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Stomach Pain and Antibiotics

I don't know if this is the right place to post this question but it seems like I'm having trouble posting it anywhere else.  I recently had an outbreak of cellulitis on my leg that spread quickly.  I went to the emergency room where they sent me home on erythromycin.  A day later, is was much worse and had spread down my leg, up my buttocks and below the knee.  I went to my GP who then prescribed me clindamycin on top of the erythromycin and codeine for pain.  When I was only taking erythromycin, my stomach was hardly upset, if at all.  Now that I'm taking the clindamycin, my stomach is killing me.  There's no diarrhea as of yet, but the amount of stomach cramping I have is insane.  It's not abdominal pain, but stomach pain, just below my chest.  I've only been on the clindamycin for a day now, but the pain kept me up all night last night and it doesn't matter what I eat or how much I drink, it just stays there.  I've tried researching this a bit online and I've gotten so many mixed answers from reading, I just want a direct answer from someone who actually knows what they're talking about.  If i stop taking the antibiotics, chances are, I'll be admitted for IV antibiotics which I really don't want right now if it can possibly be avoided.  Can someone, anyone, please give me an idea of what can help this pain to go away?  Both antibiotics I'm taking 2 tablets, four times a day.  
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Avatar universal
Also DO NOT take it on an empty stomach, and drink plenty of water.
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Avatar universal
Giner Ale, ginger has something in it that takes away the upset stomach / pain while taking doxycycline, I'm not a Doctor but this is from my own experience with antibiotics.
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Avatar universal
I could use some advice...I'm taking Doxycycline and this is the worst stomach pain.  I started the meds Monday night - 2 times a day.  So I've literally taken 3 pills.  I've been eating and taking the meds...can I take anything or eat anything to ease this pain?  
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547368 tn?1440541785
Hell Saoirse,

A tardy Welcome to the Pain Mangement Forum. It is not unusual to be prescribed two ATBs. They do tend to play havoc with the GI track. I am glad that you are consulting your physician and hope to hear the results of your appointment.

I know this is a bit late but I want to encourage you to go to the hospital for an IV ATB if your physician determines that it is the best course of treatment. Cellulitis can be life and/or limb threatening. It can develop into a nasty septicemia. Please don't risk it.

I will look forward to hearing from you.

Take Care,
~Tuck
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Avatar universal
I also wish you the best tomorrow!  We will all be waiting for you to post and update us as to how your appointment went.

Wishing you the very best tomorrow and hope that you get the answers that you want!!

We'll al be thinking of you. Good luck and take care...Sherry
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1187071 tn?1279369698
I wish you the best at your appt tomorrow and I hope you get the answers to what is going on. I know it has to be so hard to sleep when your not feeling good. Let us know how it goes. And try to get some sleep so you can rest.
Best of luck,
Jamie
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Avatar universal
Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone.  I'm heading into the doctor in the AM and I'll let everyone know what he says.  Well, that is if I'm not admitted.  Even with all of the antibiotics, my cellulitis doesn't seem to be improving.  Hopefully I'm able to get some decent rest tonight and post tomorrow on how things go.  Thanks again everyone.
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1 Comments
I have taken only 2 pills of clindamycin and now have a awfull gut ache so i quit taking it but the pain wont go away, is there anything to take. joel
Avatar universal
First of all I want to welcome yu to the Pain management Forum. I'm so glad that you found us!

I'm so very sorry to hear about your reaction to the antibiotics. I know from personal experience how devastating this can be to you. I have been battling both Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) and Bladder Infections since January. I have been on 2 different antibiotics  and they have absolutely torn my stomach apart!! Both of them are from the Sulpher (sp?) family. I had to quit taking my pain BT meds and have been in tremendous pain from all of this. The antibiotics made me continuously throw up 24/7. I couldn't keep any food down.  I stopped the first one and went back to my doctor and my UTI had gone to my Bladder and caused a worse infection. I just finished my second round of the antibiotics last week and was sure glad that I was thru with them. You are on A LOT of antibiotics and it's no wonder that they are tearing your stomach up. You need to contact your Dr. so that he can give you something for your stomach that may help you out. I quit taking ALL of my BT meds and was still throwing up constantly. One thing that helped slightly was to separate all of my meds. I took them all separately about an hour apart.  Definitely DO NOT take that 2 antibiotics at the same time UNLESS your Dr. told you to.

I wish you the best and hope that your Dr. can be of assistance to you. Please keep us updated as to howyou are feeling....Sherry
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Avatar universal
It's quite common to have stomach upset/pain with antibiotics, especially when you are taking more than one.  Another culprit for your stomach issues could be the codeine - it also can be quite difficult on teh tummy.

I know you don't want to go into the hospital for IV antibiotics, but it may be necessary to beat the infection.  Cellulitis is nothing to mess around with, so if you feel thatyou're not getting better or are even getting worse, do not hesitate to either call your doctor immediately, or even go to the nearest ER.

I'm not sure about whether the probiotics and the antibiotics would basically cancel each other out - it sounds as if it would be logical that they would.  You may want to call your pharmacist and see what they say - they can quite often be an invaluable tool in answering questions like this.  If they say not to take the probiotics, maybe check with them about possibly taking another over the counter stomach medication such as prevacid, prilosec, or even tums.  If it's ok to take one of those with the medication, you may find that they coat your stomach enough to be able to avoid the stomach upset and pain.

I hope you get to feeling better soon!  I've had cellulitis a couple of times before also and it's definitely no fun!
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Avatar universal
Have you tried spacing the antibiotics out/not taking the two together?  

I can tell you from an RN point of view, this is one of the reasons why it is difficult to treat cellulitis with oral antibiotics.  I would definitely notify your physician about this problem.

You can try posting in the Family Medicine Community also.    

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Avatar universal
Well, I've been told that taking probiotics like actimel (or activa in the US) will help.  I sent the boyfriend out to buy some and downed two single serving little bottles as soon as he got back.  I assure you it's not in my head, but in a matter of minutes I was pretty much cured.  Now a whole new question arises from the situation.  Does taking probiotics with antibiotics contradict each other in any way?  The last thing I want to be doing is screwing with my care.  In any case, I do have an appointment to go in tomorrow early AM, so hopefully the doctor can clear some of this up for me.  Thanks Jamlws for answering.  
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1187071 tn?1279369698
You are on alot of antibiotics, and I don't understand why you still have to take both of them cause it will kill your stomach. I know when I was on clindamycin it did hurt my stomach and it seemed nothing helped. When I was done taking them I felt better. I am sure the codeine on top of the antibiotics don't help matters at all. Your right it isn't a good idea to stop those meds cause then the infection will get out of hand. Sherry on this board just got done with a round of antibiotics and had a heck of a time too, maybe she will reply on this post when she sees it.
I hope you feel better really soon.
Jamie
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