Antibiotics - how long before they kick in. What it doses are missed?!
Question: Was put on antibiotics for an ear infection 14 day course. Went out of town after exactly one week of taking them and forgot them. Last dose was Thursday a.m. - so I missed Thurs p.m. dose, Friday a.m. and p.m. doses and took a dose this morning (Sat a.m.). Unfortunately, my infection that seemed to be improving appears to be back again. Is that 'normal'??? Please - no reprimands - it was an unplanned work trip and forgetting the pills was an oversight. Just wondering if these antibiotics will kick in again like they did the first time. If so, how long will it take? Also worried that the infection seems to have reappeared. Please don't tell me to call the doc - if it weren't Saturday I would. Thanks!
Answers: Was put on antibiotics for an ear infection 14 day course. Went out of town after exactly one week of taking them and forgot them. Last dose was Thursday a.m. - so I missed Thurs p.m. dose, Friday a.m. and p.m. doses and took a dose this morning (Sat a.m.). Unfortunately, my infection that seemed to be improving appears to be back again. Is that 'normal'??? Please - no reprimands - it was an unplanned work trip and forgetting the pills was an oversight. Just wondering if these antibiotics will kick in again like they did the first time. If so, how long will it take? Also worried that the infection seems to have reappeared. Please don't tell me to call the doc - if it weren't Saturday I would. Thanks!
I work in a pharmacy as a tech and I see this all the time. Antibiotics take about 24 hours to kick in.
Call the pharmacy where you got the medication again and see if you can start them again with the remaining pills as if it were day one. (some antibiotics like the Z Pak you can't do this with because the dosage on Day 1 is different from day 5)
That should hold you over until monday then you can call the DR. explain and get a new script for the rest of the pills you would need.
If you are in pain you can also take a pain reliever like tylenol to help with that. Drink lots of water, no alcohol, and get lots of rest. Good luck and I hope you feel better!
Usually about day 3 or 4 you start to feel better. You need to get back on another dose of medication. If you have more medication, take it til Monday, then call the doctor and tell him what you did and hopefully he'll reup you over the phone.
You may need to return to the doctor... by taking ( starting the course of antibiotics ) then stopping you may have made the infection resistant to the antibiotic you were taking. You need to go back and get a different kind of antibiotic
Just continue taking the antibiotics until you have completed the regimen. Don't just stop completely, even if it seems well now. Call your doctor on Monday, unless things get worse (then go to hospital).
hello you have to start the treatment all over again because you stopped it
antibiotics treatments are meant to be followed exactly as the doctor prescribes that's why your infection is back
for mor info about antibiotics visit
You should still be able to call the doc on a saturday, usually an answering service will answer and you can tell them your problem and they will call the doc, all they really need to do is call you in another prescription.
Usually you see improvements within 24 hours, and if this is the first time you forgot to take it on time and you still took 7 days you should be ok, but because your not then you really need to talk to your doc, you may be "immune" to the antibiotic they gave you. That happened to me, and I can no longer take amoxicillian or anything with "cillian"
When you start a course of antibiotics you should always try and finish them. Otherwise what has happened will happen again. Sorry but that's the way it is Hope your ear infection clears up soon.
Antibiotics is something that will act against the microorganisms. They kill them.[ anti- against, bio-life] different antibiotics have different dosage and strength. Every antibiotic has a a particular concentration required for the effective action. Certain microorganisms require the concentration of particular antibiotic for particular time for them to die. Usually a normal antibiotic is supposed to be taken for 5 - 7 days and from the second day on wards the minimum required blood level will be available and if you keep taking the antibiotic without fail, the microorganism causing the problem will die. If by any chance you miss or do not take the dosage, there is a possibility that the microorganism gets more resistant to the antibiotics. This would have happened in your case. So Please discuss with a doctor and start over again. Resistant strains are a menace now a days because in adequate dosages. By 2020 almost 70% of the present day antibiotics are going to be ineffective becaseu of resistant strains. So please.......
Perhaps the antibiotic you were on wasn't exactly the right one to take care of the organism. I would think since you were faithful taking the antibiotics for the first week that the infection would be pretty much out of your system. So, that is what leads me to believe you might need a different one. Good luck.