Quote:
Originally Posted by blueash
The key problem is in your first sentence. "horrible cold virus" Repeat and repeat and repeat No antibiotic should ever be taken for a viral illness. It is completely useless and only will result in side effects either for you the patient or for all of us in inducing of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Even those overdiagnosed excuses of "sinusitis" or "bronchitis' need to be viewed skeptically. Just because your nose is runny and you have a headache does not mean you have a BACTERIAL sinus infection. Just because you are coughing does not mean you have a BACTERIAL bronchial infection. Here is what the CDC says about bronchitis and antibiotics:
Bronchitis (Chest Cold)
Antibiotics are almost never needed for bronchitis, a condition that occurs when the airways in the lungs swell and produce mucus, which causes a person to cough
and about sinusitis:
A sinus infection (sinusitis) does not typically need to be treated with antibiotics in order to get better.
Sinus infections occur when fluid is trapped or blocked in the sinuses, allowing germs to grow. Sinus infections are usually (9 out of 10 cases in adults) caused by a virus
So please stop asking for antibiotics even if you have a "bad" virus. And severely question the need for any antibiotic for bronchitis or sinusitis. There is no such thing as a safe antibiotic. Only lower risk. And the benefit needs to outweigh the risk. If there is no benefit (except your "need" for a useless Rx) then always the risk exceeds the benefit.
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Thanks for your response. I did not go into a lot of detail about my illness, and should have just said I was very sick and not even mentioned 'cold'. My pulse was very high and my chest hurt and I could not sleep, but I did not even have a runny nose or head cold. A few years back I had a long and scary bout of pneumonia. Since then, my lungs seem weakened, and when I get 'bad stuff', it goes directly to my lungs. I was worried the bronchitis was getting worse and I feared pneumonia again. Levaquin IS prescribed for bronchitis so I thought it would be safe. I took it 2 years ago and it worked fine and I had no adverse reaction to it. I will say after 4 days of the drugs this time, my lungs cleared completely. Unfortunately I got the tendon side effects this time, which I was not aware of even being a side effect. I do understand antibiotic abuse and as for taking antibiotics often, I work hard at NOT abusing them. I am allergic to several and am afraid if I get pneumonia again that they might not find one that will work for me. Of course if I could have a 'do over'.....I would NOT take the Levaquin. I thank you for you take on this.