antibiotics - what would you do?

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Logan has had a cold for 12 days. Runny nose, cough, generally feeling bad, not eating much. It got better and then it got worse again, but today it is much better. She wakes up with a runny nose and cough and it goes away only to come back at bedtime.

I took her to the doctor today, because we are leaving Sunday to fly to Florida and I wanted to make sure her ears were okay. He says that it is probably a sinus infection and that one ear has some fluid but it is not red yet. He gave a prescription for amoxycillin and said we could wait and if she is not better in a few days get it filled, or we could start now.

What would you do? I don't like to give antibiotics when they are not necessary, but given that we are going on a plane on Sunday I don't want it to get any worse by then either. But on the other hand, I don't want to deal with diarrhea on the plane either. I'll give her yogurt with active cultures to help avoid that, but she has never had antibiotics before so I am not sure how they will affect her. Which is another reason to start the dose before we leave, just in case she has a reaction.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[Rachels]

Hmm. That's a tough question. A sinus infection usually will just get worse and worse, though. If she is getting better, I'd be inclined to hold off or just to try dosing her with decongestants / antihistamines for a few days. Let me look in my health books in case there are other remedies worth trying-- I'll get back to you.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[ddmarsh]

Karen - Sinus infections really do just linger and linger. As a matter of fact I finally went into the doctor today for another one - in my experience they just do not go away without an antiobiotic. The other thing to keep in mind is the way that flying effects ear infections. We flew recently and DS was diagnosed with a horrible infection once we were there and we were told he could not fly for at least a couple of days (fortunately we weren't planning on leaving within that time frame.)

Good luck -

[JenCA]

I think I'd be inclined to go ahead and start the antibiotics. I just went through this with DD--she had cold-like symptoms for nearly two weeks and I finally took her in, just in time to discover that she had an ear infection. She was on the antibiotics for five days (2x per day), but within 2 days of being on them, she'd done a complete 180. The antiobiotics did give her mild diarrhea--but feeding her immediately prior to giving them to her seemed to help. Since you're going to be flying, I think it would be a good idea to try to nip that potential ear infection in the bud. Good luck!

[pamela mom of 3]

Personally i would give it a try, see whether she improves, kids are funny how they start to bouce back pretty quick when they start meds{if the were really needed kwim?}

As an adult who has suffered from many a sinus infection, they do tend to go on & on..plus the ear having some fluid could lead to an infection which are just plain awful things x(

Although of coarse kids vary none of have mine have reacted badly to the amoxycillin.

Actually my 8yo is on it now, poor thing got the flu/combined with her first ear infection :(

GL, hope she feels better soon, it's so hard when they are ill!





~Pamela Mom Of 3

http://instagiber.net/smiliesdotcom/kao/otn/blobflower.gif

[hellokitty1]

I can't speak much on the sinus infection but IMHO, based on my experience with Sydney, the fact that Logan has fluid in her ears would make me want to ut her on the antibiotics now. While I don't know Logan's experience with ear infections, my ped told me that fluid is the first sign if an infection. the fact that you're traveling pushes it over the edge for me. I'd give it now in this instance.

JMO. HTH.

[momma_boo]

Karen,

I'm going through something very similar right now. Sarah's been sick on and off since the beginning of the month. We'd taken her in twice to get checked but last weekend it finally ended up an ear infection. After about 3 days of amoxicillin she was soo much better.

If she's got fluid in there, it seems like a full-blown infection is just a matter of time, huh? Especially since you are flying it might be better to play it safe and start them.

Sarah did intially have some diarrhea (I fed her yogurt) and she did have a really bad diaper rash initially but that's already healed. It's just annoying b/c we have to give it for 10 days and she hates us holding her down. She'll swallow it but with a fight.

Good luck and have a great trip!

[momma_boo]

Karen,

I'm going through something very similar right now. Sarah's been sick on and off since the beginning of the month. We'd taken her in twice to get checked but last weekend it finally ended up an ear infection. After about 3 days of amoxicillin she was soo much better.

If she's got fluid in there, it seems like a full-blown infection is just a matter of time, huh? Especially since you are flying it might be better to play it safe and start them.

Sarah did intially have some diarrhea (I fed her yogurt) and she did have a really bad diaper rash initially but that's already healed. It's just annoying b/c we have to give it for 10 days and she hates us holding her down. She'll swallow it but with a fight.

Good luck and have a great trip!

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Thanks everyone, you have confirmed what my instincts were telling me. :) If we were not flying on Sunday I would wait, but since we are I started the antibiotics tonight.

She slurped it right down.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[stillplayswithbarbies]

Thanks everyone, you have confirmed what my instincts were telling me. :) If we were not flying on Sunday I would wait, but since we are I started the antibiotics tonight.

She slurped it right down.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03