nitrofurantoin mono

[halperinchen]

hi, is this antibiotic aggravate or exacerbate restless leg, I'd appreciate if anyone has the experiences reply to me, my doctor prescribe it for my urinary tract infection. Because of RLS, I hesitate to take it . Thanks a lot for all of you.

[ChrisColumbus]

Assuming that non-drug options have been tried or deemed inappropriate and the UTI needs drug treatment, in the UK either nitrofurantoin or trimethoprim are the usual first line option for men and women.

There have been occasional reports that nitrofurantoin has aggravated RLS, but then unfortunately some people report that *any* course of antibiotics can exacerbate RLS and/or stop RLS medication from working. Some say that this improves after a month or so.

But both my mother and my mother in law were plagued by recurrent UTIs in later life and struggled miserably without antibiotics until they had to be hospitalised - and given antibiotics. My mother had RLS but there was no sign that antibiotics made this worse.

(This may or may not be relevant, but probiotics can help to replace bacteria killed by antibiotics.)

[SueJohnson]

In general antibiotics do not make RLS worse, but everyone is different and react to drugs differently. I can't find anything that says nitrofurantoin makes RLS worse. You can always try it and see being careful not to change anything else you are doing. Let us know how it goes.

[Deesee]

I avoid nitrofurantoin when I have a UTI because I have peripheral neuropathy along with RLS. It’s been found to occasionally cause peripheral neuropathy after chronic use. This is from the book

Peripheral Neuropathy

By Norman Latov, MD

I don’t know about any effect on RLS, so might be worth a try.

Good luck.

[halperinchen in reply to Deesee]

I apologized to everyone who replied to my questions so late since I have been real sick in the hospital undergoing laparotomy to rule out appendicitis. and came home to recuperate from the severe abdominal incision pain. Thanks all ,