Abusing antibiotics

[Moon30]

Hey, I'm probably not posting in the right place and I probably am being unreasonable but my anxiety is playing havoc and I just need to talk about it to prevent myself from replaying it repeatedly in my head all night 🙈

I'll try keep it short, DS 16 has recently had a chest infection, he felt better but over the last 2 days developed a cough again and he felt pretty rough this morning so I took him to get checked over due to previous history of numerous bouts of pneumonia when he was younger and I know DS became forgetful towards the end of this antibiotics course so it took him a couple of days longer than usual to finish the course, this is despite me reminding him 🙄 anyway when I mentioned that to the doctor today she said she wont give him more antibiotics due to him abusing them and then went on a rant about it. Thankfully his chest was clear but now I'm overthinking the whole exchange and that she'll write on his notes that he abused his medication and it will effect him getting treatment in the future. DH said i shouldn't have mentioned it but I'm not one for telling lies and now my anxiety is through the roof now 😔 I'm being ridiculous aren't I?

I wouldn't have mentioned it. I do think it's a bit extreme though of the doctor unless he has form for this and the doctor knows about it.

People not taking antibiotics properly is one of the reasons for the growth of antibiotic resistance so she was right to make the point. I don't think it will impact future treatment though. It's not like she's saying he's an addict so shouldn't be give pain meds or something along those lines.

He started them on the morning of the 18th and should have finished them on the 22nd but he didn't finish them until the 24th.

I thought that maybe it was an important bit of info if his infection hadn't cleared up properly.

She almost definitely will make a note on his file that he abused the medication & failed to take them properly because it is relevant

We didnt go with the intention of wanting more antibiotics? I took him to get checked over to make sure it had cleared up properly because he's had pneumonia numerous times and a few times he's had to have a second round of antibiotics to clear it and this time he had also been forgetful with taking them. I myself have had 2 chest infections since Christmas. The first was over Christmas and the first round of antibiotics didn't clear it fully and I ended up really poorly by the end of January because I left it thinking the cough would eventually go on its own. So I thought it would be better to be safe then sorry

Taking a few pills late isn't exactly abusing the medicine especially as a 16 year old and if yet still not well more or differently antibiotics could be entirely appropriate. I'd get a second opinion what's he meant to do get magically better with no intervention because of some weird punishment?

That is very harsh of the doctor - a few forgotten doses by someone who is trying to take them properly is not abuse.

You are suffering from a lot of respiratory infections. Do you have a smoker or open fires in your house? Do you live in an area of high air pollution?

This!@Moon30 it’s desperately irresponsible for someone not to finish the full course of antibiotics as this is exactly how bacteria become resistant.
Doctors are only being diligent- was speaking to someone about this today and it’s a really serious problem.

He forgot to take them a few times and that's considered abusing them? That's absolutely ridiculous.

Good lord both you and the doctor overreacted to a non issue.

Poor kid

He did finish the full course so that is irrelevant.

On the NHS website they says if you miss a dose just take it when you remember or if it's close to your next dose just continue your regular dosing schedule. I'm sure it happens all the time.

If you wanted to create antibiotic resistance in bacteria, then idle and lax taking of antibiotics is exactly the way to go about doing it.

It puts us ALL at risk and our families at risk.

Did he start the course stop then start again. If he was 2 days late he missed 6 or 8 doses.

You can't really 'abuse' antibiotics you can however not take them correctly like your son did and render it useless or less effective. The GP has a duty of care and if your son genuinely needs an antibiotic and the GP refuses to prescribe or treat whatever the infection is then they are failing in their duty of care ... it's not like your asking for hard core pain killers it's an antibiotic. Whole thing sounds a bit crazy I'd write a letter of complaint to the surgery personally. I've worked in the industry for many many years and never heard anything like it.

I suspect the Dr was having a bad day. Or maybe wasn’t a people-person.

she could have used the opportunity to educate on the “why” factor, because most people respond better to compliance issues if they understand why it is important. Ie most people are stubborn but reasonable.

instead she chose to go down the “telling off” route, which usually is less effective in changing behaviours.

but, for all we know her previous patient might have been a kid with antibiotic resistant MRSA dealing with challenging outcomes. (Or maybe just her morning coffee was not to taste).

The GP was being Diligent on all our behalf’s.

No wonder GP’s are careful around prescribing antibiotics- and good for them being strict about it.

No he didnt miss any days or stop and start he took them each day he just should have finished the course on day 5 but instead finished on day 7

That's what I was concerned about and the reason why I told her he had been forgetful towards the end, I was worried doing so had meant that they hadn't worked properly 😔

Taking 2 days longer to finish the course can't be that bad surely?
I'd say speak to a different GP, and don't ever mention this again.

I think the doctor was not being empathetic, using the word 'abuse' in this situation and suggesting that this one off incident of extended use of an antibiotic was significant in the overall cause of antimicrobial resistance is not only wrong, but it is also heavy handed.

The major factors associated with the antimicrobial resistance are related to over prescription and incorrect prescription, especially hospital environments but also in agriculture.

I am sure that as a doctor, she has prescribed antibiotics on many occasions where the evidence shows no benefit over allowing the illness to progress on it's own and I am sure that this has happened many more times than the one time, your son has not taken the course of antibiotics to the exact schedule that was prescribed.

Oh so he just took 2 extra days worth, did the label say 5 days only, was it a full pack, maybe the research shows a 5 day course is better.