To have never realised why people don't finish their antibiotics?

[WhoWants2Know]

Every time I hear antibiotics discussed, it's always with the warning that "You must keep taking them until they're finished, even if you start to feel better." Otherwise super germs, etc.

I always thought it was strange that they have to keep emphasising that point, and wondered why someone wouldn't just follow the doctor's instructions.

But then I never really needed antibiotics much... Until now. And they're actually bloody awful, aren't they?

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy about not being dead or in pain. But the cure involves feeling like I swallowed drain cleaner for a fortnight.

I have just scrolled through and seen others have the same awful experience with macrobid! I even yellow carded my experience.

Yep, get some canestan! I'm guaranteed thrush. I usually get a tablet while I'm in the chemist getting the prescription.

@Hadalifeonce

I think the reason most people stop taking them is that they feel better so assume they no longer need them, not because they taste horrible.

Isn't that the OP's point? That until you have experienced side effects that make taking them unpleasant, you assume that people are just ignoring the instructions rather than choosing not to take them because they actively make them feel atrocious?

I ended up struggling to breathe on nitrofurantoin (Macrobid). Rare pulmonary hypersensitivity-very scary. Switched to trimethoprim and feeling sick, anxious, killer headache, stomach cramps, lightheaded. And it doesn't work terribly well either. Also allergic to penicillin...

But I'd probably be blind without antibiotics so still grateful.

Flucloxacillin is horrid, has a nasty taste. But Clindamycin is even worse.

Just started a course of Nitrofurantoin (macrobid) and I’m not looking forward to feeling ill!!!

I work in pharmacy so I remember the name of meds I have taken. I thought most people would?

I did read that finishing the course didn't turn out as important in research trials as previously thought

Yeah they make me feel like crap. Very, very grateful for them of course, but they do make me feel off and weird. (Had for tonsillitis and after childbirth.)

Metronidazole, Co-amoxiclav and Cephalexin (sp?) for three months after having peritonitis. Honestly, the antibiotics made me feel worse than the actual illness! I am alive and kicking though so there's that to be thankful for. I suppose you've just got to remind yourself that some people have to have medication which is far, far worse.

@cornflakedreams

Try having tuberculosis. Six months of multiple very very nasty antibiotics. That is hell.

Still, that’s better than dying. Been there too, so you have my sympathy.

The last time I had antibiotics I spent a whole day with my head in the toilet so I can understand why people don't take the whole course.

I had to take high dose antibiotics for months due to a bone infection, plus go for regular blood tests to check my liver function as that particular drug can cause liver failure with prolonged use. It was pretty miserable and I confess that once i started to feel better I did forget the occasional one and I was tempted to finish early, but then I'd remember how hideously ill I'd been at the beginning and kept going.

I'm allergic to penicillin and nitrafurantoin (my lungs mimic multiple clots even though I have none), so I get some weird ones. Forced myself to finish a course of erythromycin even though it made me feel dreadful, daggers in my guts and the shits.

But I think it was an anti-depressant rather than an antibiotic that made me follow through in the Abbey National.

@Siameasy

Wonder effects of IV antibiotics on new mums/new babies? Obviously grateful for their existence. But curious if they cause any unforeseen disturbances for instance

I think less likely to as they don't go through the digestive system

I love antibiotics, no idea why some people wouldn’t take them until the end

But I’m not allergic to anything and I’ve always reacted well to drugs. I also come from a highly medically minded country and once you hit the age of 12, you’re prescribed the highest dosage of whatever you’re taking. When I first moved to the UK I had to take 3 or 4 ibuprofens at a time so they had any effect. I’ve slowly weaned myself off the high doses but I’m not gonna lie, the recovery is much easier if you just take everything they give you.

I'd always assumed people didn't finish the course so they could save some for future use

@Floydthebarber

Yep, get some canestan! I'm guaranteed thrush. I usually get a tablet while I'm in the chemist getting the prescription.

Yes I always buy a thrush treatment when I’m filling any prescription for antibiotics.

Other than that it’s only metronidazole that bothered me.

@cornflakedreams

Try having tuberculosis. Six months of multiple very very nasty antibiotics. That is hell.

Yep - I hear ya! Felt worse than the TB for a while at the start until my body got used to them. The orange body fluids as well!!

DD has had to have co-amoxyclav a couple of times. It is bloody hard to keep on giving that shit to a young child seeing what is does to the gut.

Oh, is Macrobid nitrafurantoin? I never knew that. I started taking it as a preventative for chronic UTIs and felt fine - right up until I was suddenly struggling for breath and coughing up white foam.

I've had the misfortune of needing antibiotics very often, some have been ok but others have been nothing short of hellish. The liquid antibiotics always taste absoutley vile - the bright yellow banana one and the red strawberry one both taste like pure poison and then when you get old enough for the tablets they are usually huge and make me gag. That's without the side effects - thrush, nausea, diarrhea, foul tastes that won't go away, pain, the ones that make you sensitive to sunlight... I do take the full course because sometimes I've needed several courses to clear infections and frankly I will do as much as possible to avoid that but yes, I can understand why people want to cut short the course when they feel better.

21:30EleanorDeCleaner

Did it happen around day 11 of exposure? I felt like a hand around my chest and throat was squeezing all the air out. Truly delightful to see there is a 10 percent mortality rate and the GP had never heard of it.

I thought the you must finish the course no matter what was no longer current thinking. The last time I was prescribed antibiotics I was told to take them until I felt better then stop.

@EleanorDeCleaner

Oh, is Macrobid nitrafurantoin? I never knew that. I started taking it as a preventative for chronic UTIs and felt fine - right up until I was suddenly struggling for breath and coughing up white foam.

Yes it is. Macrobid is 100mg modified release Nitrofurantoin which you take twice a day. Standard release nitrofurantoin comes as 50mg and 100mg which for treatment is taken 4 times a day normally.

I eat lots of yoghurt when I'm on antibiotics, really helps. And always finish the course.

Trimethoprim made me miserable! The smell of onions frying made me so sick I cried, and the fuckers didn't work on my UTI anyway so I had a follow up ten days of nitrofurantoin. I've had nitrofurantoin again since and I love it. The only side effect I had was wee that looked like Mountain Dew

I also had erythromycin for mastitis and again, zero side effects. At all, actually, apart from the mastitis going away. I've been really fortunate, clearly!