To think I don’t really need these max strength antibiotics are

[Trevors]

Today I was prescribed antibiotics by GP for an infected ear piercing. I asked if there was any alternative to oral antibiotics (maybe antibiotic cream or similar) and dr said no.
When dispensing Pharmacist explained that it was a very high dose and so they would almost definitely have side effects- nausea, upset tummy, diarrhoea etc.
I checked the dosage and it’s normally between 250mg and 500mg four times a day. I’m on maximum 500mg. I’ve taken one dose so far and already have heartburn.
I’m not unwell with the infection, my ear lobe is badly swollen but no other symptoms. I know it needs sorting else it could make me very poorly but it seems like using a sledgehammer to crack an egg to put me on this level of meds. Wouldn’t a lower dose work? dh says I should just take them despite side effects (and I am also concerned about longer term harm to micro biome)

Don’t know where the ‘are’ came from!

Surely if a lower dose would work the GP would have prescribed that? You wouldn’t want the infection to spread.

Erm both your GP and pharmacist have advised you yet you’d prefer an opinion from a bunch of strangers on MN?

YABU.

Nb it’s not a legal requirement to take the meds, only you know how bad the infection is or could be.

Where did you get your medical degree?

Do nt be so selfish. If you do t finish them now, you will potentially cause a resistant strain and put everyone else at risk

Yes i know how you feel, been on 500mg Fluxacellin for a week now, its made me a lot more poorly than the infection i actually had BUT the infection in my leg has gone and today is the last day, GP advised pro biotic yogurts once i finish the course.

Bacteria is getting more resistant, so doses are having to getting stronger.

If they are flucloxacillin then they can give you really bad heartburn. That's normal for the drug, if you didn't need the strong dose your doctor wouldn't have given you it

You need to take them. It might seem OTT, but an infected ear piercing can quickly develop spreading cellulitis to the face or neck or otherwise. Even more important if it’s an infected cartilage piercing.

If it’s flucloxacillin the pharmacist might have been a tiny bit dramatic as that’s a completely standard antibiotic and in regular use for all kinds of skin infections.

Sepsis is not fun, so if your GP thinks you need antibiotics, I'd take them.

If it's fluclox then that's the standard dose for adults with skin infections.

You need to take the antibiotic orally because it will then circulate systemically through you and be sure to reach all the infected area. If you only take a cream, you will only kill the ones near the top; the ones lower down will develop resistance, and we'll end up with another antibiotic which is clinically useless.

Take the drugs and put up with the side effects, for everyone's sakes.

Go get probotics and some omeprazole

Maybe the pharmacist was being overly dramatic. But course I’m going to question it because there are ads on tv telling us not to take anti biotics. I never understand why they are advertising to patients because as has been pointed out, most patients don’t have a medical degree so how do people know whether they need them or not. Are doctors prescribing them when they’re not strictly necessary and patients should be wary of this?
I have personal experience of this as dd was very ill as a baby. A condition was suggested on assessment by junior dr in a&e, but dismissed by consultant. She was admitted and treated with IV anti biotics but failed to respond. Still they persisted with consultant’s diagnosis.
Days went by and she remained severely ill. After a week we begged for the original condition to be reconsidered. They agreed, gave her appropriate treatment and within a matter of hours she started to improve. Miraculously, she wasn’t left with heart or brain damage from the untreated condition. So I’m afraid I don’t blindly trust everyone with a medical degree now.

I always have to spread out my dose if I have anti-B's. I'm slightly underweight and get quite sick with standard doses of medication.

The rules of prescribing antibiotics are to only give them to people who seem to require them, and when you have a good idea of the type of pathogen involved. The patient then really needs to take them regularly in order to ensure they work properly and don't end up generating resistant strains.

In the situation you describe (which sounds scary), I would imagine they gave her an initial antibiotic which should have worked but didn't, presumably due to resistance. It takes several days to ascertain whether treatment is working sometimes, unfortunately. Also, the appropriate treatment may well have been the same antibiotic plus another one, or an alternative, less patient-friendly antibiotic; you haven't said.

In any case, you do need to take these properly or a) you will stay ill and b) you will generate resistant strains and render this antibiotic useless.

You potentially have an abscess there if the ear is badly swollen. You need a high dose because it’s hard for the body to get enough antibiotic into an abscess to fight the infection. If the antibiotics fail, the next step is to have an incision and drainage procedure where a cut is made and the pus drained out. Your doctor is being very sensible in prescribing the higher dose.

I’ve currently got an infection in a deep cut on my finger and was prescribed different but strong antibiotics - they do make me feel sick and tired headachey but I’m minimising it by spreading them out properly - taking with food not just a snack and drinking at least a pint of water within half an hour

What Darkstar said.

The other treatment was not an antibiotic at all, totally different disease which needed treating as soon as possible due to the very serious long term damage it can cause (as well as death of course). Her symptoms fitted the profile but were still dismissed by consultant. Luckily by the end of the first week he went on holiday and stand in consultant agreed to reconsider. If the original one hadn’t gone away, who knows what might have happened to dd.
It made me lose a lot of faith in the experts I’m afraid.

So I’m afraid I don’t blindly trust everyone with a medical degree now.
Why would you trust randomers on the Internet then?

Give GP a call if you want to discuss it.

@Immunetypegoblin it wasn’t because of anti biotic resistance, it was the wrong treatment entirely for the real disease that was obvious to the junior dr by her distinctive symptoms.

Is this thread about your ear, or your DD?
I'm not sure what the connection is?

My dp was mistakenly given antibiotics for what the GP mistakenly thought was an eye infection which turned out to be the start of a detached retina. Should I now not believe the GP who gives me antibiotics for my UTI then?

@MouldyPotato I don’t at all, but I find it useful to discuss an issue with people who disagree with me. It forces me to examine my feelings and come to a (hopefully logical) conclusion and then i can stop ruminating on it. I realise now that my reservations are because of experience with dd.

Leave the piercing in (so stuff can get out rather than build up pressure into an abscess or worse), take the antibiotics and bathe it with saline. If you've got a piercing infected badly enough to a) seek medical advice and b) get prescribed higher dose antibiotics, it's a nasty one that needs treating aggressively.