clinic tomorrow to confirm that’s okay.
No, nearwildheaven, there was no culture. I’m not even sure how they’d get one, since it seems to have started out as (and ended up at) styes. I don’t want people poking in my eyeballs if I can avoid it. I don’t know why they changed the prescription. The 10-day course of Augmentim almost knocked it out, so I’d have thought a few more days would have finished the job, but I’m not a doctor. There may be reasons I wot not of.
I *am *female, and I have a couple tubes of generic Monistat ointment that can be smeared in the appropriate places. Already being applied, actually, during the first 10 day course.
I did not know that. But then, I’m not certain they could do that sort of thing at a walk-in clinic, and for current event reasons, styes aren’t considered emergencies so it’s unlikely they’d have sent me somewhere that could.
My suspicion is that they decided that since it’s a stye and it hasn’t gone away after 10 days of one drug, they’d try a different one. And I’m not about to walk into a hospital emergency room right now.
As hoped, the doctor said I could take it 3x a day at equally spaced intervals, which is what **Qadgop **suggested. Actually, they said every 8 hours, but that works out to 8 a.m., 4 p.m., and midnight, so I suspect it’ll be 8 a.m., 4 p.m., and right before bed. And any liquid will do as long as it’s about 8 ounces (or more).
I just finished a round of that for a tooth problem. But I was told to take it just twice a day, preferably 12 hours apart. Which I did, and it seemed to work fine.