'Viral' chest infection the doctor said!

[dawann63]

After 2 weeks I went back and was prescribed a weeks course of Amoxicilin, still not feeling a lot better and still had crackling, yesterday went back and was prescribed Clarithromycin and a chest xray.... I knew in the first place that crackling when I breathed out wasn't normal, I'm not one for always visiting the docs .... I felt that she originally thought I was being a bit neurotic and i understand that antibiotics shouldn't be over prescribed, but at the age of 50, I know my own body ..... now 4 weeks on I feel quite cross and would have probably been better by now, if I had been given antibiotics in the first place!

[peege]

Hi. You've learnt a valuable lesson. the customer/patient is often right.

We have to stick up for ourselves. Keep going back, they work for us, paid by us and we can expect a good service.

Amoxicillin has never once, in 5 years killed an infection. For me and many others it's useless and we demand a better one. The trouble is they are told to px it as their 'first line of defence'. I tell them they can skip the first line and go straight to the 3rd or 4th one and give me something that will work.

Don't hesitate to go back if you think it hasn't worked. Sometimes I had to take 2 courses of clarith although it also makes me feel too ill so I insist on Azithromycin which always works for me over time.

Good luck

[dawann63 in reply to peege]

Thanks for that, I'm just off for my chest xray. So will see what that shows.

Bye for now.

[Hidden]

peeg is right dawnann.

Stand firm and insist that some of the money you and yours put into the system is given back to you. We pay their salary, therefore we are the client and consequently demand a service which is efficient and works for us.

Rarely have I been given Amoxicillin, but on each occasion (when some GP wouldn't listen to the reasons why I couldn't take it) I've ended up taking it back and asking the Pharmacy to dispose of the stuff!!

Remember not all Antibiotics work for everyone! How wealthy would the NHS be if that were the case!!?

It's taken me almost a decade to finally find one that actually works, which means I can now take the whole course without having to give up after a couple of days, due to side effects.

..and don't let any Doctor/Specialist bully you into thinking you're neurotic, (which they will do if you let them get away with it). It's their way of shifting the responsibility for your illness back across to you, all because they can't or don't want to waste precious 'financial' resources actually treating you the patient!

Keep fighting the good fight!!

[dukes]

Happy to say that since multiple A/Bs taken (Doxycycline & Clarithromycin) they seem to have killed off a residual and underlying infection that I must have had for years and took to be normal for my conditions. I no longer have daily bouts of really heavy coughing trying to bring up thick sticky mucus, causing me to ‘black-out’ at times. Still get very out of breath after exertion and cough up a little mucus, but things are a huge improvement to how they were.

[doublecee]

I am surprised that your GP made the leap from Amoxicillin to Clarythromycin. I've had Emphysema for 25yrs and had progressed to Clarythromicin some time ago. After hospitalisation I was changed to Amoxicillin for 7 days and if no improvement given Amoxiclav. This is basically Amoxicillin with a booster Clavulanic Acid. The Clavulanic Acid acts like a boot up the backside on the Amoxicillin and usually does a great job.

I believe Clarythromicin in known in medical circles as the Domestos of antibiotics. Give that some thought. Cheers.

[peege in reply to doublecee]

it certainly feels like domestos! good description doublecee.

We're all different though, I dont have emphysema but Co Amoxiclav has never worked for me either