Help!

I ate some pork about 3 weeks ago and the next day I fell ill with dehydration and major diahrea so my doctor told me to drink plenty of gatorade and pedia lite. I felt a lot better from the dehydration but my diahrea didnt go away so my doctor prescribed cipro on Tuesday(3days ago) and today(friday) my diahrea still pretty bad. How long does it(cipro) usually take to work or may I have something more serious?? Please help.

[Burton Dunaway, PharmD]

It can take 3 to 5 days for ciprofloxacin to  resolve some gastrointestinal bacterial infections. If after 3 days diarrhea is still present contact your physician.  Sometimes ciprofloxacin can wipe out good bacteria in the GI tract causing a bacteria called C. Difficile to thrive. If C. Difficile is suspected your physician may prescribe an antibiotic called metronidazole.
Over the counter probiotics may help replenish the good bacteria in the lower GI tract preventing diarrhea due to antibiotic use.