Can I take these antibiotics? Cystitis and desperate!!

[QueenBean]

On Monday to Wednesday I was off sick with a bug, I was vommitting a lot. I went back to work today but took a few hours off to see the GP in the middle of the day.

I was being sick fairly frequently and not much liquid was getting through my system, so as a result, I now have cystitis. I could actually cry at this after such a miserable start to the week. Since this morning, I have taken 5 sachets of the cystitis powder and some painkillers, and it has steadily got worse through the day. I am so annoyed for not mentioning it to the doctor earlier but it wasn't too bad then.

I have got a whole day of meetings tomorrow which have been pushed back from the early part of the week so I cannot cancel them to go to the doctor.

I was given some amoxicillin about 4 months ago by the doctor for a chest infection (they also gave me oral steroids to try first, which worked so I never took the antibiotics).

On the side of the box it says that amoxicillin is used to treat UTIs. Can I just take them for this? I appreciate that this isn't the ideal situation but I cannot get to the doctor tomorrow and am in quite a bit of pain already!

I don't think anyone is going to say you should, Have you tried 111?

Nope. Amox not usually the correct ones. Drink gallons. See your GP or ooh.

Thanks for replying

I know that 111 will say "make an appointment with your gp or come to a&e if it's serious"

Which I really can't afford to do!

Hoping someone will know that amoxicillin is the usual antibiotic prescribed for this (wishful thinking)

Trimethoprim is usual prescription - hopefully a pharmacist will come along! Poor you - cystitis is hellish x

Thank you, I am so bloody annoyed that after such a shit start to the week, I felt fine for about 4 hours and now something different has come along!

I have no idea what to do....

amoxicillin is a broad spectrum antibiotic, so it might help. I will admit I would be tempted to try it if I was in your situation. But I am not medically qualified in any way. I have been given Trimethoprim several times for UTI.

I think 111 will refer you to OOH actually.
Phone them.

Trimethoprim is the one you need. Amox may not work & yet you will have to do the minimum course..thereby delaying the right antibiotic & increasing your agony.

Get an emergency appointment ASAP & get the right AB. Sometimes there is no other option.

I flew to Dublin once to have 3 days of important meetings just before my
Company was to tupe several people from the Dublin team. Day-1 10.00 I have a hell of a UTI & am passing blood. Not blood tinged urine...more like urine tinged blood. Dumped the meetings, saw a local doc who prescribed AB and strong painkillers. Stayed in my room the remaining 2 days & got back home. Severe embarrassment with my colleagues who had travelled. That's life sometimes!

Called 111, they asked me a hundred questions and then told me to go and see a pharmacist

I explained that I have already taken sachets and that the pharmacist wouldn't be able to give me antibiotics

She said that's all the advice they could give me

So that's good. Thanks 111.

Is there an expiry date on the Amox? I only ask because I did something similar and was sick as a dog for a couple of days. I think they were probably nearer a year though .

Do you have any bicarb? Take a teaspoon in water. In the morning repeat and take two ibuprofen with coffee. A big cup of weakish coffee. Give it an hour and wear a sanitary towel for security.

Expiry date for them is November 2016 so I have a while

I will just have to suck it up and make an appt tomorrow, meetings pushed back again. Will feel like such an idiot though for saying that I have to go to the doctor yet again.

I hate cystitis. And bloody 111.

Okay, so been in your shoes. I took the amoxicillian, it partially worked. lloyds pharmacy do an online doctor service. You describe your symptoms in an online form, they prescribe and you then pickup from a pharmacy. Think it cost £20.

onlinedoctor.lloydspharmacy.com/uk/cystitis

primary I think that service has been discontinued :( Last time I had it I looked and found that this really sensible scheme had been withdrawn over concerns about antibiotic resistance.

Primary thank you so much for sending that link! I should be able to get an appt just as easily as getting to a pharmacy so will do that (no bloody pharmacy in my area opens until 9am)

Next challenge: getting to work without wetting myself

My OH very sweetly suggested putting a tampon in for security. His heart was in the right place (even if his knowledge of female anatomy wasn't!)

Oh no. Sorry. It was great when I used it and just saved me clogging up the GP appts for something basic (but v painful!).

I suffered from recurrent cystitis in my 20s. It's hideous. In your shoes I'd take the amoxycillin. Blimey, there are loads of people who bully their doc into giving it to them/their children for far more spurious reasons.

If it makes no difference, I think you'll just be switched on to a different one, won't you? I still take prophylactic antibios for cystitis and the dose is one pill as and when - so no whole course ever (unless I get a proper infection, then it's a different antibiotic.)

personally, I'd query why I got sick - if you think food poisoning for instance don't take the amoxicillin. otherwise yes if you really can't get trimethroprim I would take amoxicillin if you have a full course there. *please note this is NOT medical advice - in general, yeah it might help, not the best choice but it is a plausible treatment for it, hope you feel better soon

I called 111 back and asked to speak to a proper medical professional, have just had a call back from a doctor

She said: yes you can take amox for uti, it's what they generally give pregnant ladies. However, it only works on 50% of cases so without a urine sample to culture the strain they wouldn't know if amox would work on this. She said that as I wouldn't get immediate relief from it, it's best to wait and get the trips whatever one instead in the morning. Apparently amox is a good one at killing all good bacteria too, encouraging thrush which would make me feel better, not worse and then I would have to take the other antibiotics as well and possibly thrush treatment.

So there we have it! It's a no, but not for the reasons I thought. I so suggest badly from thrush from antibiotics though so would rather not get them so will suck it up and just go in the morning. But if I was really really really stuck again, I would take them.

I'm shocked 111 didn't refer you. When I worked for 111 in scotland it was a straightforward referral - the call handlers did it.

I have to say, my experience of 111 call handlers is really mixed. In hindsight, the woman who I spoke to first who just told me to go to my pharmacist I should've insisted to that I speak to a nurse or doctor. When I finally did, the doctor was really lovely but it was quite a barrier to get there. Likewise, I have previously been told to go to a&e (for a migraine) and when I got there the doctor basically laughed and said that 111 have to do the safest thing and often refer people to a&e even if they don't need to go. The result was that he was pretty uncaring and a bit of a shit.

On the flip side, when my OH called 111 for something he got excellent advice and they referred him to OOH which was a great service.

I guess it depends on what your illness actually that determines how useful the advice you're given is

In the past I've rung my GP and described the symptoms (having had lots of bouts of cystitis) and they have been happy for me to drop a sample at the surgery and pick up a prescription without actually seeing a doctor - do you think yours would do that?
Personally I wouldn't want to leave it. I'm usually peeing a lot of blood within a couple of hours, and UTIs can spread to your kidneys pretty quickly