Squad Propholactic Antiobiotic

[Gavmacp]

Mother is on this for recurring UTI's. She has had conflicting advice with regard to this. Should she stop it for a week occasionally or just take it regularly?

[Jackdaw33]

I don't know the answer. My interest is this is that I am on a small prophylactic dose for asplenia. I have never been advised to stop it occasionally.

[Sqad]

Difficult question.

If she is on a low dose prophylactic antibiotic, then she should take it regularly for at least 6 months .......or more.

However, the evidence to show that this makes any difference to the recurrent infections is contentious, as when the patient stops taking them the infections return at the same frequency.

If mother, for her own reasons, would prefer to stop taking them for a week, then i would have thought it quite reasonable.

[woofgang]

Gacmacp is your Mum addressing the problem in any other ways?

[woofgang]

pressed submit too soon. Does she have any predisposing factors? Why does she want to take a break from them?

[Gavmacp]

Advised to take for a few weeks then stop for a week then start again.
Advised to take regularly.
Advised that it wasn't a good idea to take prophylactic antibiotics.
As you can see it is all rather confusing.
Yes she has had investigations. I am a nurse but didn't realise how many possible explanations there could be.

[woofgang]

What did the most expert person you have consulted say?

I hope you don't mind but I have cut/pasted from an answer I gave to a similar question a while ago in case anything might have been missed and might help. Apologies if I am poking my nose or its all been covered already

Older people tend to have less resistance to infection anyway. They tend to drink less and therefore their urine is more concentrated, also they go to the loo less so the urine sits in the bladder for longer. The other bit is that their muscles tend to be less strong. this is not only one of the reasons for incontinence but it also means that the bladder may not fully empty each time. Muscle weakness also means that the seal between the bladder and the outside world is less secure and where urine can get out, bacteria can get in. An additional complication for men can be prostate issues that will also prevent complete bladder emptying.

Mitigation? drink more. Its okay to drink it early in the day so it passes before bed time but do not do the "no drinks after 6pm" thing. Take care with personal hygiene but don't go crazy. Pad that go in the undies or special underwear is helpful for this. If the person is unwilling to drink more, then juicy fruit can help.

pelvic floor exercises may be helpful for both genders. Its also worth checking for diabetes in someone who continually gets wee infections.
Here endeth the lesson!

[Sqad]

woofgang....yes......impressive, but the OP was asking about prophylactic antibiotics specifically.

[woofgang]

indeed sqad but just incase the basics had been missed....