Timing of Antibiotic

[justinekno]

My son is currently taking Pennicillen VK (have a call into the dr to try to get something stronger but for now...) and the pharmacist told me that pennicillen is better absorbed on an empty stomach. She suggested one hour before eating or two hours after. Put that together with timing the probiotic (2 hours after the antibiotic) and it gets complicated! I have had to create a spreadsheet for all supplements and antibiotic). Has anyone heard this from their dr or pharmacist? I know some people have mentioned giving the antibiotic with food which to be honest, I have always done. I also remember reading in the Saving Sammy book how his mom made sure she spaced out his meds properly, i.e., twice a day would be twelve hours apart, three times a day would be every four hours...

[MomWithOCDSon]

Yes, I think keeping the meds, probiotics and supplements evenly spaced could consume your entire day! And if your kid is attending school during the day . . . well, some things just don't happen in an "ideal" way, I'll put it that way!

 

My DS12 is taking Augmentin XR, and the pharmacist's directions are that it be taken "with food." That being said, I read somewhere (maybe here -- Alex has done a lot of Augmentin research) that it should be taken BEFORE a meal, but I never went further with the research to figure out how long before a meal it should be given.

 

My guess is there's probably an "ideal," a "reality" and a "whatever works" response to this. It's logical that keeping meds evenly spaced as Beth Maloney did would result in the best "coverage," without gaps in strep protection or fight, right? But especially if your kid is functional, you have to weigh that against his participation in real life, which I would think might require some flexibility.

 

Overall, if your son can tolerate the Pen on an empty stomach, the I would try it. If you're thinking about moving to another medication, you might want to consider something like Augmentin XR or Moxatag, since these are time-release medications, or Azith, which has a longer half-life, so that the precise timing of dosing may be slightly less of an issue.

[justinekno]

Fortunately we homeschool so that makes it a little easier but it seems to get trickier on the weekends when we have sports practices and games. Oh well, we do the best we can!

 

I am still trying to get a handle on whether we should wait out the remaining 7 days on the penn or make a decision that after 7 days already we should move on since I haven't seen any improvement. We had a good fourth and fifth day but now we're back to day one. I'm waiting to hear back from the dr on his thoughts and I'm also considering the Cunningham test.

 

I thought it was interesting about the timing. It's something I never used to think about but now I am so paranoid about getting the most out of the antibiotic now that I am looking at every detail!