Clarithromcyin, woe is me

[Thinkle]

Just that really.
Could this be worse than the actual illness? This stuff is beyond disgusting. Read the leaflet and read the nhs website and the common side effects are really awful let alone the less common ones.
Please join me in self pity if you are in this to..
I’ve only had two doses but I already have the most disgusting taste in my mouth that woke me up throughout the night, and pain around my middle like someone is pulling a band tight around me. I need to eat to take ibuprofen for my actual illness but the thought of eating makes me shudder.

Hadn’t thought of gaviscon for the stomach so thanks for that @Thinkle

Last night was awful I’d read on Google that anxiety and hallucinations were a side effect but I didn’t expect it to be like that. I don’t really suffer from anxiety so it was a very bizarre feeling for me, I started to think DH wasn’t real and that I was imagining him. I didn’t sleep until 5!

It’s annoying because I can already feel the tablets really working even after two doses. I’ll have to try and persist.

I've just been prescribed these, any gross tablet, I get a chewy sweet, like a chewit, kinda roll it out flat and thin, wrap the tablet in it, then swallow. That way you dont taste it 🤣🤣

I'm allergic to penicillin, and it's now on my notes that I'm intolerant of erythromycin and clarythromycin as I was so ill after taking them. Clindamycin was the greatest joy (prescribed for pneumonia). I had the shits for around 7 weeks afterwards (the sort of shits that you didn't dare fart in public) and had to have a month long course of doxycycline to clear it up .......

I can't understand why people are so desperate to take antibiotics, I avoid them like the plague.

I had to take this a couple of weeks ago. You have my sympathy as I found it truly awful. Insomnia, hallucinations, vomiting and the most revolting taste... like I imagine uranium would taste.

I dreaded taking each dose, and was so relieved when the fourth dose came straight back up! I went to the GP in the morning and they switched me to Amoxicillin which was absolutely fine - no side effects at all.

Anyone really suffering, it's worth seeing your GP as lots of people react badly to this drug.

Took your advice @ignatiusjreilly - went to the GP today and said I’d had the worst hallucinations and delusions all night and I felt scared for my sanity. I’ve been prescribed something else thank goodness!!!

to all those braver than me who are soldiering on!

Took recently for an ear infection. The gp insisted on tablets despite the fact I can't swallow them. Luckily the pharmacist took pity on me and prescribed liquid instead as it would be too bitter to chew. Was still very bitter and gave me a daily headache. The ear infection is better but I still can't hear very well put of one ear

I'm so glad it helped, lotsofstripes!

Hope you get a better night's sleep tonight. The taste will soon be a distant memory!

Unfortunately if we don't work to solve antibiotic resistance we will only have the stronger ones left and they have nasty side effects.

Oh no my 3 yo was prescribed this today! She’s reluctant as it has that gross banana taste but I hope it’s not making her feel worse. The only other AB she’s had was amoxicillin and she came out in the most godawful rash so I was hoping this would be better.

I've just finished taking it for whooping cough, the taste is enough for me to never darken my GPs door again for being prescribed the awful stuff again.

I was on this recently and the only side effect I had was that everything tasted strange! So if you've been prescribed it and you're reading this and are scared to take it, be assured that not everyone has bad side effects! Those who do have my utmost sympathy, though - it's horrible to have to take something that makes you feel rotten!

My DD had to take this a couple of years ago after a mouth injury. It made her so sick that she ended up in hospital on a drip.

I’ve just had a course of this - Ciprofloxacin.

If anyone thinks Clarithromycin is bad - well, Ciprofloxacin is the next step after that if it doesn’t work for many people. It’s actually black listed in the USA and is prescribed for (amongst other things) Anthrax poisoning and the plague..! I had to take it for a very stubborn UTI. My GP warned me it can make your aorta combust and can split your tendons (Achilles etc). I have never felt as panic-y and utterly anxious as I did for the week taking them! Worse still the tendon thing doesn’t always show up until months afterwards!

Antibiotics are amazing things. I need to take daily long term ones (cefalexin) for recurrent utis because I have chronic autoimmune conditions but yes they are pretty scary things!!

Another one who is allergic to penicillin and gets prescribed clarithromycin. I don't find it as bad as erithromycin, which according to my gp strips your gut bacteria. It helps to take a probiotics, I've taken Bio-kult capsules with erithromycin and it really made a difference. The kids liquid version of clarithromycin is awful, I agree, white and gritty, really not easy to administer, that one. And no, I don't want antibiotics if I don't need them, but I'm asthmatic and get the odd chest infection.