Hello all - would really appreciate some advice. I'm 10 days postpartum and four days ago the midwives suspected an infection in my perineal stitches (from a tear). They sent off a swab but also got me onto 500mg of Flucloxacillin to start fighting the potential infection. Swab came back today and GP (who received the results) rang me up and said the results were positive and showed the infection would respond better to Phenoxymethylpenicillin (aka Penicillin V). When I went to pick up the prescription the pharmacist was quite concerned because the new dose was just 250mg. He rang the GP who confirmed this was the dose he wanted to give, but it was pretty clear the pharmacist wasn't happy. He also put me on a 7-day course.
After the pharmacist's reaction I did a bit of research online and it seems that a) the general recommendation is for a 10-day course and b) the NHS recommends 500mg dose for anyone over 12. I've also discovered that a soft tissue strep infection is not something to muck around with.
I'm feeling quite confused and distressed by this all. The prescribing GP isn't my normal one and he's also got form for under-dosing antibiotics (he once tried to give my husband a child's dose to treat what he had incorrectly diagnosed as bronchitis). I really don't want this infection to linger or get worse or to have to take a further course of antibiotics (especially with the risk of thrush and the impact this could have on breastfeeding).
Is there anything I can do to get put onto a more appropriate dose for a fully-grown woman? I do appreciate the case for not over-prescribing antibiotics, but by the same token I can't see it being helpful in terms of antibiotics resistance for me to take an ineffective course.