How to Take Your Medicine: Cephalosporins
How you take a drug can affect how well it works and how safe it will be for
you. Sometimes it can be almost as important as what you take. Timing, what
you eat and when you eat, proper dose, and many other factors can mean the
difference between feeling better, staying the same, or feeling worse. This
drug information page is intended to help you make your treatment work as
effectively as possible. It is important to note, however, that this is only
a guideline. You should talk to your doctor about how and when to take any
prescribed drugs.
The eighth installment of this series features a class of antibiotics called
cephalosporins.
Conditions These Drugs Treat
Cephalosporins are anti-infective agents (as antibiotics are also known)
used to treat infections occurring in a variety of places in the body. In
general, they are used either after other often less expensive
anti-infective agents have been tried or when a certain uncommon type of
infection is believed present. All cephalosporins can be used to treat most
common urinary tract infections and upper respiratory infections such as
pharyngitis (throat inflammation) and tonsillitis. All except cefadroxil may
be used to treat otitis media (inflammation of the middle ear). All but
cefixime can be used to treat various types of skin infections. Cefuroxime
axetil and cefixime can be used to treat bronchitis, while cefaclor can
treat lower respiratory infections such as pneumonia. Cephalexin can also be
used to treat bone infections. Cephalosporins can be used for other
infections, as determined by your doctor.
Infections in any one area of the body (such as the throat, lung, ear, or
urinary tract) can be caused by many types of bacteria. Doctors often try to
prescribe the anti-infective that best treats the type of bacteria they
judge is causing the infection. To be more certain, doctors often culture an
area (grow bacteria from an area under laboratory conditions) to determine
exactly what types of bacteria are present. This enables them to make a more
specific choice of anti-infective. As with other anti-infectives, some
cephalosporins can treat certain bacterial infections better than others.
This is why doctors sometimes prescribe different cephalosporins for
infections that occur in the same area of the body.
How to Take
Cephalosporins can be taken either with food or on an empty stomach. If this
medicine upsets your stomach, try taking it with food or milk.
Always store a cephalosporin liquid suspension in the refrigerator
(exception: cefixime suspension does not need to be refrigerated). When
taking a dose of the suspension, first shake the bottle well. Then use a
measuring spoon or other device for administering medicine such as the
calibrated medicine dropper included with Keflex pediatric drops. Discard
any unused suspension after 14 days.
Be sure to take the right amount of tablets, capsules or suspension for each
dose. Taking medicine at the same time each day will help you remember to
take it regularly during the period your doctor has prescribed. To make sure
your infection goes away completely, always take cephalosporin for the
amount of time prescribed even if you feel better sooner. Not taking the
cephalosporin for the entire prescribed period can cause your infection to
come back. Heart or kidney complications can result if a "strep"
(streptococcus) infection is not completely treated.
Missed Doses
To help clear your infection, try not to miss any doses. If you do miss a
dose, take it as soon as you remember. If it is almost time for your next
dose, take two doses separated evenly over the next dosing interval (for
example, if you take a dose every eight hours, take your next two doses
spaced apart by four hours, then resume taking it every eight hours).
Relief of Symptoms
If your infection is caused by a type of bacteria that the cephalosporin can
treat, your symptoms should improve within a few days. But, as mentioned
before, finish taking the cephalosporin for the full number of days even if
you feel better.
Sometimes the symptoms can take longer than a few days to improve or may not
go away even after you have taken all of the cephalosporin. This may happen
with infections in areas of poor circulation, severe infections, viral
infections, or in cases where the infection would be better treated by
another anti-infective. If your symptoms have not disappeared after taking
all of the cephalosporin or they get worse while taking it, call your doctor.
Side Effects and Risks
Common side effects involve mainly the digestive system: mild stomach cramps
or upset, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. These are usually mild and go away
over time. Cephalosporins, as well as other anti-infectives, can sometimes
cause overgrowth of fungus normally present in the body. This overgrowth can
cause mild side effects such as a sore tongue, sores inside the mouth, or
vaginal yeast infections.
More serious but infrequent reactions can sometimes occur with
cephalosporins. These include:
* Allergic reactions. If you have a penicillin allergy, there is a chance
you may also be allergic to a cephalosporin. Be sure to tell your doctor if
you have had allergic reactions to medications, particularly a penicillin,
penicillamine, or a cephalosporin. Allergic reactions to cephalosporins are
infrequent, but range from a skin rash that may be itchy, red or swollen to
life-threatening reactions such as severe difficulty breathing and shock.
Rarely, a specific type of allergic reaction can occur with cefaclor
involving a skin rash, joint pains, irritability, and fever.
* Serious colitis. This is a rare side effect that includes severe watery
diarrhea (sometimes containing blood or mucus), severe stomach cramps,
fever, and weakness or faintness. If this happens, contact your doctor
immediately before you try treating it yourself with any medications.
If these or other new symptoms occur, call your doctor immediately.
Precautions and Warnings
Animal studies do not show cephalosporins to be dangerous during pregnancy.
Although the effects of cephalosporins during pregnancy have not been
studied in humans, they appear to be relatively safe to use during
pregnancy. Let your doctor know if you are or intend to become pregnant
while on a cephalosporin.
Cephalosporins pass into breast milk in small amounts, though this is
usually not a problem. Nursing mothers should consult with their doctors
before breast-feeding while taking a cephalosporin.
Diabetic patients who test their urine for glucose should be aware that
cephalosporins can cause a false-positive reading if copper sulfate urine
testing tablets are used.
|
