I want my antibiotics!

The last time I was sick I had no problem getting lots of oxycodone and similar drugs. But antibiotics? They are a little harder to get.
 
I am the OP here. At the time I started this post I had been sick for about a month with what was obviously a sinus infection. My GP would not prescribe antibiotics because he said "I was not sick enough" because I was not running a fever even though I was miserable. I also went to urgent care, same story. I finally went back to my GP and sat there and cried until he wrote me a prescription for antibiotics. Once I got on antibiotics I was well in 3 days. I have since changed GPs but have not gotten a sinus infection yet so I don't know if he will prescribe antibiotics or not. I got the flu back in Feb and the doctor was fast enough to prescribe Tamiflu which cost $100 even with insurance and did not do anything for me except to make me sick on my stomach.

I understand that antibiotics are overprescribed but what is the sense in a person like me (age 67 but in very good health) being sick and miserable for a WHOLE MONTH when antibiotics will clear me up in 3 days.
Somethings amiss here.
 
A contrarian would argue your body was fighting off the disease and you would have gotten better anyway without the meds. But I certainly would want meds after being miserable that long.


I wish there was a magic wand that would tell you if antibotics or not.
 
I wore a surgical mask to my Dr appt about 6 weeks ago. I didn't want anyone in the waiting room or anywhere to catch what I thought was bacterial infection. Low fever, coughing, phlegm, sinuses swollen. He asked why are you wearing a mask? I said I don't want to be contagious to anyone. He said take it off. He examined my throat, ears, eyes. Said you have allergies.

I will never know how to distinguish between allergies, bacterial, virus symptoms. They blend together. It took @ 4 weeks and all cleared up. I did take Clarion. Helped some, but the cough lasted the whole time.
 
I can tell when I have a sinus infection and just say I had it for 3 weeks so it’s long enough to get the antibiotics.
 
Cut-Throat said:
Please tell us what Medical Credentials that you have that is superior to these Medical Doctors? ---
Click to expand...


Please. I don't need medical credentials to know that the antibiotics (which Doc said I didn't "need") literally got me better in 2-3 days after I'd been sick for over a month with NOTHING else working. And that was one absolutely brutal month that could have easily been treated weeks earlier.

OP (and many others) report the exact same thing. So, as I stated - a whole lot of people are suffering unnecessarily because of the OVER hesitation by Doctors nowadays to prescribe antibiotics when they are clearly in many cases needed. "Tough it out until your body naturally fights off the infection" is not good healthcare.

So, ITA with the point raised by OP and agree that the hesitation in prescribing antibiotics has gotten for the most part way out of hand.
 
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24601NoMore said:
Please. I don't need medical credentials to know that the antibiotics (which Doc said I didn't "need") literally got me better in 2-3 days after I'd been sick for over a month with NOTHING else working. And that was one absolutely brutal month that could have easily been treated weeks earlier.

OP (and many others) report the exact same thing. So, as I stated - a whole lot of people are suffering unnecessarily because of the OVER hesitation by Doctors nowadays to prescribe antibiotics when they are clearly in many cases needed. "Tough it out until your body naturally fights off the infection" is not good healthcare.

So, ITA with the point raised by OP and agree that the hesitation in prescribing antibiotics has gotten for the most part way out of hand.
Click to expand...



I have medical credentials, and I agree with you. Underuse of antibiotics also can have really bad results.

About a year ago, I came on duty and checked a 4 year old who had been admitted a few hours before for vomiting, dehydration and electrolyte abnormalities. He didn’t have much fever, and only mild cold symptoms a couple of days before. But when I checked him, he was lethargic. When I tried to check specific neurological signs, he became wildly combative and wouldn’t let me near him. My internal alarm bells started clanging loudly. I ordered a Stat brain CT. He had a mass and his brain was about to herniate through the bottom of his skull. Called the team from the nearby tertiary center. We treated his brain swelling while they got their helicopter to our hospital.

He ended up having an abscess, not a tumor as I had feared. He actually went home completely well a few days after surgery and antibiotics.

The mantra we are currently taught is that children under 8 don’t get sinus infections. And that sinus infections don’t require antibiotics. Many do. I’ve seen 3 children under 8 with brain abscesses caused by sinus infections. Adults get them too.

Even though I’m retiring, I’m keeping my license active so I can legally self prescribe when my medical colleagues foolishly follow mantras instead of listening to their patients. I’m still looking for a family physician I can trust. I got burned a couple of years ago by the same foolishness. I got lectured about antibiotics before I was examined by a brand new doc in the practice. I had pneumonia, knew I had pneumonia, could identify the exact spot. I was really sick when I was seen. She told me I was wrong before she got the X-ray. She had to eat those words. When I saw her in follow up, I nicely told her she needs to listen to and examine the patient before giving advice. She soon left the practice.
 
So glad that little boy got great care. I had a dog where her brain herniated out of the back of her skull. Over a 5 day period took her to the vet daily. Finally took her to UC Davis animal ER and while they diagnosed the problem she died within hours. I had a urgent care doctor tell me I had a migraine and not a sinus infection. We argued and he finally X-rayed me to prove I was wrong. He looked embarrassed when he got the results.
 
OP here--I am 67 in good health and I get a sinus infection about once a year or every other year. I know what it feels like and I have NEVER gotten over a sinus infection without antibiotics. In the old days after being sick about a week or so I would go the the doc, get antibiotics and in a day or so be Ok. This last year I a sick a month, went to doctors 3 times and finally got the antibiotics after crying in the doctor's office (I cried because I felt so bad and no one would help me). After 3 days of antibiotics I was well. I know that it is just a matter of time before I get another sinus infection. What should I do? At my age I just can't stand the thought of being sick and miserable for a month or more. I have changed doctors but there is no guarantee the new doc will be any more understanding about my sinus infection than the old doctor. What do people do when the are sick and miserable with a sinus infection?
 
harllee said:
OP here--I am 67 in good health and I get a sinus infection about once a year or every other year. I know what it feels like and I have NEVER gotten over a sinus infection without antibiotics. In the old days after being sick about a week or so I would go the the doc, get antibiotics and in a day or so be Ok. This last year I a sick a month, went to doctors 3 times and finally got the antibiotics after crying in the doctor's office (I cried because I felt so bad and no one would help me). After 3 days of antibiotics I was well. I know that it is just a matter of time before I get another sinus infection. What should I do? At my age I just can't stand the thought of being sick and miserable for a month or more. I have changed doctors but there is no guarantee the new doc will be any more understanding about my sinus infection than the old doctor. What do people do when the are sick and miserable with a sinus infection?
Click to expand...

That's really tough to hear as I know only too well how miserable that can be.

I suffered from many, many sinus infections over the years, often two or more per year. I even had the "roto-rooter" sinus surgery which helped me get over them quicker, but didn't seem to keep me from continuing to develop them.

Antibiotics usually cleared things up within two or three weeks, but the side effects, including a bout of C. diff (yikes!), made me rethink my antibiotic use. I learned I could avoid many of the situations leading to an infection through the ongoing use of allergy medications plus ALWAYS wearing a dust mask when mowing the lawn. Since then I've only had a couple of sinus infections and was able to get over them in two or three weeks - without antibiotics.
 
Big pharma has to start developing new antibiotics that can fight these superbugs. The 60 Minute segment was scary. India sells antibiotics over the counter, for money. Don't need any kind of prescription.

The ROI just isn't there for incentive. This article (somewhat long) addresses the R & D predicament we're facing.



https://www.pharmaceutical-journal....ent-pipeline/11130209.article?firstPass=false

Quote from article.
"One way to incentivise companies to research new antibiotics is to provide a premium return on investment. In future, will society need to pay high prices for them, the sort of prices the NHS is seeing for some anticancer drugs?
Dr Patel, from Wockhardt which has four antibiotics in the pipeline, thinks the future will see high prices for antibiotics. “Society will have to readjust their thinking,” he says.


Dr Rex states: “We really do need to do things in a new way to reimburse the innovator. We don’t know how to do this yet, but it’s coming.” He believes there is no single best answer to solve the model to improve the overall economics. “We need fixes for the discovery side, the development side, the whole thing.”
 
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harllee said:
OP here--I am 67 in good health and I get a sinus infection about once a year or every other year. I know what it feels like and I have NEVER gotten over a sinus infection without antibiotics. In the old days after being sick about a week or so I would go the the doc, get antibiotics and in a day or so be Ok. This last year I a sick a month, went to doctors 3 times and finally got the antibiotics after crying in the doctor's office (I cried because I felt so bad and no one would help me). After 3 days of antibiotics I was well. I know that it is just a matter of time before I get another sinus infection. What should I do? At my age I just can't stand the thought of being sick and miserable for a month or more. I have changed doctors but there is no guarantee the new doc will be any more understanding about my sinus infection than the old doctor. What do people do when the are sick and miserable with a sinus infection?
Click to expand...

in a not meaning to be flip answer, take a vacation to Mexico and buy some drugs for the next time you get sick. Try to get some with a longer expiration date.. Solid pill type penicillin and such should be good longer then the use by date. Least you think I'm being flip, we have a good friend with lots of hogs and more then once someone has "borrowed" some hog medicine. Ten years ago you could all these drugs from a vet with no RX, but I think that might have changed.
 
24601NoMore said:
Please. I don't need medical credentials to know that the antibiotics (which Doc said I didn't "need") literally got me better in 2-3 days after I'd been sick for over a month with NOTHING else working. And that was one absolutely brutal month that could have easily been treated weeks earlier.

OP (and many others) report the exact same thing. So, as I stated - a whole lot of people are suffering unnecessarily because of the OVER hesitation by Doctors nowadays to prescribe antibiotics when they are clearly in many cases needed. "Tough it out until your body naturally fights off the infection" is not good healthcare.

So, ITA with the point raised by OP and agree that the hesitation in prescribing antibiotics has gotten for the most part way out of hand.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry that you had to go through this. I've never had trouble getting antibiotics, but I'm not one to run to the doctor for every little thing. (Not saying you are either, but those are the ones who ruin it for everyone.)

I've had some success in avoiding doctor visits sometimes with the use of an herbal remedy. Research and use at your own risk, but do go to a doctor when absolutely warranted.

As an FYI, my illnesses during menopause kept turning into bacterial infections requiring antibiotics more frequently than I'd ever needed them in my life before (or since). My doctor said it was because my immune system was temporarily compromised because of the hormonal changes I was going through then. It would stabilize at the end of menopause (and it did). In the meantime, to avoid needing antibiotics so frequently, he recommended I take Vitamin C daily. This did work, quite effectively. I took it for several years, until "the change" was over. Just some food for thought.
 
harllee said:
OP here--I am 67 in good health and I get a sinus infection about once a year or every other year. I know what it feels like and I have NEVER gotten over a sinus infection without antibiotics. In the old days after being sick about a week or so I would go the the doc, get antibiotics and in a day or so be Ok. This last year I a sick a month, went to doctors 3 times and finally got the antibiotics after crying in the doctor's office (I cried because I felt so bad and no one would help me). After 3 days of antibiotics I was well. I know that it is just a matter of time before I get another sinus infection. What should I do? At my age I just can't stand the thought of being sick and miserable for a month or more. I have changed doctors but there is no guarantee the new doc will be any more understanding about my sinus infection than the old doctor. What do people do when the are sick and miserable with a sinus infection?
Click to expand...

Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and this is not medical advice. Try anything I say at your own risk. :)

My husband has had a sinus infection only a few times. The last time, I had him try some Osha (an herbal remedy) we have at home. It's supposed to be good for respiratory ailments. He felt better later that day and continued to improve over the next several days. There is no doubt in his mind that he would have had to get antibiotics, as he'd done before for it, if not for the Osha. And he's not a big believer in herbal remedies either.
 
In my travels outside the USA, one can buy antibiotics without a doctor's prescription. In my travels to Colombia and Bolivia, the pharmacies and the pharmacists in the towns I visited were behind a bulletproof glass window and door. Just line up and order what you need through the opening in the window.
 
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Winter for me is the worse time . I tend to get bronchitis or a sinus infection frequently due to my lowered immune system . This year my Pulmonologist put me on Azithromycin three times a week . I sailed through the season with no problems .It is a fairly new thing they are trying for COPD patients and it worked .The reason they are doing it is to preserve lung function since every excasperation causes loss of lung function.
 
harllee said:
OP here--I am 67 in good health and I get a sinus infection about once a year or every other year. I know what it feels like and I have NEVER gotten over a sinus infection without antibiotics. In the old days after being sick about a week or so I would go the the doc, get antibiotics and in a day or so be Ok. This last year I a sick a month, went to doctors 3 times and finally got the antibiotics after crying in the doctor's office (I cried because I felt so bad and no one would help me). After 3 days of antibiotics I was well. I know that it is just a matter of time before I get another sinus infection. What should I do? At my age I just can't stand the thought of being sick and miserable for a month or more. I have changed doctors but there is no guarantee the new doc will be any more understanding about my sinus infection than the old doctor. What do people do when the are sick and miserable with a sinus infection?
Click to expand...
Just a thought--have you done anything to try to avoid getting the sinus infections in the first place? I don't have any specifics for this other than what google shows me, like https://blogs.bcm.edu/2014/06/25/ten-tips-to-avoid-sinus-infections/, but those tips make sense.
 
RunningBum, thanks for the referenced article, all good ideas. I do frequently wash my hands, use antihistime during allergy season, use the Nettie saline rinse daily and take vitamin C and probiotics daily. Usually my sinus infection begins as a cold so I also try to stay away from people with a cold and try to avoid children if possible. I have quit shaking hands during flu and cold season (in addition to the sinus infection I had this year I also got the flu, it was a really bad year for me). I am really getting paranoid about infections so much so I am avoiding some places I like to go and have even quit taking communion in Church.
 
I figured you were, just brainstorming.
 
harllee said:
RunningBum, thanks for the referenced article, all good ideas. I do frequently wash my hands, use antihistime during allergy season, use the Nettie saline rinse daily and take vitamin C and probiotics daily. Usually my sinus infection begins as a cold so I also try to stay away from people with a cold and try to avoid children if possible. I have quit shaking hands during flu and cold season (in addition to the sinus infection I had this year I also got the flu, it was a really bad year for me). I am really getting paranoid about infections so much so I am avoiding some places I like to go and have even quit taking communion in Church.
Click to expand...

During the horrible flu season of 17/18 my DH was gearing up for an open heart procedure. We started using a product called Nano-pure active skin protection whenever we went out in public. when he had his surgery I took with me for my protection. It worked well for us for two winters now. I think I got mine at Amazon.
 
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