# Missed 5th and final day of antibiotic **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 25, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717 "2015-10-25T13:59:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/1 "2015-10-25T13:59:11Z")
I went to the doc on Tuesday for a bad cough. She prescribed the cough medicine that I was seeking plus a Z Pack. I took the initial 2 pills on Tuesday, and then 1 per day through Friday. Yesterday was supposed to be the last day, but I forgot. I feel fine and don’t think I needed an antibiotic anyway. Should I take the last pill today or just skip it? I know we’re not supposed to ask for medical advice but I thought that there might be a standard for this scenario. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/2 "2015-10-25T14:14:45Z")
Take the pill. Not taking the full course is one of the main reasons we have so many antibiotic resistant bacteria now. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/3 "2015-10-25T14:29:43Z")
I am not a doctor, I don’t play one on TV, and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I concur with **running coach**. Mainly because that’s what a doctor told me to do a long time ago in the same situation. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/4 "2015-10-25T14:55:30Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I know we’re not supposed to ask for medical advice but I thought that there might be a standard for this scenario. Did the medication come with dosage instructions? They often cover this scenario. I think the standard advice is to ask your doctor or pharmacist. IMHO, pharmacists are a way under-utilized and under-appreciated resource. They know so much about medications, and have access to data to do research. If it were me, I’d probably take the final pill. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/5 "2015-10-25T16:16:31Z")
What I tell my patients in this situation: Just take the last dose, if it’s less than 48 hours late. Otherwise, forget it and let me know if you get worse. What I think in these situations: Most Z-paks don’t help anyway, since most of them are prescribed for situations that aren’t caused by a bacterial infection. But failure to use the medicine right in a situation where it’s needed can be deadly. What I also think in these situations: The science behind how long people need to be on antibiotics for adequate treatment of a bacterial infection isn’t all that good either, so most recommendations err on the side of caution and give it longer than necessary. What I’m thinking right now: 90% of medicine seems to involve reassuring the worried well or those who will get better no matter what we do. Also, I wonder if there is any strawberry rhubarb pie left in the fridge. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/6 "2015-10-25T17:24:21Z")
Thanks! Since it’s only 24 hours late, I’ll take it. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2015, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/7 "2015-10-25T18:14:08Z")
I was going to recommend taking it too. This medicine stays in your body anyway for several days after you finish, so you’ll be fine. ---
**Author:** ![amaguri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@amaguri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amaguri)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/8 "2015-10-27T16:03:02Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > What I’m thinking right now: 90% of medicine seems to involve reassuring the worried well or those who will get better no matter what we do. Also, I wonder if there is any strawberry rhubarb pie left in the fridge. Slight derail- how does one determine when to actually go to the doctor? I tend to agree that there’s often not much anyone can do other than wait, so it takes a lot for me to actually make an appointment, but my friends give me a hard time for playing so recklessly with my health :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/9 "2015-10-27T16:11:02Z")
> [@amaguri](#): > > Slight derail- how does one determine when to actually go to the doctor? I tend to agree that there’s often not much anyone can do other than wait, so it takes a lot for me to actually make an appointment, but my friends give me a hard time for playing so recklessly with my health :rolleyes: How old are you? And what’s it for? Like, I never ever go to the doctor for a cold or a cough and I don’t really get why people do. My SO does, because he gets cough syrup with codeine, which I think is the devil’s brew anyway (gives me terrible nightmares). But I do go to specialists a great deal more than I did in my twenties. I tend to go for “spot checking” - I rarely see my primary care unless I don’t know or have any idea what is wrong with me but I go to a specialist for a specific problem. Allergists, dermatologists, and recently, a plastic surgeon to remove a mole. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/10 "2015-10-28T04:51:50Z")
> [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](#): > > I went to the doc on Tuesday for a bad cough. She prescribed the cough medicine that I was seeking plus a Z Pack. I took the initial 2 pills on Tuesday, and then 1 per day through Friday. Yesterday was supposed to be the last day, but I forgot. I feel fine and don’t think I needed an antibiotic anyway. Should I take the last pill today or just skip it? > > I know we’re not supposed to ask for medical advice but I thought that there might be a standard for this scenario. For a bad cough? It was probably a virus. You probably shouldn’t have taken the first day, let alone the last. Ahem. Assuming it was a bacterial bronchitis or pneumonia, you should take the antibiotics until you are well, then stop. The idea that you should take “a complete course” of antibiotics was always BS, based on the idea that you only got antibiotics when you were SICK, and had something BAD that you weren’t going to spontaniously get better from in a week anyway, and antibiotics were so RARE and EXPENSIVE and even dangerous, that your doctor had already specified the minimum safe duration that you could get away with. If, on the other hand, your doctor hands them out like candy, the shorter the course the better. And there is a standard answer: I’ve just paraphrased the position paper I read 6 months ago. But it’s not the only standard answer. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2015, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/missed-5th-and-final-day-of-antibiotic/735717/11 "2015-10-29T02:00:14Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > How old are you? And what’s it for? Like, I never ever go to the doctor for a cold or a cough and I don’t really get why people do. Same here. I grew up with a doctor in the family (my dad), who’d always say that a cold just needs to run its course. Once in a while even now I’ll ask him if I’ve had a cold that’s lasted for what feels like forever if I should do anything, and he’ll inevitably say no (after asking or looking at me to make sure it’s not some kind of bacterial infection) and that I just need to let it run its course.