Zithromax dosing

[mom love]

Not wanting to pull anyone away from Holly's post asking for results on zithro, I need to learn more about this drug and wanted to start a new post.

 

Long story for my dd but had strep that either wouldn't get eradicated or had strep throat on top of each other and I requested zithro per discussions on here and it worked for the strep and for the minor tics she had at the time (didn't know it was PANDAS then) That was only one 5 day course.

 

Since then her strep cases have been treated with omnicef and zithromax and she had no symptoms before, during or after the treated strep. She did have PANDAS symptoms on amox and it failed and we went to omnicef and it went away. Our situation now is asymptomatic strep, which we have caught, but we think we missed it recently and a much more serious tic evolved. Our doctor is open minded and we have shown her much research and she put her right on strep dose of zithro and she is 90% better. We and our doctor are looking to consult with an experienced doctor to find out about longer treatment periods, especially on zithro, and what the prophylactic dose for zithro is.

 

So, obviously from what I read here, zithro can be taken long term at high doses? Not 5 days on and 5 days off? How does a doctor determine the prophy dose of it? How often does liver function need to be checked? Do most PANDAS children go on other antibiotic for prophy even if zithro is main treatment for exacerbations?

 

Thanks so much

 

mom love

[texascatholic]

I look forward to reading the responses hear, too! We are on day 5 and no meltdowns yet as of 11:00am...phew!

[airial95]

I'm one of those long term azith parents, and I'm sorry I can't answer your questions better. We've been on for 8+ months now (2 1/2 or so at a higher dose).

 

Dr. Murphy prefers Omnicef for the long term abx, but our pediatrician preferred the azith (he uses Omnicef - sometimes with a shot of roceferin to fight actual infections).

 

We'd already been on the azith for 6 months when we first saw Dr. Murphy, an she told us even though she prefered Omnicef - as long as we were still seeing the results on the azith to stick with it. Her case for Omnicef seemed to revlove more around the fact that most parents see initial results with azith - but the improvements eventually level off and they have to go with something else.

 

I have asked my Dr. about the long term/side effects of the azith - and he mentioned the liver issues, but he didn't seem overly concerned about it as long as my son was tolerating it well.

 

I have an appointment with him on Wednesday, I'll have to bring it up again and see what he says.