too late for this, but benadryl.
I’m kind of surprised about thinking it’s a allergic reaction to the antibiotic. I have been allergic to a couple of antibiotics and the rash has come a lot sooner than 8 day. I’m thinking it maybe something else.
I discovered my allergy to penicillin when on day 7 of taking it I developed a rash - so that is not unheard of. Remember your body will put up with the allergen for a while and then it says no more (which is why people develop reactions to poison ivy later in life after boosting when they are young that they are immune.)
I’m allergic to erythromycin. I took it for 24 hours and broke out in an all body rash…looked sunburned. And it itched like crazy. But…I was not tired from the rash. I was tired because I could not sleep with the rash.
I went back to my doctor. He immediately told me to stop the meds…and to flush my system with cranberry juice. I drank a couple of gallons of it in a day or so. Rash went away.
I got a new antibiotic for my strep…because I hadn’t completed the course of treatment for that.
I would not wait to see the doctor again. Your friend needs to be sure what this rash is from…and if she didn’t complete the course of treatment for her strep…she needs to get another antibiotic to do so.
I had a reaction this year to Cipro - which I’d taken before without any reaction. I had a rash that covered my entire back and shoulders and spread down to my thighs - it was bright red and incredibly itchy and to make matters worse it flared up as I was flying to Japan, so had to try to find an anti-itch cream in Japanese which I don’t speak :-). It was truly awful, I still have a scar because I itched so hard – I would be in front of clients and thinking - how can I back up to something so I can itch my back surreptitiously and get some relief?? Unfortunately the only thing that really seemed to work was time. It probably took 10 days to clear up. Best of luck to the patient!!
“Amoxicillin rash” is a fairly common phenomenon not caused by allergy. It usually happens 5 to 15 days after starting the meds, and is harmless, but should not cause fatigue or significent itching. True that the incidence is much higher if the person has mono. Scarlet fever rash starts in the first couple of days of the illness, not a week later.
I hope a second visit to the doctor is has occurred! the step may not be gone and sometimes amoxcillian is no longer effective against strep. antibiotics should never be stopped without talking to the doctor (physician assistant, nurse practitioner etc)
I would never attempt to determine on my own if the rash is allergic reaction or scarlet fever.and perhaps a visit to an ENT or dermatologist is needed.
Thanks everyone for your comments, concern, and advice. Love the Parent Cafe for everyone’s kindness and collective wisdom!
I haven’t talked to my kid in the past 24 hours (no news is good news!) but as of yesterday the patient was feeling much better. After sleeping a good chunk of Wednesday, the tiredness abated. The rash is still not completely gone but had improved and at least no more rash covering the entire face.
@zobroward - I agree with your comments. The stopping of the antibiotics and the diagnosis of a drug reaction (which isn’t necessarily deemed an allergy from my reading) was made by the nurse practitioner. The nurse thought the strep had cleared up but we’ll monitor things in case any symptoms resurface.
good to hear doschinos! I pictured a college student not following up on taking care of a possibly serious situation and reaching out to a parent far away to give that choice validity.
My younger D gets horrible hives for antibiotics. She has to take a stronger antihistamine (Atarax). Also, the last time she had an episode, they had her take Zantac (stomach medicine) which is a different type of antihistamine that works in your stomach. That made a tremendous difference in making the hives go away.
Totally recommend getting the over-the-counter Zantac and trying it. Google it for more info on how it works with hives. Amazing how many health professionals are unaware of it.
Zantac (ranitidine) belongs to a group of drugs called histamine-2 blockers. Zantac works by reducing the amount of acid your stomach produces. Generally, the docs I know recommend Benedryl & Zyrtec, but we are all different. Glad that Zantac works for your D. I would be concerned about whether there are any hives IN her body that can’t be seen, even tho the antihistamine is doing its best to block the reaction. I try to avoid all meds that I have any reaction to, whenever possible.
Note that antibiotics have other potentially unpleasant effects relating to disruption of the microbial ecosystem in your body. For example, oral antibiotics may kill off much of your gut bacteria, which can leave space for unpleasant types like Clostridium difficile to recolonize your git. Of course, there is also the well know effect of breeding antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogenic bacteria.
Antihistamines like Benadryl, Zyrtec and Allegra (my personal favorite) are H-1 blockers. Zantac, etc… are H-2 blockers. In cases of severe allergic reactions/hives/rash we often add an H-2 blocker, not for its effects in the stomach, but for their anti-histamine effects.
After all my decades of allergies, no one ever mentioned this to me. Good to know! Thanks!
Well, unfortunately it turns out that adding an H2 blocker to an H1 blocker doesn’t do a whole heck of a lot.
It’s amazing to me that none of my allergists nor my dermatologist ever mentioned using the combo H1 H2 antihistimines! I’ve had allergies as long as I can remember and the hives are one of the worst symptoms–SO uncomfortable!
Adding an H-2 blocker is something that they usually suggest when nothing else seems to work, and may only be effective in a small percentage of people.