Question: I recently had a bad sore throat. I had several different kinds of antibiotics. Experienced severe diarrhea to Keflex. Was changed to Flagyl. After first two pills I broke out with a red itchy rash with large (quarter sized red spots on back, both arms and both legs. I went to walk-in clinic where I received a script for zithromax, got a steroid injection and treatment for a severe case of vaginal yeast infection. Also got two meds for that. Large red spots have mostly faded, but are still there. Prior to the sore throat I got a bad cut on my right leg from the car door as I was closing it. It did bleed and I washed it with soap and water, put pressure to stop the bleeding and put large bandage on it. I cannot seem to find out what caused the large red spots (about 7 0r 8 on each arm and leg.) I am very concerned about the possibility of tetanus from the cut. Have not had a tetanus vaccine in some years, probably more than 10. I do not want to get lockjaw. Can I get a tetanus vaccine at this time? I forgot to mention that we were staying in a hotel due to a rat infestation in our house that had been treated unsuccesfully for several weeks.

Do you have any idea what caused the big (quarter-sized red itchy spots on both my legs and both my arms and my back? They have faded to some degree, but are still there. There are about 8 spots on both my legs and both arms. I don't know how many are on the back. Could it be related to tetanus from the cut I received on the car door several weeks ago or something to do with the rats? I have never seen anything like it and am terribly distressed about the cause. I am no longer on any antibiotics. The doctor I saw last only gave me three 500mg zithromax. Although they appeared after taking the flagyl, I have never had a reaction to that antibiotic before. I will definitely get a tetanus booster ASAP if I can find where to get it. Thank you for your help.

I appreciate your response to my follow-up question. Unfortunately, I have not figured out how to attach the picture of my legs. Could you please send me an address to which I can mail it? I got a DPT booster yesterday. I hope that was soon enough to avoid any potential problem from tetanus. The spots are slowly fading. I showed the cut to my orthopedist at a regular appointment shortly after the cut. All he said about it was that it would probably clear-up on its on in a few weeks. There is some evidence remaining of the two small black spots in the center of a bruise where the cut was. It does not appear to be infected.

I had several types of antibiotics after the cut due to an acute case of pharyngiitis, including one week of erythromycin which helped, but afterward the problem came back, and I was given something similar to Keflex (in the same family) which after 3 pills caused me severe diarhhrea. After that my primary care doctor gave me flagyl, It was after taking 2 of those that I got the strange rash, so I quit that one. I went back to the urgent care clinic and got the three zithromax pills. I have had flagyl several times before with no problems. I was reluctant to take vancomycin not only because it was so incredibly expensive, but also because I didn't want to take a chance on getting allergic to the antibiotic of last resort. The only other time I had that was when I had surgery several years ago. Please send me an address to which I can send the picture of my legs taken after I had a steroid injection. Thank you for your help. I am so thankful you are there for me. It is very difficult to get a message to my PC physician.

This is the picture you asked for. I am sending to you website as requested. This is XXXXXXX Gravlin about the big red spots on my arms and legs and back. I hope this works. Please let me know.

Thank you for all the time you have spent with my problem. The spots popped up after two doses of flagyl which I was given for the diarrhea following three doses of Keflex related medication. The Keflex followed a one-week treatment for an acute case of pharyngitis with erythromycin at my original appointment. I felt better after the erythromycin, but still had a sore throat and burning sensations in my upper chest and was changed to Keflex and that was the beginning of the diarrhea.

I had three quick strep tests, all of which were negative. After that I was prescribed the flagyl which I was told was proper for diarrhea which I had had before with no problems. After two doses of that this time is when the red, itchy spots developed. When I went back to the urgent care clinic, I was prescribed a 3-day dose of 500mg of zithromycin and given a steroid injection and medication for the severe vaginal yeast infection (both 1 pill and several tubes of something to apply three times a day.) When the spots did not go away is when my PC physician prescribed the vancomycin. I have now taken 5 of them in 6 hour intervals. I'm not sure it is solving the diarrhea problem, but since I bought two days of the medicine (8 capsules), I was following the urgent care doctor's very strong recommendation The urgent care physician called me last night to say that the c-diff test was positive and strongly urged me to get the vancomycin. Tonight I took 2 limotil pills so that I could attend church tomorrow. I have already missed 2 Sundays with this problem. After that, I plan to stop the limotil to see what happens. If I continue to have diarrhea, I don't know what else to do. I definitely don't want to go back to the hospital as they probably present at least as many problems as they solve these days. (They mistakenly hung potassium instead of my antibiotic the last time I was there.) My understanding is that vancomycin is the antibiotic of last resort. I asked the doctor who strongly urged me to take at least two days of vancomycin before I bought the full 10-day prescription of 1 every 6 hours, if another prescription of zithromycin would be a good solution. He said "no." I will get the blood tests you suggested ordered. Could the cut on my leg have caused vasculitis? I will have to look up the other problems you mentioned as I do not remember what they are, if I ever knew. Again, I really appreciate all of your help. A visit to my PC is an ordeal lasting at least 4 hours every time and sometimes more. He has not digitized his files and has tons of paper to go through at every visit with every patient. The people at the urgent care clinic are a Godsend. They had my son taken by ambulance to the hospital when he went there thinking he had a bad case of heartburn which actually resulted in a quadruple bypass. He had his 53rd birthday in the hospital. Thank you again for all your help. If you have any further advice, I would be glad to hear from you again. XXXXXXX Gravlin