Allergic reactions to some antibiotics.

@hildas (3031)
October 22, 2008 9:27am CST
Having had a severe allergic to Disliclor antibiotic, I have become weary about taking them. With new ones on the market all the time, what do we avoid?
2 responses
@gerald_lian (2188)
• Australia
22 Oct 08
When taking a certain medication, particularly for the first time, it would be hard to tell whether you will get an allergic reaction to it or not. But once you have taken that medication and you have a severe allergic reaction to it, it becomes a precaution for you to stay away from that class of medication for future circumstances. That is why it is important to inform health professionals about what allergies you have, so as to avoid them giving you a certain class of medication that could cause that allergic reaction in you. As some antibiotics also have cross reactivity (just for information's sake, penicillins and cephalosporins have a 10% cross reactivity chance), and cross reactivity basically means that if you have an allergic reaction to one class of antibiotics, you have a 10% chance of still getting the allergic reaction if you take the mentioned different class of antibiotics. This is another plus point on why you should tell any health professional you deal with about any allergies that you have. I guess the take away point from my advice is to always inform your doctor or pharmacist about the specific antibiotics (or medications in general) that you are allergic to, so that they can ensure that you don't get another different antibiotic but is still in the same antibiotic class. Alternatively, you could also take the initiative to learn more about the classes of antibiotics and the particular antibiotics that are in each class. Just to name a few classes of antibiotics, there are penicillins, cephalosporins, macrolides, tetracyclines, aminoglycosides, quinolones, carbapenems, imidazoles, glycopeptides and lincosamides. If you can differentiate each antibiotic into it's classes, you will know what antibiotics to avoid if you have allergy to a certain antibiotic class. Good luck, and I hope what I mentioned is understandable and didn't contain too many jargons!
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@hildas (3031)
22 Oct 08
Thank you so much. I will find out the class the antibiotic fits into and write it down, so I will never have to go through a severe reaction again. (I had taken many different antibiotics over the years and was fine) but I think this must of been a new one to me. The first day I took them I was fine. The second evening I was in ER.
• Australia
23 Oct 08
Yeah, it would be useful to find out the different antibiotic classes as I mentioned previously. Taking medications is normally like that - you take it for the first time and nothing really happens, but taking it for the second time then the severe allergic reaction shows. Basically, when you first take the medication, your body is being exposed to this new medication and this alerts the body system to develop antibodies in response to it. Thus, the second time you ingest the medication, the body is prepared to fight against the so-called "foreign" substance, hence you will get an allergic reaction. But note that not all medications cause this; it is onlt certain medications that can evoke that immune response in certain individuals that has the potential to cause this.....anyway, I wish you all the best and I do hope that you will not suffer another allergic reaction after taking the neceassary precautions.
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@hildas (3031)
23 Oct 08
Thank you:)
• India
23 Oct 08
Ya I too have alergic reaction to sulpha medicine. It cause blisters on my lips.
@hildas (3031)
23 Oct 08
Oh dear. I itched from the inside out, went bright red, had this terriable pressure in my head and could not breath. You have to be careful. Thanks for reply.