To take leftover antibiotics

[raspberryfizzer]

I got some antibiotics for a UTI about a month ago. Was away on holiday - they gave me 7 days worth and said to take 3 days and see if it cleared up. It did, so I have 4 day course remaining.

I now have what seems to be a chest infection. I don't think it's a virus because I've had it for over a week and don't have congestion or other virus symptoms apart from coughing a lot (green mucus).

AIBU to take the antibiotics I have in my drawer, rather than wait 2 weeks to see a GP?

If the antibiotics you’ve got are nitrofurantoin they won’t do anything to help a chest infection.

It will be the wrong antibiotics, they are different for chest infections than the ones used for a UTI. If you have symptoms of a bacterial infection in your chest you should be able to get a more urgent GP appointment than wait two weeks. Or go to a walk in centre if not. Do you have a fever?

Quite likely to be the wrong antibiotics, the wrong strength for your current infection and the wrong length of time for the whole course! Short answer: don't take them.

They’ll be unlikely to help as most UTI antibiotics are pretty specific.

Worst case is you’ll make your strain anti-biotic resistant which could cause huge problems

They won't help as other PP have said, they are different antibiotics to what is needed for a chest infection. Many viral infections can go on for over a week, I would contact your GP for an appointment.

As others said, no point. If it is a bacterial chest infection you would need a full course of the correct antibiotics, which you are extremely unlikely to have been given for a UTI. See a GP.

No don't do it. Call the Drs again and get a new packet of the right ones. Also, you are meant to take the full course of antibiotics or your illness can come back worse (happened to me with tonsillitis when I stopped taking half way through) so you won't have the right amount of days to take now, even if you did take these and it may not clear up fully.

Thanks all, that's very helpful! I will call the doctor.

If you do get ABs from the GP, do please be sure to take the full course, even if you start to feel a lot better. Failure to complete a course of ABs is one reason why bacteria become resistant to them.

I now have what seems to be a chest infection. I don't think it's a virus because I've had it for over a week and don't have congestion or other virus symptoms apart from coughing a lot (green mucus).

Nothing you've said there makes it likely to be bacterial, unless you have a background condition like COPD or bronchiectasis.

Thanks, yes I know this. I only stopped taking the first course because they told me to stop after 3 days if I felt better - they gave me a longer course than I probably needed because I was on holiday in a very rural area and it would have been awkward to see a GP to get more.

The antibiotics in the world are pretty much as we have got.

Taking them incorrectly contributes to anibiotic- resistant strains of bacteria. My grandad died from a resistant strain of bacteria.

You may have a virus instead. But in the case of a chest infection I haven't heard of a 4 day plan for a prescription of antibiotics.

Antibiotics need to be taken for a set time and the right ones, they adjust the microbiome in your body (so taking them has to be considered in line with a professional).

Fill out a form for 111 who can get a GP app 'out of hours' or advise you, or try to contact the GP again if it gets worse. How bad is the chest infection?

You should be able to get an emergency appointment for a chest infection.

No I wouldn't because you don't know if the chest infection is bacterial and if you take antibiotics when you don't need to you're more likely to get resistance in the future. Anyway a 4 day course is unlikely to clear a chest infection. You need to go back to the GP if you think you need antibiotics

No. Do not take antibiotics which you have been given for a different condition. Different antibiotics work on different strains of bacteria which live in different environments in the body. The ones in your bladder/urethra will be different to the ones in your lungs. You'll just develop resistant colonies. Go to your GP/pharmacist.

No, definitely not.

No don't. Could be viral, if it is bacterial you may need a different strength or type anyway (organisms grow in different environments). Please don't take random antibiotics.

Last year I went to the GP after a very nasty bug (with cough etc.) that showed no signs of going away after 10 days.
I wouldn’t normally bother the GP with such a thing, but I did feel very rough.

To be fair, he did check me over thoroughly, but as I’d expected, pronounced it to be ‘just a virus’.

That same night I was hit like an express train with shallow, painful breathing. 111, ambulance, blue-lighted to hospital, in for 3 weeks, with pleurisy on top of pneumonia. (Bacterial, which responded quite quickly to 2 different ABs.)

Just saying, and I’d always been pretty disgustingly healthy - had rarely needed to see a GP.