Antibiotics and Diarrhoea

[mintymow]

Can any recommend what helps if this occurs. Also my husband has been prescribed Penicillin VK and Flucloxacillin is it ok to take both at the same time of day?

[Sqad]

This is usually no big deal and should settle within a couple of days........if it hasn't stopped after that, then stop the antibiotic and see your GP

Yes........there is no reason why penicillin V and Flucloxacillin should not be taken at the same time of the day although I cannot see why the two should be taken for the same infection.

[mintymow]

My husband has an infection round the nail of one of his big toes, does the fact that he is type 2 diabetic make a difference to the fact he has both antibiotics?

[rojash]

If ever I'm on antibiotics, I always stock up on live yoghurt, to replace the gut bacteria that the antibiotics might kill off.

[Sqad]

Well, being a diabetic a foot /toe infection must be taken seriously and treated with antibiotics. However, one cannot do more than "kill" the bloody bacteria and Flucloxacillin can do just that......but if the GP has prescribed both, then he must have a reason......

[slaney]

Flucloxacillin has limited action against Strep.- Pen.V is much better, so if one wants to cover both Staph. and Strep, best to take both. I think the BNF recommends both for cellulitis.

[LazyGun]

The nature of the bacteria is often unknown, and can take quite some time to identify. The two most common types of bacterial infection are streptococco and staphylococci.

Combination antibiotic therapy is often prescribed where the offending bacteria is unknown. Flucloxicillin is considered especially effective against a staphylococci infection, so is often combined with an antibiotic considered especially effective against a streptococci infection - like Penicillin VK.

There is some debate over whether a combination therapy does actually offer any benefits than flucloxicillin alone, since flucloxicillin is effective against streptococci. More trials are really needed to generate the evidence to support the superiority of a combination antibiotic therapy.

[LazyGun]

Oops crossposted as Slaney was posting.

[Bazile]

Have you a medical background LazyGun ?

[slaney]

I see that NICE recommends monotherapy with Flucoxacillin only, but BNF says both.
Anecdotally I only just managed to avoid in-patient admission for a rapidly spreading skin infection after a puncture wound by adding high dose Pen V to Flucoxacillin so I may be biased.

[LazyGun]

@Bazile - No clinical background. Degrees in biology and biochemistry, followed by years working in medical laboratories, specialising in Haematology, Transfusion, and Microbiology.Have a more academic role nowadays.

@Slaney - I would prefer to have a combination treatment, were it me - indeed, suffered a very similar event as you describe a few years ago. Just saying that there is some debate as to whether a combination therapy is genuinely more effective than Flucoxicillin alone - very little actual evidence to support that position :) As with many of these issues, more trials would be very useful.

[Bazile]

Thanks for responding LazyGun

Given the anonymity of the site , it's always interesting to know the background of regular posters