Zithromax toxicity - any experience or knowledge?

[Stephanie2]

Something strange has happened recently (I know...join the club, right?) and I'm trying to figure it out. My son came home from school with what appeared to be a major sudden pandas exacerbation. 5 days later I started Zithromax 250mg for 5 days (this is the highest dose he had ever taken - he is 5 years old, 45 lbs.). Just as in the past, the zithro pulled him out of pandas within 12 hours. However, after the second dose he started to become a madman, unlike anything I have ever seen with pandas. There didn't appear to be any pandas symptoms that went along with the wild rages. It was so bad that we would have to hold him down for up to 1.5 hours! Otherwise he would hit, bite, kick and destroy the house!

 

So I called the doc back and he thought that maybe my son developed a bad bacteria in his gut as a result of the antibiotics and he put him on another one, Cipro. Well, he did not get better on Cipro, if anything maybe worse! When I called the doc back, he said maybe it is a really bad pandas exacerbation and he told me to do steroids.

 

I never started the steroids b/c my gut was telling me that my son had had too much medication. Then I went on a website called medications.com and I read the stories of people who had bad reactions to zithromax. There were tons of people that said that they experienced rage, anxiety, deep depression (even ringing of the ears which I have developed recently after 2 rounds of zithro...lovely!). And it doesn't help that he took cipro a few days after the zithro (which also has some very scary side effects and a class-action law suit). So now I am wondering if that is what we are dealing with!

 

I have been at my wits end! My child has become so violent that my husband can't even go to work most days and my other son is being completely ignored. My 5 year old literally will beat on us for no reason if we don't hold him down and restrain him. He completely beat the &*^%$ out of his grandpa the other day!! FOR 30 MINUTES! I have never seen anything like this in my life!! Boy, I thought it couldn't get any worse than the pandas rages, but this is rediculous!

 

Any input would be helpful!

Stephanie

[peglem]

I don't have an answer for you, Stephanie. This sounds exactly like my daughter's PANDAS rages, though. I'm so sorry this is happening to your family...I know it really really sucks and is so scary. I hope you find a speedy solution.

[ajcire]

Oh goodness That sounds awful to have go through. I have no ideas but couldn't read that without offering some hugs.

[thereishope]

I don't really know what to say. When my son would have rages, I'd also have to hold him down and at their worst, they could last 2-3 hours. When my son was on antibiotics (not Zith) he would worsen for about 3-5 days before any improvement.

 

You say he did "snap out of it" for a bit before the all out rages occurred? I am really trying to think of suggestions here. hm. What antibiotic was he on prior to the Zith? Was he taking a probiotic?

 

Does those webistes where people say they experienced similar things after Zith say how they got back to normal?

 

If you don't try a steroid, give him Ibuprofen for now and try, just try, to keep him calm. Will the tv help? That was one thing that got my son to stop sometimes. It put him almost in a trance.

[peglem]

Is your son on any other medications? Could this be a drug interaction problem?

[Stephanie2]

Vicki, he was on penicillin before zithromax, and yes he was on a probiotic.

 

Peglam, yes he was also on Diflucan and nystatin. I did stop both of those after realizing that he may be in a state of "drug overdose".

 

By the way, one year ago he went nuts when we put him on singulair and zyrtec. it took me 5 months to realize it and take him off of those meds. Then within 24 hours he got better!! So, I should not be surprised that these meds are maybe making him nuts...

 

Stephanie

 

 

Is your son on any other medications? Could this be a drug interaction problem?

[peglem]

Vicki, he was on penicillin before zithromax, and yes he was on a probiotic.

 

Peglam, yes he was also on Diflucan and nystatin. I did stop both of those after realizing that he may be in a state of "drug overdose".

 

By the way, one year ago he went nuts when we put him on singulair and zyrtec. it took me 5 months to realize it and take him off of those meds. Then within 24 hours he got better!! So, I should not be surprised that these meds are maybe making him nuts...

 

Stephanie

 

 

Is your son on any other medications? Could this be a drug interaction problem?

Diflucan will cause a burst of behavioral symptoms for Allie, but its the best at eradicating her yeast. (vaginal yeast is when we bring out that one) I think nystatin, which my daughter takes regularly is less potent. What we see with diflucan is wild manic hyperactivity which I attribute (speculatively) with toxins produced in yeast die off.

[Stephanie2]

Peglem, he has been on and off of Diflucan for 6 months now. I also see some die-off at first, but never like this. I am starting to wonder if maybe diflucan and azith compete for excretion and they both built up over the last few months...anyway, we are getting a liver test, so maybe that will tell us something. :-)

 

Stephanie

 

Vicki, he was on penicillin before zithromax, and yes he was on a probiotic.

 

Peglam, yes he was also on Diflucan and nystatin. I did stop both of those after realizing that he may be in a state of "drug overdose".

 

By the way, one year ago he went nuts when we put him on singulair and zyrtec. it took me 5 months to realize it and take him off of those meds. Then within 24 hours he got better!! So, I should not be surprised that these meds are maybe making him nuts...

 

Stephanie

 

 

Is your son on any other medications? Could this be a drug interaction problem?

Diflucan will cause a burst of behavioral symptoms for Allie, but its the best at eradicating her yeast. (vaginal yeast is when we bring out that one) I think nystatin, which my daughter takes regularly is less potent. What we see with diflucan is wild manic hyperactivity which I attribute (speculatively) with toxins produced in yeast die off.

[thereishope]

If it's a reaction to the meds, which it does sounds so to me, hopefully, once they are out of his system completely, things will settle. when I once had a severe reaction to an antibiotic, once I realized the connection and went off of it, I noticed an improvement in side effects within a couple of days.

 

Let's hope it's the same with your son and you'll see improvement soon.