Beware of clindamycin

[nikimazur]

My immune system has been acting strange this past week, including intense swelling of all my lymph nodes and for lack of a better term, feeling like crap.

After getting to urgent care(almost like an ER but for not as severe cases), I was seen by a doctor who spoke very little English. I explained my problem numerous times, and added that I thought it was tied into my Crohn's and steroid use. She had not read my chart, and then prescribed amoxicillin even though I'm deathly allergic to it. I asked again to read my chart, and told her numerous times that I wanted the safest antibiotic when it came to diarrhea, upset stomach. She then prescribed me Clindamycin? I never heard of it, and was given my first dose in office.

I'm kicking my self in the butt for not looking it up right then and there to see the side effects. I then take the next dose at bedtime, and noticed my stomach was upset but thought it was due to being sick. The next morning, after a third dose, I decide to read the pamphlet and have a mini heart attack. It is one of the worst antibiotics for crohns patients, and is known for causing C-diff more then any other antibiotic.

Three days later and I'm in one of my worst flares to date. I just had things under control, after a second round of steroids, and was feeling awesome. I am seeing my GI on Tuesday, but I'm so angry at myself for not being a more vigilant patient which I normally am. I'm also angry at the doctor who prescribed this medication to me. I am happy that it only caused a flare, not a deathly allergic reaction.

So moral of the story: stay far away from Clindamycin, and research every single medication you put in your body, because doctors make mistakes. gah

 

[Lisa]

Hope you get this cleared up quickly! I learned to double check doctors/nurses....a few years ago now I had a bout with kidney stones - on my second trip to the ER in the same afternoon, the nurse gave me pain meds....now mind you this was the SAME nurse who had taken care of me a couple hours earlier.....

My nose started to itch - and I called the nurse in to ask what pain meds she had given me....well- it was dilaudid - which I am ALLERGIC to!.....thankfully I hadn't had time to have more than the itching start.....

Sometimes I wonder about people.....

 

[ZM1019]

Sorry you are feeling so bad. After I became allergic to Penicillin and Erythromycin (can't have any form of cillin or mycin now), I had an urgent care doctor give me Cipro. I had an immediate reaction to it and they had to give me a shot to counteract it. There are very few antibiotics I can take now. Legitimate doctors and pharmacists are afraid to give me anything at this point. I kind of go by the rule that if they aren't worried about prescribing things for me, they are idiots and I need to leave.

Hope you feel better soon.

 

[Mountaingem]

Ugh so sorry you're sick! It's terrible but it seems like one bout of illness spurs on another with Crohn's. I've gotten c.diff from Clinamycin. I have limited choices when it comes to antibiotics as I'm always either allergic or the Crohn's won't tolerate it. Clindamycin is usually my only option.

The last time I needed to take it my GI doctor told me to take the probiotic Florastor along with it, either an hour prior to the antibiotic or two hours afterward. It has totally prevented a recurrence; I also got c.diff from Remicade/Methotrexate as well, which landed me in the hospital and also being so weak I contracted pneumonia at the same time. A close call for sure.:yfrown:

I needed to take Vancomycin both IV and oral, so I used this supplement as well along with it, and even though I was horribly infected I didn't need a second prescription. After that round I've made this part of my daily pill routine.

Florastor is just a name brand, the active bacteria is Saccharomyces Boulardii. Jarrow formulas makes an equally effective but less costly supplement. This particular good bacteria clings to any c.diff bacteria in the bowel and carries it out with your waste, thus preventing an infection from forming.

Hope this helps-wishing you better days and a speedy recovery!:dog:

 

[michaelb]

Clindamycin plus probiotics gave me remission within hours

I found this forum a couple of days ago, after doing a Google search for "Crohn's and Clindamycin". The posting I found was actually in a discussion of flagyl, where I submitted my first posting, but I've subsequently found this discussion, which seems to be a more appropriate place, so I am going to copy that first post over to this discussion, and delete it over there.

Here it is:


A few times, in the very distant past (many decades ago), including prior to my Crohn's diagnosis, I have been on some all-too-short antibiotic regimens for the duration of which I was symptom free.

A few months ago, a podiatrist was going to prescribe me Augmentin, to which I said "No. Even with probiotics, I'll be confined to the bathroom for the entire duration, even to the point of having to sleep on the pot!". So he prescribed me Clindamycin instead. I hadn't known at the time that Clindamycin had it's own reputation for causing C. Difficile overgrowth, but when I took it, I did so together with probiotics that I had used in the past with other antibiotics. (On a prior occasion, an infectious disease specialist had recommended the use of probiotics to limit the risk of antibiotic use being accompanied by severe diarrhea).

This time, everything was different. Not only did the Clindamycin not cause severe diarrhea (or any diarrhea for that matter), but within a day, I had my first "normal" urge since I was seven years old, followed shortly afterward by my first "normal" stool in years. It was well formed and solid, but neither too large nor hard nor too small nor too soft; it freely moved itself into position to be released from the rectum, and the pain that normally accompanies stool passage through the sigmoid colon was brief and minimal. After eliminating that stool, I had the first "sense of complete evacuation" that I've experienced in years. Not a trace of tenesmus! There wasn't even any trailing liquid or even semi-liquid. When I tried wiping, there was not even anyhing there to come off onto the toilet paper! I had two more such stools later that day, and for the remainder of the antibiotic regimen, I continued to have two well formed, comfortable stools per day (that just "popped out" after I sat down on the toilet). When I ran out of the Clindimycin, although I continued taking the probiotics (on the wishful thinking that the probiotics alone would now be enough, by themselves), things went back to the way they were before.

I've just started seeing a new GI, who is currently on vacation, and I haven't had a chance to discuss this with him, but when I do, I will want to emphasize that in the past I have been given flagyl, cipro, and xifaxan at various times, but without the incidental success that Clindamycin surprised me with.

Several times, I have had hydrogen breath tests (to check for overgrowth of bacteria that could produce measurable hydrogen gas, if bacteria having that property were present in a quantity sufficient to produce measurable levels under the test conditions) and these tests were always negative. Despite their being negative, the doctor who ordered the breath tests (on repeated occasions, I might add) prescribed Xifaxan (do I hear you say "expensive"? You are right!!) on the off chance that it might help anyway. It didn't.

For those in the Crohn's forum who might be in a position to make use of them, the probiotics that allowed Clindimycin to help me (without itself causing diarrhea) are sold under the name Natrol™ "Probiotic Acidophilus BioBeads". The ingredient list names the following:

• Bifidobacterium longum
• Lactobacillus acidophilus
• Lactobacillus rhamnosis
• Bifidobacterium bifidum

The only hypothesis I have at this point is that I harbor an atypical kind of intestinal overgrowth that Clindimycin was effective against, and the reason Clindimycin did not cause overgrowth problems of it's own may have been due to repopulation of my gut with the above four types of bacteria having the effect of keeping offending bacteria at bay.

- Michael

 

[timjb31]

I have Crohn's, diagnosed ~2012. I have also been using Clindamyacin Phospohate 1% topical solution on face and head for acne for probably 20 years. I am just recently reading and hearing about the contra-indication of Crohn's for the use of clindamyacin! I will certainly be discussing this with my GP and GI doctors at my next visits.

I decided today to stop using the clindmyacin for a week to see if anythign changes with my GI symptoms. Currently my Crohn's is "under control" with Lialda (4.8 grams/day), but it is not perfect. I rarely have a formed stool. I refer to it as pudding. I supplement periodically with priobiotics. I have been using TruNature that I get at Costco. Seems to help some, but not sure. I may just start filling my CP1% bottles (applicator tip) with plain rubbing alcohol (which I also use 1-2 times a day to clean, in addition to Ivory, clarifying shampoo, and 2 Rx shampoos) to use for treating issue areas. I hope Idon't have a C.diff issue/infection.