To take someone else's antibiotics

[Thefthepain]

Not sure what to do.
Have two issues that may or may not be related.

Lump in my neck. Had bloods done and referral to maxillofacial specialist. Suspected cyst. Waiting on ultrasound.

Blood results came back. Mostly fine and proclaimed uninteresting by my GP but she did say they showed signs of a slight infection but wouldn't prescribe antibiotics yet as I was asymptomatic. Wanted to wait and get bloods repeated in a month to see if settled down.

Possibly unrelated?? Had a tooth filled beginning of March, dentist said filling might not be enough; may need root canal. Same side as my neck lump but neck lump came up first. So seemingly two unrelated issues?

Have been in pain for weeks. Definitely tooth. Clearly need root canal on that tooth. Not sure if pain is a combination of tooth and neck or just tooth? Can't be sure due to close proximity. Also assuming it's unfortunate timing but both issues are unrelated? Taking maximum amounts of paracetamol and ibuprofen daily. Did also have a phone consultation with dentist who wasn't much help and advised to just keep up with pain killers. He wouldn't prescribe antibiotics at that point either.

I'm fucking fed up. My bloods showed slight sign of infection. I'm in bloody agony. And I don't know what to do.

A relative was prescribed a 7 day course of amoxicillin 500mg for a tooth infection a month or two ago but never used them in the end. Would I be totally unreasonable to just take them?

Morning update for you all. Phoned the dentist who has prescribed 500mg Amoxicillin (exactly the same as what my relative gave me) but dentist has given me a 5 day course and my relative had a 7 day course.

I'd take the 7 day course then, you may as well.

Get some corsodyl as well

Well thank goodness for that! Think Corsodyl is a good idea as well or listerine 6 way protection too

If wa a rash. Chill out. They would have been the antibiotics prescribed to me anyway. And I would have had the same reaction and would have then been prescribed erythromycin. So the only issue is that they were out of date. If I hadn’t taken them I could have ended up with sepsis - there were potentially bad consequences either way.. Who knows what would have happened. Ime prescribing of medicine is quite a lot if guesswork and trial and error and I often do a better job than my doctor in understanding what is wrong with me and researching how to fix it. So I took a calculated risk when I had verv few options as no one would help me. And if in the same poison I would do it again. And I am not contributing to antibiotic resistance don’t be so over dramatic. . I always finish my courses of antibiotics and rarely take them anyway as I don’t take any medication unless necessary and I avoid antibiotics due to the effect on gut bacteria and therefore overall health. This was one incidence when I was out of options. So get back in your box. I am very happy with my decision. May not be the one you would make and that is up to you. Personally I think if you would spend your entire Christmas in severe pain and risk sepsis when you have antibiotics in your pocket you are an idiot. But we all have our own opinion.

Check the dates on the 7 days. If in date Id take the 7 day course.

Have you seen maxfacs yet?

Wondering if the lump is related to the tooth if its on the same side.

I am on my second course of antibiotics for an abcess and they were prescribed over the phone. My DF was give the same.

Try ringing 111 for emergency dental pain after your dentist closes. I was given a case number and the number for the emergency dental surgery.

I am in Wales so it may be different in your area.

@UncleFoster yes, saw the specialist a couple of weeks ago who thought the neck lump was a nothing to worry about cyst and referred me for an ultrasound which I had yesterday. Seems the tooth is unrelated to the lump which came up long before the tooth. The Doctor who did the ultrasound said yesterday that the lump is about 1cm and definitely nothing to worry about, more than likely a developmental lesion that can get inflamed sometimes especially during bouts of illness.

This thread is shocking (not you particularly, OP). Borrow half finished courses of antibiotics, take a couple of your partners, order some online...

If you're in pain then try them

They aren’t pain killers.

O/p has already seen a HCP, you know, one of those with all the medical training, who has said antibiotics aren’t indicated. For actual proper medical reasons following actual medical protocols.

So why does everyone think they should do exactly what isn’t medically advised. Do they know better?

If o/p isn’t improving or getting worse she should seek further advice.

Do you think Trump taking hydroxychloroquine is a good idea? Against all clinicians advice, and when it’s been shown to worsen cv outcome? Same principle...

@theneighbourswindchime

There's quite a few massive problems

1. You'll become antibiotic resistant. This is the most harmful. (Except taking medication that you're allergic too. Which results in an anaphylactic response). Drs have over prescribed antibiotics for years. Meaning our bodies are getting used to them. In turn that means that eventually (and we aren't far off). Our bodies will produce the resistance. Which means that any infection. Easily treatable infection. Will kill us. The antibiotics that could of been used will be ineffective

1. You could be allergic to them. That means you could have a reaction you didn't know about

Meaning our bodies are getting used to them. In turn that means that eventually (and we aren't far off). Our bodies will produce the resistance

No, it isn’t us that becomes resistant, it’s the bacteria. Once a bacteria becomes resistant anyone who catches it will then also have a resistant infection, whether they’ve been exposed to that antibiotic or not.

For example MRSA- methycillin resistant staph aureus. It’s that strain of staph that is resistant, not the person.