Antibiotic and steroids

jme22 · Post by **jme22** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:38 pm

Hi all,

Went to the doctor today and was diagnosed with bronchitis and sinusitis, which I pretty much already suspected. The doctor put me on zithromax and prednisone. Although I hate going on both of these for obvious reasons, I really don't have much choice. The coughing spells are so bad they are triggering my asthma pretty severely.

My question is does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to help minimize any GI complications from the antibiotics and steroids? I will be taking the antibiotics for five days and the steroids (40 mg) for 3 days. (I asked the doctor for the shortest course possible of each medication.)

I dread thinking what the meds might do to my GI symptoms, but I have to clear these infections before they get any worse.

I welcome any thoughts or advice on how to minimize effects of antibiotics/steriods on my already delicate GI system.

As always thanks!

Julie

Gloria · Post by **Gloria** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:18 pm

I don't know about the zithromax, but the prednisone should temporarily improve your GI system or, if it's already in remission, maintain the remission. Three days is pretty negligible for a steroid and shouldn't have much impact for the long term at all.

Gloria

grannyh · Post by **grannyh** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 6:50 pm

Our family doc has been prescribing zithromax because it is cheap and so far effective. The prednisone will probably help with the D but a short course of it might do nothing.. hard to tell.
grannyh

Post by **tex** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 7:47 pm

Hi Julie,

According to our collective experience, Cipro, (or one of the other fluoroquinolones), and zithromax, are the antibiotics least likely to cause any problems for someone with MC, so you should be OK, with that. It might help to take a good probiotic for a couple of weeks, beginning just before the Z-pack treatment is completed, to help insure that your intestines are not repopulated with a toxic strain of bacteria, before the "good" bacteria can become reestablished.

Tex

natythingycolbery · Post by **natythingycolbery** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 5:06 am

i was on prednisone for a week last august (i can't remember the dosage though) and it diddn't casue any problems.

MaggieRedwings · Post by **MaggieRedwings** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:32 am

WOW! I was just getting ready to ask about this. When I was on Z-pack antibiotics in Mid-March i did probiotics with the meds and came out of it without any bouts or yeast infections. She just put me on cipro last night for a 14 day stretch since the sinuitis is not going away. I was trying to decide whether to take a probiotic with it since it was an antibiotic - though more friendly to our condition. Have decided to go that route since after the rabies antibiotics I had a roaring infection for no probiotics. Tell me if I am skewed in my thinking.

Thanks, Maggie

sarkin · Post by **sarkin** » Thu Apr 21, 2011 12:16 pm

Maggie,

If you know you tolerate the probiotics, it seems like a "can't hurt, might help (a lot)" kind of solution (in other words, the kind of thing I might do myself). In my experience using probiotics with my mother, it helps to continue them after the antibiotic is done - especially after a longer, 14-day course. I don't have any science for that, but the idea I had read around that time was that a bad bug that might have taken hold might have reproduced, and anything that 'hatched' later would be kept in check by the probiotics.

I wish I knew if that were true. Rabies infection! I'm going to go read the archives for that story now. WOW, that must have been some experience.

Sorry about the sinusitis.

Sara