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Suggest Treatment For Side Effects Of Levaquin
Question: I went to the doctor on Monday and had bronchitis. the doctor prescribed levaquin. I took it for three days and I had vomiting and dizziness from it. I went back to the doctor on Friday and I now have pneumonia in my left lung. she prescribed cefdinir 300mg 2x daily and benzonatate 3x daily or as needed for cough. I have had very water diarreah since the beginning. it now looks reddish in color. I'm not sure if it's blood or not. it's not separated because it's very watery.
Brief Answer:
probably antibiotic associated diarrhea
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
this is a little strange but I have some potential explanation for it.
Your doctor diagnosed (or thought that you had) bronchitis. So no pneumonia was diagnosed at first. Levaquin is a potent antibiotic against pneumonia and unless a resistant bacterial strain is suspected, it is supposed to treat most cases of pneumonia with success. So it's strange that pneumonia was diagnosed after you started levaquin. This might mean that either the first diagnosis was wrong and you had pneumonia from the start or that pneumonia developed later (for example by aspirating stomach contents when you vomited).
Cefdinir is a third generation cephalosporin which is potent enough to treat both cases. Unfortunately cefdinir has a 15% rate of causing diarrhea and perhaps also Clostridium difficile colitis. Blood in the stool (reddish stool) raises suspicion for pseudomembranous colitis (by Clostridium difficile). The antibiotic has to be stopped and appropriate treatment initiated. Metronidazole or Vancomycin can be used. Vancomycin is also pretty effective for most cases of pneumonia. Perhaps the combination is a better choice because if aspiration pneumonia is suspected then antibiotics for anaerobes is required and metronidazole can play that role.
Careful clinical and laboratory assessment is required in order to determine further management.
I hope it helps!
Kind Regards!
probably antibiotic associated diarrhea
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
this is a little strange but I have some potential explanation for it.
Your doctor diagnosed (or thought that you had) bronchitis. So no pneumonia was diagnosed at first. Levaquin is a potent antibiotic against pneumonia and unless a resistant bacterial strain is suspected, it is supposed to treat most cases of pneumonia with success. So it's strange that pneumonia was diagnosed after you started levaquin. This might mean that either the first diagnosis was wrong and you had pneumonia from the start or that pneumonia developed later (for example by aspirating stomach contents when you vomited).
Cefdinir is a third generation cephalosporin which is potent enough to treat both cases. Unfortunately cefdinir has a 15% rate of causing diarrhea and perhaps also Clostridium difficile colitis. Blood in the stool (reddish stool) raises suspicion for pseudomembranous colitis (by Clostridium difficile). The antibiotic has to be stopped and appropriate treatment initiated. Metronidazole or Vancomycin can be used. Vancomycin is also pretty effective for most cases of pneumonia. Perhaps the combination is a better choice because if aspiration pneumonia is suspected then antibiotics for anaerobes is required and metronidazole can play that role.
Careful clinical and laboratory assessment is required in order to determine further management.
I hope it helps!
Kind Regards!
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Answered by
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