antibiotics - not finishing the course

[fishie]

ds (just 2) has had nasty temps and been generally very unwell since saturday. went to doc this afternoon, inflamed throat, prescribed antib.

he's had one dose and is miraculously back to normal. can i stop now, before he has any more, or has he got to have the full thing (4 times a day for 5 days)?

no you CANT stop.... with ABs you HAVE to finish the course....

chenaces are if you dont finish he will get it back againand only worse...

and if you are unlucky the bacteria may have evolved a bit and then be resistant to these antiobiotics that clearly ARE working.

With ABs you finish the course.... period, or else you are asking for trouble

Listen to Nanny - she's right you know

No antibiotics must be finished. You start to feel better as the bugs are starting to be killed and there are no longer enough to make you feel poorly. Then you stop them and teh bugs that are still there undergo a population explosion and make you ill again - only as NannyL these are the ones that are more resistant to the antibiotic so are harder to kill and end up having a course of a different antibiotic.

oh dear. i did suspect this is the case. just, one dose has cured him? am not being cynical at all, but wistfully thinking how much better it would be if i'd waited a couple of hours. of course he might have got worse...

It could quite possibly be that he has repaired himself - that is quite likely after just one dose. BUT it is not worth taking chances with antibiotics.

I agree, do not stop the antibiotics, but I really want to tell you that early last year I had the most painful throat I think I had ever had, and felt extremely unwell. I went to the doctor, was desperate for something but he said he could not see any infection and therefore was sure it was a virus and would not prescribe me anything. I was devastated, I really felt awful. I was breastfeeding a young ds and was exhausted. The next day though, I felt amazingly well, I can't describe it. It certainly confirmed my faith in the dr, and taught me the difference between infection and virus, and I was very glad he hadn't given me anything.

I'm telling you this as I would now wonder does your ds actually have a virus that he has actually fought off himself, just simply coinciding with the antibiotics? However, I don't know if even say the antibs were not necessary, could you stop them anyway? IYSWIM. HTH.

The reason there are antibiotic resistant bugs like MRSA is that people didn't finish their course of ABs. Whether or not he has virus or the bug has been killed you should ALWAYS finish the course.

thank you. i now have to tell the poor sods who must administer 50% of the doses (dp and cm). we have a syringe.

he even refused to eat vsc poor thing.