Rash from Amoxicillin

[RifleDiva86]

I recently went to the doctor to find out that I had mono and strep throat. The doctor had given me amoxicillin which is the reason I had to change doctors. Not only did the amoxicillin make my throat close up to the point where I could barely breath, I broke out in "the rash from hell" from head to toe. I am currently on steroids and benadryl but both seem to not be doing anything because my rash gets worse every day. I have tried all sorts of anti-itch creams and none of them work either. I have been told it's because it was a drug induced rash and therefore no cream will help anyways. I would much rather still have strep throat than to have to live with this most itchy rash I have ever encountered. If there is anyone that knows how I can get rid of this horrible rash, please let me know!

[CT2069]

i had this issue and turns out i was wrongly diagnosed with a sinus issue when i actually had glandular fever, which causes a terrible rash and reaction when treated with Amoxicillin. Turns out my doctor didn't check my records and notice i was allergic to all Penicillin medication as well. i ended up in A+E after my rash spread rapidly (about an hour) from where it started on the tops of my arms to over my entire body. my face was swelling, and throat closing. it took several injections of Steroids and Quortozone to stabilise me. not to mention my cocktail of tablets i have to now take daily to keep my reaction down. its quite common for this to happen, just not this severe, so i'd recommend going and getting looked over again by a doctor, just in case your taking something that is actually going to make you worse.

[nogossipzone]

Sounds like you are allergic to penicillin. I had the identical reaction, scared the crap out of me but it passed. I now tell Dr's when I see them that I am allergic to  penicillin.  No big thing.

[alfons]

Re the rash from amoxycillan: I took a course of these tabs for a toothe abcess...I was on 3 x 500mg a day. I had taken a course of 3x250mg a day about a month earlier. I got the second course from a family member who had been given them for a chest infection that cleared up on its own about a week earlier. On about day 5, I woke up with a very itchy spot on my shoulder..within a couple of hours it had spread over most of my body. I took some anti histamines. Over the next few days i was basically goin through the worst thing i have ever encountered! My hands and feet were very sore..i coudnt put much pressure on either...they felt bruised. I felt as if i was burning up and the rash had spread all over my body...i was up several nights scratching and could feel lumps like pebbles under my skin at the back of my legs...i started to get these hives all over...they would come in clusters...like circular things...horrible. I got no sleep at all for around a week...felt like my skin was on fire. I would have half my body out the quilt and half in. I had to alternate...as the parts that were out became cold and the parts that were in felt like they were burnin...I took anti histamnines for around a week...which seemed to help. I also took cool baths which helped aswell. I eventually cut all my finger nails off too. I read somewhere on the net that the rash had something to the amox killing my bodys good as well as bad bacteria...The post i read suggested eating some pro biotic food while takin amox. I got my mum to get me some activia yoghurts from the shop and ate 2 of them...I can honestly say that the rash started to fade within a couple of hours! Whether this was because of these yogurts or the fact that it had run its course i don't know. alls i can say is that i never want to go through that again...it was horrible! If anyone has got this problem it will pass...but it doesnt seem that way when you have it...I hope this helps. PS. I am also a type 2 diabetic.

[Kaganh]

An amoxicillin rash is NOT an allergic reaction. A penicillin allergy is extreme and can be deadly.  It will have other symptoms associated with it, and often requires an emergency room visit at the least.  What most of you seem to be referring to is a common amoxicillin rash.  It is a side effect, not an allergic reaction.  You should ALWAYS get it checked out, but it seems many of you are jumping to conclusions and using a layman's diagnosis.  Again, Amoxicillin rashes appear in as many as 10% of people taking the medication.  It dissapears in a few days, and in most all cases, will not recur with future use.  I'd hate to see people jumping to conclusions and not properly treating bacterial infections because of misinformation.  The infection itself is significantly more dangerous to health.

[BridgeGuy]

Same rash symptons here.  It is horrific!  Only it was from Clyndamycin. Another Penecillin derivative.  Stopped the cycle and the rash continues 3 weeks later.  Doctor essentially said that my body will bounce back, but that it will take months.  The only thing that seems to help is a healthy diet and no booze. lots of water, fish, vitamins, fish oil tabs and a multi.  It flares up when I drink booze or eat a poor diet for even just one day.  Probably a silver lining somewhere there.

[Dark_Bloody_Fallen_Angel666]

I went to the after hours clinic cause i had a fever of 103.9 and i couldn't breathe and i was freezing and coughing and my throat was swollen and...... anyways, they prescribed me amoxicillin. That was the day before yesterday. Last night i started getting this red,... speckled bloody looking rash on my thighs. It had moved up my hips, stomach, chest, and now my neck by this morning. Am i allergic? I can breathe just fine now. The swelling in my throat is going down. My fever broke. I'm only a litle itchy and kinda sore. Does that mean i'm allergic?