Newsgroups: sci.med Subject: Re: Need advice -- problem with Augmentin From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 06:17:36 GMT In article <8gfl24$jcd$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, dss1951 <dss1951@my-deja.com> wrote: >> Doc prescribed augmentin for my sinusitis/bronchitis (almost pneumonia). >> Started last night. >> Major Diarrhea today -- I mean the liquid is flowing. >> >> Any suggestions??? >Yep. Call Doctor immediately and don't take any more augmentin. The >antibiotic has dramatically changed your intestinal flora and you are >at risk of developing pseudomembraneous colitis. Get a different >antibiotic soon as possible. Keep yourself hydrated until the diarrhea >stops. Call your doctor or whoever is taking his calls. Oh, puhlease. I won't quibble with the need to stay hydrated and to call the prescribing doctor right away for instructions on what to do next, but there's no need for this fearmongering; Augmentin and its individual component drugs, amoxicillin and clavulanic acid, are all notorious for causing diarrhea--particularly clavulanic acid, which has little or no intrinsic antibiotic activity. There's evidence that clavulanic acid alone or the combination of the two drugs can increase gut motility-- causing diarrhea--independent of any effect on bacteria flora. -- Steve Dyer dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com Newsgroups: sci.med Subject: Re: Need advice -- problem with Augmentin From: dyer@spdcc.com (Steve Dyer) Date: Thu, 25 May 2000 04:24:37 GMT In article <8gi3cd$c7f$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, dss1951 <dss1951@my-deja.com> wrote: >I don't know where Steve Dyer got his medical degree. He missed the >day they taught about pseudomembraneous colitis. Telling the truth >about antibiotic induced colitis is not fearmongering. You have taken >the appropriate measures. Good Luck. Augmentin causes diarrhea rather frequently, and the vast majority of those cases aren't due to overgrowth of C. difficile, but a characteristic effect of that drug combination on intestinal motility. That's why I described your article as "fearmongering". There was nothing wrong with your suggestions for what he should do (which he did)--it needs to be brought to the attention of the prescriber--just the accompanying editorial hysteria combined with an apparent ignorance of Augmentin's propensity to cause diarrhea of a more benign sort. -- Steve Dyer dyer@ursa-major.spdcc.com |