To think antibiotics should be helping by now?

[SinkGirl]

I am not very familiar with anitibiotics and haven’t been on any for years - last time was severe cholecystitis and pancreatitis but I was hospitalised and they were very strong.

I’ve been really unwell with a nasty cough for a couple of weeks but went very downhill over Easter weekend - thick heavy mucus in my sinuses and chest, wheezing, crackling in lungs, fevers, headaches, awful fatigue

Saw my doctor on Tuesday - she said it’s a lung infection and gave me amoxicillin. She said the cough could last weeks but the fatigue, temps etc should improve after 2-3 days. I still feel absolutely awful, I’m so weak I nearly passed out from dropping the kids at nursery yesterday (DH drove, I literally just walked in and out of the building!). I feel so weak and my temperature is all over the place.

Is this right? I don’t want to waste the doctors time, just not sure whether I should be more improved by now.

I had exactly this a month or so ago. If you search my username you might find the post I made about it. Lasted 3 weeks and I was given 5 days of amoxicillin, then five days co amoxiclav, then finally ten days of clarithromycin. I had blood tests, sputum sample taken and a chest xray. I was the illest I'd ever been in my life. In the end they did the chest xray as they thought it might be pneumonia (by this stage I'd already had the first two courses of antibiotics). I had the crackling in my lungs and my temp was very high, I was shivering and felt like you described, I got through in a bit of a daze. My pulse was very high, 100 at lowest while resting. I was taking ibuprofen and paracetamol maximum doses of both. I do think it was viral now looking back. My ds had a similar thing a couple weeks before me and his lasted two weeks. Funnily enough no one else in the house caught it though.
My advice to you would be, today, go to the docs and ask for blood test and chest xray. If it is pneumonia it can get very very serious very fast. I really really hope you are better soon. I got worse before I got better incidentally and so did ds.

Oh that sounds absolutely awful! I hope you’re okay now.

We’ve had so many bugs in the last few months (I reckon 8 or 9 since December) as the twins started nursery - I’ve taken them to the doctors a couple of times but I never go, even if I feel awful I’m usually okay within a week but this is just absolutely dreadful. Obviously it’s not as bad as when I had pancreatitis as I was in hospital on IVs for ten days then, but it’s a close second!

I still feel so feverish but weirdly it doesn’t always coincide with an actual raise in temp - I’ll be sweating and shivering and my temp is normal, it’s so odd.

I’ve called the surgery and they’re going to get the GP to give me a call as there are no appointments left. I would just leave it another day or two but these things always seem to worsen at weekends.

I was really worried the doctor was going to send me to hospital on Tuesday because I was so ill by the time I got there - I really should have seen someone over the bank holiday.

The boys both had the bug but recovered, DH is on day 8 but getting better not worse. Whatever it is, it’s awful!

Are you taking regular pain relief?

Poor you OP. Unfortunately, lots of people are finding antibiotics don’t work as the bacteria have developed resistance. We are heading for a world where antibiotics will be useless.

See your GP, it’s likely that there will be something that works for you. I hope you feel better soon.

OP go get yourself to hospital and ask for a chest x ray. I've had pneumonia and it sounds just like that! Feel better soon.

Thanks everyone. Right now I don’t feel as shocking as I did during the night so will see what the doctor says when she calls - if I get worse I’m just going to go to hospital I think. As you say, it can be very serious very quickly

I always thought that if I don’t take antibiotics unless strictly necessary then they’d work when I need them, but I guess if lots of other people are taking them too often then the effect is the same on the bacteria themselves (not even sure if that makes sense, I’m a mess mentally!).

So do antibiotics usually work this quickly if they’re going to?

I’m taking Sudafed sinus pressure and pain (pseudoephedrine and ibuprofen) which is much more effective Than what I was taking - i got it when I got the antibiotics and as soon as I took one of each the sinus pressure improved and there was less gunk, so I think that’s more responsible for that improvement than the antibiotics

I’m taking paracetamol too so I guess those may be keeping the temp down

From experience when starting antibiotics you usually start improving after 48 hours or so.

Hope you feel better soon

Yes it’s the bacteria that becomes resistant not the patient. You say you went to the GP Tuesday but when did you take the first dose? You should see some sign of improvement by 48hrs-72hrs. Which would be today at some point if your first dose was on Tuesday, though I understand your point about the weekend when it will be more difficult to see someone if there has been no improvement. It could be taking time to work or you might need a longer course and/or different antibiotic but, have you just not improved or have you actually got worse since starting the amoxicillin? Any additional pains/aches? If so it’s important that you point that out to the GP. This happened to me a few years ago, I’d developed an allergic reaction to penicillin and contracted SJS. Its rare but does happen and worth telling the GP if you’re feeling worse rather than just not feeling better IYSWIM.

Always go back to your GP if you're seeing NO improvement in symptoms after 48hrs 72hr maximum of taking antibiotics. Hope you're better soon.

I took the first dose Tuesday lunch time so this morning’s dose makes three full days worth.

I definitely don’t feel worse than I did when I started them, and no sign of a bad reaction to them fortunately (I have other severe allergies to some foods and one drug so know what to look out for). I just don’t feel like much has changed since I started them. The congestion does seem better but if I don’t take the Sudafed regularly it immediately gets worse so I think that’s the reason for that - there’s less gunk but the taste of it is even more disgusting (not envy!)

GP called and has advised me to give it the rest of the day, call again if I actually get worse and seek attention right away if things worsen over the weekend. She said I might just not be resting enough (I have twin toddlers with ASD so resting isn’t really a thing I can do much of!). Luckily DH is on annual leave this week so I’m going to go for a lie down and see how I am this afternoon.

I got the same advice op, ridiculous really, drink plenty (ok that's fine) and rest - just not possible with three 6 and under. Just doing the school run felt like it was going to kill me and then the days at home looking after a toddler were hard. Dh works long hours and was based far away at the time so he wasn't home till very late and away early. If you've had it for two weeks and it's nothing underlying then it's likely you'll start picking up in a few days, I hope that's the case!

Thanks Bobster. Oh you poor thing, I have no idea how you managed to Mum in this state - I can’t Mum at all right now, although DH seems to think I can just push on and get on with my usual chores. We’d planned to get lots of work done on the house this week but we’ve both been unwell so I know he’s a bit annoyed (as am I) that we haven’t achieved much.

I think if the antibiotics weren’t working at all I would have worsened but I seem to be stuck not getting better or worse. Will see how I get on today.

I did bare minimum to be honest, the kids could see I wasn't at my best so behaved a bit better I think, I felt like I could curl up on the floor and sleep (actually honestly thought I was dying) I figured that sleeping on my side was better as if I slept on my back I woke up in the night feeling like I couldn't breathe and had to sit up and cough for five minutes to clear my lung. I've still got a mucus cough now to be honest, but only now and then. You might have a miraculous recovery yet as you're on your third day of meds, you never know!

How are you feeling OP?

Thanks for asking :)

I am better than I was but still struggling - I will have a few hours where I feel a bit better and then I’m hit with a feeling like my blood pressure is low or something. Very odd. Think I’m on the mend though, it’s just taking a while!

Are you any better today op?

Yes thank you - still feeling quite weird if I overdo it, but think I’m just taking a while to recovery, nothing like as bad as it was luckily!

That's great, take it easy!