zithromax questions

[bronxmom2]

Hi, my son-- after being off antibiotics since late June-- is having an exacerbation. I took him to his pediatrician yesterday and he was willing to try zithromax. (The antibiotic that worked in the past was Cefdinir, but after reading so much about zithromax on this board, I wanted to try it)

 

He seemed perplexed about how to prescribe it long-term though. He said it's not normally used more than a few days.

 

He gave me enough for 5 days (7.5 ml daily of a 200 mg/5ml suspension... so I guess that's 300mg daily... my son weighs about 55 pounds), said there would be a little excess and it would probably last 7 days... plus the prescription has two refills. So I I have enough for three weeks.

 

We have an appt with Dr. Latimer on Sept. 18, so I wanted enough until then.

 

The pediatrician told me the insurance company would probably only cover the first 5-day prescription, and I would have to pay for the other two out of pockets.

 

I didn't realize zithromax was so different from other antibiotics (longer half-life, etc.)

 

How do you get insurance companies to cover zithromax prophylactically?

 

How long it usually take zithromax to work? Cefdinir seemed to work faster... but I just gave him his first dose of zithromax this morning, so I know I should be patient.

 

Also...Is it OK to treat him with so much zithromax before going to see Dr. Latimer? I just can't let him go on like this for 3 more weeks...

 

 

Thanks!

[Suzan]

Hi, my son-- after being off antibiotics since late June-- is having an exacerbation. I took him to his pediatrician yesterday and he was willing to try zithromax. (The antibiotic that worked in the past was Cefdinir, but after reading so much about zithromax on this board, I wanted to try it)

 

He seemed perplexed about how to prescribe it long-term though. He said it's not normally used more than a few days.

 

He gave me enough for 5 days (7.5 ml daily of a 200 mg/5ml suspension... so I guess that's 300mg daily... my son weighs about 55 pounds), said there would be a little excess and it would probably last 7 days... plus the prescription has two refills. So I I have enough for three weeks.

 

We have an appt with Dr. Latimer on Sept. 18, so I wanted enough until then.

 

The pediatrician told me the insurance company would probably only cover the first 5-day prescription, and I would have to pay for the other two out of pockets.

 

I didn't realize zithromax was so different from other antibiotics (longer half-life, etc.)

 

How do you get insurance companies to cover zithromax prophylactically?

 

How long it usually take zithromax to work? Cefdinir seemed to work faster... but I just gave him his first dose of zithromax this morning, so I know I should be patient.

 

Also...Is it OK to treat him with so much zithromax before going to see Dr. Latimer? I just can't let him go on like this for 3 more weeks...

 

 

Thanks!

 

Our doc writes a prescription for a month at a time with 1 refill and so far I have not had any trouble getting the insurance company to pay for it. I noticed improvement after 2 days with a huge difference after 5 days. We did 250 mg for dd's weighing 43 and 67 lbs. 4 weeks at full dose and then I started cutting back. Now we are on 500 mg 1x a week. I'll do that while it works and stock pile the antibiotics so I can up it when I need to. I never thought I would be a hoarder of abx!

 

Susan

[fuelforall]

Hi, Kristin,

Make sure he gets a hefty probiotic as well. Go to Willner Chemists. We use Klaire Labs but they are expensive.

Michael

[EAMom]

HI Bronxmom,

 

we have been on 250mg/day (was 43# at onset, now 54#) since June 08. When we've tried to drop down to 125mg we've noticed a difference (immune modulation/anti-inflammatory effects?). Hopefully now that we've had IVIG, we'll able to decrease eventually (but not yet!).

 

The insurance company we used in 08 didn't want to cover more than 5 days/mo. We were able to get an exemption so eventually they covered all 30 days worth. Our current insurance company doesn't care, so we are able to get a month's worth w/out bothering with the exemption process.

[Megs_Mom]

Hi - we were already at about 80-85% improvement with ERP, but then used a full dose of Zithromax for 5 days, and then moved to 100 mg 4 days a week. I am mildly concerned that this may not be enough, but am meeting with Dr. Latimer tomorrow, so....

 

In general, she is SO much better. About 98% on OCD. But the biggest difference is in temperment - she is calmer, able to handle transitions, no seperation anxiety (I am having to adjust to not having her around much!), handling frustration. She may still have tears, but they are resolvable, the world does not end. It's just normal frustration or sadness. She is even writing at school and for homework without major complaint.

[dcmom]

When we had our first episode, dd did 200mg/day. (She is probably around 40#) It took 30 days on that dosage to see MAJOR improvement, small improvement came after about 5 days. We then dropped her dosage to 200mg, 2x week- prophylactic dose. She continued to improve untill back to 100% herself.

 

She is now having issues, post T&A, so I have upped her dosage for now.

 

Good luck with seeing Dr Latimer. She will want you to have Cunningham's test (if you haven't), so I would consider having the blood draw now, if he is in an exacerbation..