Please share some info on Zithromax

[Kbossman1]

Well, I had posted on here that we were going to see Dr. B and our appt. was today at 9am....as depressing as it is; I had 2 real estate closings fall through, we're struggling to get Christmas finished, and the roads from here to CT and nothing but snow and ice, so we decided to reschedule. Our new ped has been willing to prescribe Amox. for dd, she's been taking 250 mg twice a day for a little over a week. I'll be honest, I wasn't looking for results with this med at this dose, but I wanted to give the dr a chance, and not keep bossing him around if you know what I mean....he's trying to help, so I'm going to be patient for a little bit. Ok, well that week of patience is up, my other dd6 had positive strep test 2 weeks ago, and was on 1100 mg of Amox. a day....which is over now, and she is still complaining of a sore throat. You guessed it, it's been like ###### in this house for a while now. I'm taking dd6 to the dr today, and I want to ask him for Zithromax for dd7 with pandas, but wanted to ask you guys what some pros/ cons are with this med? I originally asked him for zmax, but he said something about the long term effects, and said that he would rather start with the amox. Has anyone here had successful results on amox. and what was the dose? If not, please let me know what your experiences have been with zmax, and if you have any information on the long term effects being good or bad. I know I've read about alot of kids on here that take zmax, but can't pin point what the dr. was trying to say about it. Thanks!!!!

[Phasmid]

If you read the manufacturers insert, or just go to a reliable source online, most of the more serious side effects are associated with gastrointestinal complications, namely pseudomembranous colitis. My son did develop colitis, but we believe his was related to the overgrowth of Clostridium difficile while being on Augmentin. Theoretically, ANY (not just macrolides) antibiotic can lead to colitis through wiping out beneficial bacterial to the point that Clostridium difficile colonizes the gut. There are also claims of hearing loss due to macrolide antibiotics. I don't know the details of this.

 

With any antibiotic, it is smart to stay on probiotics. Personally, I believe that "live" is best, in the form of liquid Kefir found in grocery milk/yogurt sections. In the end, you weigh the benefit vs. risk. If penicillins aren't working, then you need to move to a macrolide. The penicillin is preferred because it is narrow spectrum in activity, not wiping out a variety of beneficial bacteria along with the bad.

 

We just went back to Azithromycin from Penicillin VK. Our doc wanted to keep my son off macrolides due to his colitis history, and I was happy to try the Pen VK. It didn't clear his sinusitis, and he was backsliding rapidly. Doc was fine with us going back to zith.

 

 

Edited December 16, 2010 by Phasmid

[Kayanne]

If penicillins aren't working, then you need to move to a macrolide.

 

Cephalosporins are also an option. Keflex and Omnicef would be in that class of antibiotics.

[KaraM]

OUr daughter was seven with her first round of abx. The pediatirican started her on 14 days of Omnicef. She did improve a little bit, but then declined when we stopped. (She's allergic to amox - so that wasn't an option.) A month after stopping the Omnicef, she went on Zithromax. The pediatrician started her at 350mg/day for 5 days, then 175mg/day until we could see a specialist. The Zithromax worked much more quickly. Who knows whether it was just better for her or because the Omnicef primed the pump. We saw Dr. B. two months later. By that point, she was about 80% back to normal. Dr. B though she was under medicated, so he upped it back to 350/mg for one month. She got to 90%, so he then decreased it to 200/225 mg prophylactically.

 

She hasn't really had any negative side effects. We give probiotics daily.

 

She weighs 62lbs.

 

I hope this helps.

 

Kara

 

 

[Suzan]

My children do not respond at all to amoxicilin. Zithromax has been wonderful and at a high enough dose, close to amazing for periods of time. They have been on it for a year so far with no issues. We do take probiotics daily.

 

Good luck!

 

Susan

[airial95]

We did 8 months on Azith and now are on Omnicef (or were until Tuesday, when the Dr. pulled us off - not a good idea we're already figuring out!)

 

We used probiotics heavily as wes previously stated, and never had any stomach issues with our son. We saw a more steady improvement on the Azith. Within 10 days the violence was gone (only to return with exposure) and in about 2 weeks the rages went from days long affairs to manageable. With the long-term low-dose azith (we were on full dose for 3 months and then dropped), we would see windows of time (7-10 days) with little or no issues other than his one morning ritual (which wasn't that invasive) - but when a symptom cropped up, we would have about 2 days of ######.

 

We switched to the Omnicef because my son got strep 2x in 3 1/2 months on the azith - so we switched things up. On the Omnicef, we no longer see those periods where he is relatively symptom free - we have OCD related meltdowns a couple of times per week. However, now, he may have an OCD related meltdown (because he can't count the Christmas lights for example), but it lasts only an hour or so, and once he clams down, the fit is over - with the azith, once one thing set him off - we weren't coming out of it for days.

 

So for us - with the Azith the frequency of issues was less, but the intensity when they happened were higher. With the Omnicef, the frequency is increased, but severity is decreased.

 

Personally - I liked our progress on the azith better. Just my preference.

 

I would say we were at about 85% prior to stopping the Omnicef, and we had been stuck there for quite some time.