penicillin every 6 hours

[Angela56]

I think I must be over reacting to everything at the mome because finding giving my lad 500mg of penicillin every 6 hours on empty stomach worrying and difficult . it seems a high dose he's 16 for tonsillitis and for 10 days . hope someone can ease my worry a that I am doing this right ! I give it a 8am 1pm 7pm and midnight (he's always awake )

I think that's ok. For comparison my little boy was 2 and had 250mg of co amoxiclav every 6 hours which is penicillin based but stronger. It did give him upsets tummy but others than that it was fine.

thanks friendinneed2016 it's been a difficult time and I just needed reassurance , it helps to know I am doing the right thing stops me overthinking haha. he seems find on it , in fact his recovery is faster than I thought , probably due to high dose . thanks again xx

Don't worry, some penicillins can be given 6 hourly and at that age, up to 1g.

yohohoandabottleoftequila wow I didn't know that ! you mean 1g given 6hourly ? where did you get that info from please ?

My 19 year old was recently prescribed penicillin 500mg four times a day for ten days for tonsillitis I felt the same as you. He didn't start improving until day six. I was surprised it was a ten day course.

thanks for reply , my lad couldn't swallow so she gave him the liquid stuff , it's like he's a boy again !! and I don't think I have given him the full 5ml spoons properly haha I feel like such a clown right now !

Yep for adults (and at 16 he is pretty much that) he can have up to a gram four times a day. The dose is fine. The logistics of the empty stomach are usually the tricky bit! Can check the bnf on line (British national formulary) but it is a common drug so rarely prescribed wrongly.

Oh and tonsillitis is usually ten days and sometimes extended to two weeks if at the one week mark they are still notably unwell.

thanks bageldog xx

Where? The bnf, I'm a nurse.

I am giving 2 x5 ml spoons of the suspension every 5-6 hours timing it well and writing down the time and how much ( some would say a bit ott ) which means he has 40 ml a day so 2.5 days and the bottle would be finished , that's sounds right doesn't it ? well no matter how hard I try the b100 ml bottle is lasting 3 days !! either the chemist mixed it with too much water and there was more than 100 ml to start with , or I am not filling the 5 ml spoon fully . it's exasperating . Is there a problem or should I just keep going until all bottles finished and not fret about it ! please it's driving me nuts