901 replies to this topic

[Kaddict]

Not only that, but where has Em magically saved these antibiotics from? It is sooooo important (as with any medication) that you finish the full course.

 

And to add insult to injury, none of us know anything about her medical history and any other contributing factors...   

 

Let's make this completely clear: You have given some of the worst advice a physician possibly could. You just told someone to take somebody elses meds for fucks sake!

 

 

I hope you don't pass because you're already endangering people!

It is not illegal/unsafe to take a family members abx until you get your fill. I did mention it is important to take the full course (by not doing so, the chance of it coming back, or strains of abx resistant bacteria increase, the latter also increases if you take meds when not sick). The med history that I know is that her roommate has strep, she has a sore throat. Even if Emily goes in and tests negative for a strep test, her doctor would and should give her amox (barring an amox allergy, which Em would tell us about before just following some random dude's advice).
As far as passing goes, I don't know to what you are referring, but so far I have consistently stayed in the top 10% of my class, thank you very much.

EDIT: Ok, I don't know how many of these chat functions work, so I don't know how to quote you in an edit. Anyway, I agree with what you said Waser. Absolutely. If her roommate just has a sore throat and is calling it strep (which is actually a common occurrence) than she shouldn't take anything other zinc vitc etc. If she has been properly diagnose, amox is what she should take. But one of the two should absolutely be seen.

Edited by Kaddict, 14 September 2014 - 07:23 AM.

[Trichomes]

If you go to a Doctor's office and you are diagnosed with strep, they will ask you if anyone else in your household has similar symptoms and write a prescription for those people as well. Doctors use Occam's Razor. It is much more likely both are infected with strep, rather than both having similar symptoms while one has a viral infection and the other a bacterial. Even if you have a negative strep test, doctors will often write amox.Doctors use Occam's Razor. It is much more likely both are infected with strep, rather than both having similar symptoms while one has a viral infection and the other a bacterial. Even if you have a negative strep test, doctors will often write amox.

This is just not true. I've NEVER been diagnosed with strep and written a prescription without a positive throat culture. Often, I would go to the doctor with a sore throat, and I'd leave without a prescription because it wasn't strep. I could have done a lot more damage than good by taking unecessary antibiotics on those occasions. Also, my sister got strep all the time, and she was never given a prescription for anyone else in the household even if we were sick as well.

[Dan]

It is not illegal/unsafe to take a family members abx until you get your fill. I did mention it is important to take the full course (by not doing so, the chance of it coming back, or strains of abx resistant bacteria increase, the latter also increases if you take meds when not sick). The med history that I know is that her roommate has strep, she has a sore throat. Even if Emily goes in and tests negative for a strep test, her doctor would and should give her amox (barring an amox allergy, which Em would tell us about before just following some random dude's advice).

 
We can say with some certainty that Em's roommate is not a family member.

Why would a doctor prescribe amox if they are uncertain as to whether the infection (if there is one) is bacterial and not viral?

As far as passing goes, I don't know to what you are referring, but so far I have consistently stayed in the top 10% of my class, thank you very much.

 
Yeah, and I'm a Rocket Surgeon who just got back from the planet Mars.

At the end of the day, you shouldn't be giving out medical advice. You aren't qualified.

[Kaddict]

This is just not true. I've NEVER been diagnosed with strep and written a prescription without a positive throat culture. Often, I would go to the doctor with a sore throat, and I'd leave without a prescription because it wasn't strep. I could have done a lot more damage than good by taking unecessary antibiotics on those occasions. Also, my sister got strep all the time, and she was never given a prescription for anyone else in the household even if we were sick as well.

Sorry if I was unclear. But I was referring to situations like your last sentence, when someone in the household was sick. Not de novo infections. Your family doc just must have been a whole lot more strict with abx, or maybe they didn't mention that someone else had the same symptoms. Strep is one of the sicknesses where problems can arise if not treated with an abx. So nearly all doctors (and every one of the dozen I have worked with) would write it for other family members if one was sick. One of the doctor's made each one come in for another test, but it was more for billing purposes than anything else.


EDIT: To Dan: Family member or not, she is living with this person. And proximity is the important thing with strep, not genetics... I said family member to imply people under the same roof.

Edited by Kaddict, 14 September 2014 - 07:29 AM.

[Emily]

I haven't even taken any. Good lord. If I knew it was going to cause this, I wouldn't have said anything. 

 

Not only that, but where has Em magically saved these antibiotics from? It is sooooo important (as with any medication) that you finish the full course.

 

And to add insult to injury, none of us know anything about her medical history and any other contributing factors...

 

The antibiotics are mine. Prescribed to me. 

 

My roommate was diagnosed with strep. She went to the hospital for it. 

 

Either way, I haven't even taken any antibiotics. All I've taken is nasal decongestant pills that you can get from CVS and some alka-seltzer tablets in water (which is disgusting). 

[Waser Lave]

I haven't even taken any. Good lord. If I knew it was going to cause this, I wouldn't have said anything.

 

It keeps us occupied.

[Frizzle]

Amoxicillin is actually the go to drug for pharyngitis. Most doctors will prescribe around a weeks prescription as long as you don't have a penicillin allergy.

[Emily]

I have Keflex. My doctor prescribed me two weeks a few months ago when I had bronchitis, but I never finished it. 

[NapisaurusRex]

This is just not true. I've NEVER been diagnosed with strep and written a prescription without a positive throat culture. Often, I would go to the doctor with a sore throat, and I'd leave without a prescription because it wasn't strep. I could have done a lot more damage than good by taking unecessary antibiotics on those occasions. Also, my sister got strep all the time, and she was never given a prescription for anyone else in the household even if we were sick as well.

I've never had a throat culture, but have been diagnosed with strep before.

[Frizzle]

I have Keflex. My doctor prescribed me two weeks a few months ago when I had bronchitis, but I never finished it.

God that's stupid.

[Tetiel]

Okay, first... only in rare cases does a doctor just look at your throat and diagnose you with strep. What they can diagnose you with is acute pharangitis. Strep throat is called strep throat because of a bacterial infection of Streptococcus pyogenes group A. This specific bacterium secretes an exotoxin which acts as a superantigen causing severe inflammation in the area and for the body's immune system to be overloaded, thus the awful sore throat, severe redness, and fever. It's also responsible for Scarlet Fever, another fun infection. Oh, and the famous flesh-eating bacteria.

So yes, it is absolutely correct that without diagnosis, it could create problems. However, there is a reason we have a 15 minute strep test to try to rule things out. After which, it is up to the doctor's judgment if it is a false negative or not. The rare complications which can arise typically also generally only occur, just like in every other disease, in the immunocomprimised such as children, elderly, and those with autoimmune/other deficiencies, but particularly in children. So in children, they may just give you some antibiotics to try not to have the kid die. Adults? I sure as hell wouldn't without a positive test unless I really, really felt strongly about it. The pyogenes in S. pyogenes means pus-creating, by the way, so if you appear to have a large amount of it, they may choose to anyways, for example.

 

But let me make this extremely clear - we are facing a crisis. A very, very serious problem. Antibiotic resistance is no joke and overprescription of antibiotics, particularly in cases like this where the acute pharangitis may be a freakin' rhinovirus instead is incredibly irresponsible. We are in an era where new antibiotics are not being discovered nearly fast enough to beat the resistance. We are now seeing Vancomycin Resistant Staph Aureus in hospitals. This is really, really, really serious. DO NOT ENCOURAGE THE OVERPRESCTIPTION OF ANTIBIOTICS. You're supposedly going to be a doctor. Take some fucking responsibility for the future.

This is a conservation issue. A human conservation issue. I don't want some strain of antibiotic resistant strep running around the populous because some physicians were lazy and just wanted to appease some patients. Because you know what you're responsible for when you do that? You take part in the responsibility of every death that comes from it because you are part of the problem. You're making it happen. Doctors every day are making it happen and I am terrified of the future consequences because we are seeing it right now. Don't be one of those doctors. Please. I don't want to see that future. I don't want to spend my career sending children to the hospital for bacterial infections that I can't fix because the only antibiotics left will shut down their kidneys. Every prescription (or non-prescription as is the case) brings you one step closer.

[Nymh]

Did anyone watch that House episode where Cuddy and a bunch of other passengers get sick on a plane mimicking the symptoms of a dude they thought had a serious illness, but who turned out to be a drug mule?  The mind is capable of some crazy things regarding sickness.

 

@Kaddict, hoping to be a doctor one day doesn't make it OK to do what you're doing.  Sorry.  I've been assisting doctors in eye care for almost ten years.  I run an education institute on eye care and teach classes on ocular anatomy, disease and pharmacology...but that still doesn't make it OK if I take a sample of a prescription drop out of the cabinet and give it to someone without them being seen by the doctor and diagnosed.

 

@Emily I hope you feel better soon.  I -personally- wouldn't recommend antibiotics in this instance for a variety of reasons, all discussed above.  I can count the amount of times I've taken antibiotics since I was 12 on one hand, if that gives you an idea on my stance on antibiotics.

[Tetiel]

Oh, and Em, sorry, but please always finish your entire course of antibiotics. The reason why is that the entire dose ensures that all bacteria are killed off. What may happen otherwise is that you may have some bacteria which survive which are obviously more resistant to the drug than the others. They can come back with a raging infection which is antibiotic resistant.  Not fun times. For anyone involved. Many people just stop taking their antibiotics which they feel better. Let me be clear that this is a huge mistake which may one day bite you in the ass. And everyone else in the ass.

Keflex is also a mass spectrum antibiotic which they give you when they don't know if you have gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria. What happens is this also kills off your natural flora in your gut leading to Clostridium difficile infections. The difficile means bloody difficult to get rid of because they produce endospores, dehydrated cells which can become new bacterium once all the others are killed off. It's the stuff they now give people fecal transplants for so they'll have healthier bacteria diversity. That's right. They put one person's poop in another person's pooper.

[Emily]

Yeah, I just don't really like taking them. They upset my stomach even when I eat. 

 

Either way, can we change the subject because I already feel like an idiot. 

[Waser Lave]

So...periods, eh?

[NapisaurusRex]

I made cloth pads to go with my diva cup.

[Waser Lave]

And with that I make my exit. *backs away slowly*

[Nymh]

I made cloth pads to go with my diva cup.

 

I have a diva cup!  Haven't dug it out since I started getting periods again, though.

Actually I probably need to get a new one.  Mine is easily 10 years old by now.

[Kaddict]

At the risk of steering this conversation away from periods again, let me just clarify my rx beliefs. What you guys said is true, and if you read my post, I mentioned abx resistance as well. That is why only when strep has been positively diagnosed is it ok (and commonly practiced) to rx amox for others in the household with symptoms. Oftentimes doctors will even give an extra rx for a spouse (for instance) not exhibiting symptoms and they say, fill this only if you start to have similar symptoms. Again, you don't want to do that with Keflex, for reasons that you (tetiel, sp?) already mentioned. C. diff is way nasty, I wouldn't take that over strep. (Also, emily, if you taken abx a lot and have problems, an over the counter probiotic can help you with that. Ask your doctor about them.). And I have seriously done over 500 rapid strep tests in the last year. There were a few that were obviously false negatives. I imagine i had the person cough on my face 50 of those times. Moments like that made me pray the culture was negative. Anyway, long story short, I feel many doctors (usually in hospital and urgent care settings) do over prescribe abx. They are negatively reinforced to do so (because some patients wont leave with an rx, doesn't make over prescribing right, it just makes it easy). But in the case of strep, since it is especially contagious, it is safe practice to just give the abx to others in the household with symptoms. Again, Occam's Razor. 

So... back to lady parts... did so and so ever decide on which birth control would be best for her?

[NapisaurusRex]

They are negatively reinforced to do so (because some patients wont leave with an rx, doesn't make over prescribing right, it just makes it easy).

I guess I should also add that Yung's doctor told him that she was required to write him a prescription. He didn't have a throat swab or anything. He refused antibiotics, she told him it was required for her to prescribe it, but he didn't have to pick them up if he didn't want to. I got texts from walmart for two weeks saying that his prescription was ready.

[Nymh]

I guess I should also add that Yung's doctor told him that she was required to write him a prescription. He didn't have a throat swab or anything. He refused antibiotics, she told him it was required for her to prescribe it, but he didn't have to pick them up if he didn't want to. I got texts from walmart for two weeks saying that his prescription was ready.

 

I can't imagine why that would be required?  Is it a state law?

[Kaddict]

I guess I should also add that Yung's doctor told him that she was required to write him a prescription. He didn't have a throat swab or anything. He refused antibiotics, she told him it was required for her to prescribe it, but he didn't have to pick them up if he didn't want to. I got texts from walmart for two weeks saying that his prescription was ready.

Ya, that is weird. And I hate when I don't fill my prescription and the pharmacy keeps calling. I feel somewhat guilty... I get it Wal-mart, if I wanted the meds, I would have come to get them by now!

[NapisaurusRex]

I can't imagine why that would be required?  Is it a state law?

I'm actually not sure. I don't know if it's a law or if his insurance. He's gone to two doctors this year unaffiliated with each other and they both told him that.
 

Ya, that is weird. And I hate when I don't fill my prescription and the pharmacy keeps calling. I feel somewhat guilty... I get it Wal-mart, if I wanted the meds, I would have come to get them by now!

Yeah, I'd assume walmarts required by policy to keep notifying though.

[Kaddict]

Question: Flavored condoms, yes or no? (latex doesn't count as a flavor)

[Frizzle]

What's the point? Who sucks dick with a condom?

(Ohh it prevents STIs etc...fuck offffff).