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Can Levofloxacin Be Taken For Pharyngitis?
Question: A doctor at urgent care prescribed me levofloxacin for pharyngitis. Is this antibiotic safe? I have heard it has terrible side effects that may last for years or a lifetime.
Brief Answer:
well tolerated usually
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
as every drug, levofloxacin has a lot of potential side effects. It's usually well tolerated though. One thing to consider is the need to use such an antibiotic for pharyngitis. Levofloxacin is too much for common cases of pharyngitis and it's wrong to be prescribed to patients for that, unless there are good reasons to believe that other antibiotics won't work (for example in a patient who has used various antibiotics recently).
Expect gastrointestinal side effects mostly. Some of the most common ones include abdominal pain, nausea, altered taste, headache, vaginitis, diarrhea or constipation, etc. Some long lasting effects may include the potential to weaken certain ligaments and predispose them to rupture. This kind of effect of occur even months after discontinuation of the drug.
I hope you find my comments helpful!
Kind Regards!
well tolerated usually
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
as every drug, levofloxacin has a lot of potential side effects. It's usually well tolerated though. One thing to consider is the need to use such an antibiotic for pharyngitis. Levofloxacin is too much for common cases of pharyngitis and it's wrong to be prescribed to patients for that, unless there are good reasons to believe that other antibiotics won't work (for example in a patient who has used various antibiotics recently).
Expect gastrointestinal side effects mostly. Some of the most common ones include abdominal pain, nausea, altered taste, headache, vaginitis, diarrhea or constipation, etc. Some long lasting effects may include the potential to weaken certain ligaments and predispose them to rupture. This kind of effect of occur even months after discontinuation of the drug.
I hope you find my comments helpful!
Kind Regards!
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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