Hey everyone, I have a question regarding your experiences with antibiotics. Recently I've been taking one called Clarithromycin for a lung infection. My doctor prescribed it to me, and I double checked with him that it won't interact with my other meds (specifically levetiracetam), and he said it shouldn't. He also gave me a prescription for cough syrup that contains codeine and a decongestant, which I know does interact with my meds, but he said if I take only small amounts of it only when needed, it should be fine.
Well, I took the cough medicine once, and that was enough for me. It didn't really help anyway, but it messed me up good. I was extra dizzy, losing my balance a couple of times, and it gave me a really bad dry mouth, so never touching that stuff again.
As for the antibiotic, I did some googling on it, and it says it can lower the seizure threshold. Psychoactive side effects have been noticed as well, including hallucinations. There was even one study about an elderly patient who took it (not diagnosed epileptic) and they developed generalized tonic/clonic seizures and eventually experienced non-convulsive status epilepticus! All they had to do was take the patient off the antibiotic and he returned to normal.
Since I need this stuff to kill the lung infection, I've been taking it and carefully watching my symptoms. It hits hard with nausea if I don't eat enough when I take it, and I feel it is increasing the dizziness side effect of my levetiracetam. I just want to lay on the couch all day and do nothing. Mind you, I am sick after all. I haven't had any seizures (that I know of), but it's not fun. Luckily I have only two more days to go with this stuff and I'm done. Also it seems to be clearing the infection too. I'll have to take some strong probiotics when it's all done.
Any thoughts on antibiotics and epilepsy?
Well, I took the cough medicine once, and that was enough for me. It didn't really help anyway, but it messed me up good. I was extra dizzy, losing my balance a couple of times, and it gave me a really bad dry mouth, so never touching that stuff again.
As for the antibiotic, I did some googling on it, and it says it can lower the seizure threshold. Psychoactive side effects have been noticed as well, including hallucinations. There was even one study about an elderly patient who took it (not diagnosed epileptic) and they developed generalized tonic/clonic seizures and eventually experienced non-convulsive status epilepticus! All they had to do was take the patient off the antibiotic and he returned to normal.
Since I need this stuff to kill the lung infection, I've been taking it and carefully watching my symptoms. It hits hard with nausea if I don't eat enough when I take it, and I feel it is increasing the dizziness side effect of my levetiracetam. I just want to lay on the couch all day and do nothing. Mind you, I am sick after all. I haven't had any seizures (that I know of), but it's not fun. Luckily I have only two more days to go with this stuff and I'm done. Also it seems to be clearing the infection too. I'll have to take some strong probiotics when it's all done.
Any thoughts on antibiotics and epilepsy?