My husband has had to be on the antibiotic Clindamycin for a week following a nasty cut from rusty metal. He has been on ibrutanib for three years.
He's suffering really painful stomach cramps and urgency to go to the toilet many times in a day as a result of the antibiotics we feel. Can he use probiotics to restore his gut bacteria? Does anyone have any other solutions to help him with this.
He's had so many other medical issues of late associated with his CLL and I feel so sorry for him that he's now got this to deal with in addition.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Written by
Poohey
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I am really sorry to learn of the rusty nail accident.
Probiotics may help, I really dont know, they could also worsen the situation.
Stomach cramps and diarrhoea is a side effect of Clindamycin, a broad spectrum antiobiotic. It can kill normal bowel bacteria upsetting normal balance.
It is important to report this to your doctor promptly, before you take a further tablet.
Any fever or blood in the stool - would make this an urgent call to your doctor.
Per the results of this study, "probiotics don’t always live up to their harmless reputation, and to be effective, their formula needs to be tailored to the individual."
I agree with Jig, best to contact the doctor soon. Diarrhoea is not uncommon with antibiotics, but severe diarrhoea is less common, and can be a sign of Clostridium difficile infection as a result of the change in the normal bowel bacteria.
The doctor may stop or change the antibiotic. You probably know this already, but good cleaning and dressing of the wound by someone qualified in this area is also important to reduce the risk of infection.
This antibiotic can cause a very serious reaction in the bowel which manifests as severe diarrhoea and it's very important that your husband sees a doctor asap before you do anything else or probiotics.
Poohey, it might be that Ibrutinib and antibiotics are doing a double whammy on your gut bacteria.
I have had on and off diarrhea with ibrutinib, usually controlled with Imodium. One time it got bad enough where I called my Cll doctor’s assistant who told me to stop Ibrutinib for a few days and restart along with probiotics.
Since restarting ibrutinib and adding probiotics, I have had very few episodes of diarrhea. On her recommendation I use Align probiotics available at most drug stores. I use them daily now.
As others have written, I would not start probiotics without consulting with your doctor. If you were not having any diarrhea before antibiotics, ibrutinib might not be involved at all. I think it still possible the combination of the two made the diarrhea worse. Good luck.
my wife got c-diff from using clindamycin. His symptoms are the same as hers. He might look into that.
Nasty drug in my opinion! I do not have SLL/CLL and took it as a pre medications for dental work. With one tablet I was having reactions. Hope you get the antibiotics switched to another one.
So sorry to hear that. My first concern is that he is allergic to that anabiotic and should be calling his doctor to let him know. I hope it turns out ok. Anna
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