Amoxicillin is typically well-tolerated, but nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea are some of its most common side effects. In rare cases, more serious side effects are also possible.
Around 1 in 15 people have an allergic reaction to amoxicillin. In most cases, the allergic reaction is mild and can take the form of a skin rash. Mild skin rashes can usually be treated by taking antihistamines. In rare cases, amoxicillin can cause a serious allergic reaction (anaphylaxis).
Dosage: A person may take antibiotics for a long time for severe or continued infections, such as osteomyelitis. Doing so puts them at higher risk of long-term complications , including crystalluria (cloudy urine), hemolytic anemia, and nephritis.
Taking more antibiotics than your prescribed doesn't increase immunity or prevent future infections. Research has shown that early use of antibiotics can lead to decreased protective immunity to infections and increased susceptibility to reinfection.
Antibiotics can have side effects including allergic reactions and serious, possibly life-threatening diarrhea caused by the bacteria (germ) Clostridium difficile (C. diff). Antibiotics may also interfere with other drugs you may be taking.
Antibiotics are important for curing bacterial infections, but they can also weaken your immune system if used improperly or too often. Your doctor should prescribe them only when necessary, and sparingly, which will help protect against any future problems with antibiotic resistance.
Saving Lives, Yet Not Without Risk
Penicillins are the oldest of the antibiotics and are generally safe (but they can cause side effects such as diarrhea, skin rash, fever and more).
Eat fermented foods
Fermented foods are produced by bacteria and include yogurt, cheese, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kimchi, among others. They contain several species of healthy bacteria, such as Lactobacilli, which can help restore the gut microbiome to a healthy state after antibiotics.
Typically, it will take the body time to balance the microbiome to healthy, diverse bacteria levels. In fact, research shows that it takes about 6 months to recover from the damage done by antibiotics. And even then, the body might not even be back to its pre-antibiotic state.
“There is no way around the fact that antibiotics kill both harmful and beneficial bacteria in the gut,” Bell told Healthline. “It's extremely important to focus on nourishing and rebuilding the gut after antibiotic treatment by eating a wide variety of prebiotic- and probiotic-rich foods.”
Your doctor will advise you how long to take amoxicillin for (usually 3–7 days). For most infections, you should feel better within a few days. Always take your amoxicillin exactly as your doctor has told you.
Amoxicillin is a safe and affordable antibiotic; however, it is not the right antibiotic for all infections. It is important not to share your antibiotics with anyone. An antibiotic is prescribed specifically for you and your particular type of bacterial infection.
Summary: Antibiotics may be linked to a serious disruption in brain function, called delirium, and other brain problems, more than previously thought, according to a new article. Delirium causes mental confusion that may be accompanied by hallucinations and agitation.
Infections that are not severe may be treated in as little as 3 days, but the typical course of treatment is 5-10 days. Your prescription label insert will tell you how long you should take your amoxicillin. If you forget to take a dose, do not panic.
Typical dosage is 45 mg/kg/day in divided doses every 12 hours, or 40 mg/kg/day in divided doses every 8 hours. Maximum dosage is 30 mg/kg/day.
Despite their undisputable health benefits, antibiotics exert unintended collateral effects, including microbiota perturbation or dysbiosis and impaired host immunity to infections and vaccines in humans and mice (3–7).
Fact: Although antibiotics do not directly interfere with the immune system, unnecessary antibiotic usage can stop the immune system from working to its full potential. In fact, antibiotics can also compromise the immune system of the body.
Will antibiotics weaken my immune system? Very rarely, antibiotic treatment will cause a drop in the blood count, including the numbers of white cells that fight infection. This corrects itself when the treatment is stopped.
Eating yogurt or taking a so-called probiotic when you have to take antibiotics may help prevent the diarrhea that often accompanies antibiotic treatment. That's the conclusion of a study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Research shows that most healthy gut bacteria return to normal levels roughly 2 months after antibiotic treatment. However, studies have also found that some healthy bacteria are missing even 6 months after taking antibiotics.
Interactions between your drugs
No interactions were found between amoxicillin and yogurt.
The most frequently used high-risk antibiotics were cephalosporins (47.9%), followed by fluoroquinolones (31.6%), carbapenems (13.0%), and lincosamides (7.6%).
Taking antibiotics when you have a virus can do more harm than good: you will still feel sick and the antibiotic could give you a skin rash, diarrhea, a yeast infection, or worse. Antibiotics also give bacteria a chance to become more resistant to them. This can make future infections harder to treat.
Tiredness or fatigue is not a common side effect of antibiotic use, but it can happen. The antibiotics most likely to cause tiredness as a side effect are amoxicillin, azithromycin, and ciprofloxacin.