11 days on Amoxicillin - should we start seeing a difference?

[colleenrn]

Hi Lena,

What dose did your doc put him on for the Zithromax? How many days? Just asking b/c most times 5 days is not long enough. Good move washing the toys and switching toothbrushes! Strep can live for up to 17 days on a toothbrush!!

Have you thought about prophylactic antibiotics? There are some options. Some kids are on Zithromax, keflex or Omicef (cephalosporins), some on Augmentin.

 

Colleen

[Lena_Dmom]

Colleen,

 

he is on 200 mg/ 5 ml of Arithromycin once a day for 2 weeks... We then need to return to the Dr.'s office for a re-evaluation and further discussion in terms of next steps. By then he would have been on 4 weeks of Amoxicillin (250 mg/ 5 ml x 2 day for 4 weeks) with pretty minimal results. And 2 weeks of Arithromycin. Yikes! He is a little guy (3.5 years old) so I am sick to my stomach that I'm pumping him with all this junk... but he is so miserable!

 

To you second question - no, we have not discussed prophylactic abx. Are they the same abx but smaller dose? How much smaller? And for how long? At this point it feels like we're getting hooked on abx almost like on narcotics. Like when can one try and NOT give them?

 

Yeah... I read about toothbrushes and toys here... I also scheduled a visit to PCP for my husband and I to get tested (in case we're carriers). And we need to get our dog tested too (so I read)...

 

Somehow at first I thought, ok, no big deal. This is treatable. You take abx and it all becomes distant albeit scary memory... CLEARLY I had no clue what I was thinking at the moment!

 

Thank you all for your suggestions!

Lena

[colleenrn]

Yes, the prophylactic dose is just a smaller dose, but given every day. I hate that my kids are on antibiotics too, but it is crucial to prevent strep in order to prevent all of the awful PANDAS symptoms. I did not use prophylactic antibiotics for a long time and I will always regret it b/c I feel that my daughter had untreated strep that at thye time I was not aware of for such a long time that I fear she hmay possibly have some lasting effects.

I have been much more agrresssive with antibiotics in the past few years and things, knock on wood and many prayers, are much better now.

My 6,8, and 13 yo are all on Zithromax 250mg/day. When we try to decrease to 125/day we see a flareup. They can't be on Zith forever, but what I am 100% sure of is that they will be on some prophylactic antibiotic through childhood. You sort of have to look at it as if your child has rheumatic fever and the protocol for that is prophylactic antibiotics.

The families that I know who have been reluctant to use prphylactic antibiotics eventually do use them after a big flareup. If your child gets strep, there is such a wide range of symptoms, from minor to extremely severe, and you never know which it is going to be. It is a huge gamble, IMO, to not use any prophylactic antibiotics.

 

Rearding testing yourself and husband- great idea. FYI, neber ever rely on a negative rapid strep test. They are often negative when the child has strep. Insist they grow the culture out for 72 hours (if rapid is positive you don't need culture).

Good luck!

Colleen