Clearly Im not a medical professional and I have no idea what Im doing, but I was on the Zpac for bronchitis and it made my body swell up and hives everywhere.
I had to go to the hospital today and got a huge benadryl shot in my bum and they have me a steriod pill. The sent me home with a script for benadryl and the steriods that I havent picked up yet. Im going to have to go get it because I guess the benadryl wore off and Im getting really itchy again.
So, I really dont want to take the steriods. Could I just take the benadryl? I will ask the pharmacist, but just curious if anyone knows. I hate medicine!!! And I dont need anymore damn problems! Thanks! :)
Alright I took them. Thanks for learning me! :)
MamaMay, it was a pretty stressful day, I didnt get all my questions asked and honestly it was a blurr. Ever had one of those days. Or months??
The steroids help with inflammation and diminish the body's response to an allergen, so the allergen can leave the system.
YES!! I'd definitely take them! It's short term, so I'd not worry about any body side effects that happen if taken for a long period of time.
They prescribed the steroid because you clearly had a severe reaction to the antibiotic. If you had a true ANAPHYLACTIC reaction, acute response to the medication, it would have been a dire emergency treatment to save your life. Sounds like you were close to having nearly that severe. Benadryl is an anti-histamine to reduce the itching and aggravation as well as inflammation, but the steroid is stronger in sense of reducing inflammation and swelling. They are often given together to counteract and prevent worse problems of that nature.
Steroids are generally safe for short term things like this. Like any drug, there are some people who can't take steroids and can have allergies to them, however, they are used for treatment of allergic reactions.
Short term steroids should not cause lasting harmful effects, I call it the "good drug--bad drug". Excellent for short term use, can cause problems with long term use.
Long term use is often necessary for chronic lung problems, like COPD to help breathing, used long term in arthritic conditions, and some cancer treatments and transplants. Long term use can cause some bone loss like osteoporosis, thinning of skin, moon face, tissue and organ damage, but life saving.
Steroids are used in epidural blocks to reduce inflammation and relieve pain with nerve compression, can be injected into joints to reduce pain and inflammation.
In your case with the symptoms you had, they should be quite beneficial, and as much as I don't like medication myself, I would use it and not be afraid of any lasting effects of the steroid.
Be sure that you note in your history for future reference that you are ALLERGIC to the Z pack (Zithromax). You will be allergic to other drugs in that same classification, like Erythromycin, (E.E.S, E-Mycin, Ery-Tab)Biaxin.
Hope you feel better soon!
It's the only thing that helps my bronchitis, which I get once a year. If not treated properly you can develop pneumonia. It's not enough steroid to make much of a difference, but you may feel hungry and bitchy during the time you're taking it ;)
Molly:
YES!!!! Take the steroids!!! They will help with the reaction you had - swelling, inflammation and hives!!!
Take them as prescribed!!
Azithromycin lasts for some time. The steroids are to prevent your windpipe from swelling shut and you suffocating... or other organs being cut off from bloodflow from the swelling.
As in... they're Rx'd to prevent organ failure, brain damage, and death.
Yeah, honey. You don't HAVE to take them... but I would.
This isn't you're weightlifing and abusing anabolic steroids for months and years... this is you had a severe reaction, and have the potential to continue to have a severe reaction.
I'm not a huge fan of RX either, but in that situation I would pick up the meds at the very least, and speak to the pharmacist while I was there. I'd rather have them and not need them than need them and not have them.
Good luck - hope you feel better soon.
I am a person who hates prescription meds. But allergic reactions, especially ones like yours, can cause future problems after the first "attack". Take the meds they prescribed. it's not an ongoing regimen, it's a short term cure that is necessary.
Take it! Better safe than sorry!
my way of putting it to you is if you want to breathe you will take them. pick your poison
You don't have to just expect the recovery time to be about 6 to 8 times longer than if you did not.
Really you should have asked your doctor when he prescribed them.
There are so many different steroids people get confused by them.
The stuff that's given for itching and swelling (corticosteroids) isn't the same as the steroids that get abused by body builders (anabolic-steroids).
Short term use of a corticosteroid is not a problem.
When I get poison ivy the reaction I get will not shut down by itself.
My record for longest time trying to wait it out was 2 months of scratching and when I woke up with my legs bloody from scratching in my sleep I finally saw a doctor who put me on a prednisone steroid series and the itching finally went away.
Follow your doctors instructions and you should be feeling better soon.
They shoulda given you the (corticosteroids) shot! I love getting that one cause it seems to kick all my allergies butts for an entire season!
I had poison ivy really bad on my face last year... made my eye swell up and I was sneezing from other stuff. They gave me that shot and my face was clear in a couple days and didnt have any issues for rest of the summer.
