Need advice

Most people who think they are allergic to penicillin in fact are not, researchers said Friday. It’s something doctors have suspected for a long time, but the researchers say they were surprised by just how many people weren’t allergic to the antibiotic: it was 94 percent of them.

Dr. Thanai Pongdee, an allergist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida and colleagues tested 384 people who said they were allergic to penicillin. Tests showed 94 percent of them were in fact, not allergic.

I am still recovering from a bout with complicated Diverticulitis and will be getting a bowel resection next month.

I do want to say I also agree with Greg's response. I was told I had a rash as a child from Penicillin so from that point on I reported that as an allergy. Fast forward to 2019 during one of my stays at the hospital the Infectious disease Dr. decided to treat me with Penicillin, because he was fairly certain I wasn't allergic. Sure enough I received an intravenous form of Penicillin and had no reaction. There is alot of evidence to support that reports of this allergy are inaccurate and the reactions were due to the way Penicillin was made years ago. I also had an allergist tell me that three years ago.

Also as far as how the antibiotics you on are now are making you feel, they will make you have diarrhea and some unpleasant side effects but if you can get through the first 7-10 days those side effects usually wear off. If you can't tolerate them I would be tempted to go to emergency again to see if they can give you something else now. You dont want to have it get worse and you develop an abscess and have to be admitted.

I hope you feel better real soon! Sending healing thoughts your way!

Same regarding penicillin - if you are willing to try it - I have found agumentin antibiotic to work best for me with diverticulitis. It is a combo of amoxicillin and clavinc acid (or something like that). Be sure and take a probiotic while on the antibiotic (take it at least 2 hours before or 2 hours after the antibiotic). It will help minimize side effects. The side effects of the flagyl and cipro, in my opinion, are much worse and more dangerous than the augmentin. Best wishes for a quick recovery!

My wife was prescribed an antibiotic for a UTI and I ended up rushing her to the E/R in the middle of the night. She couldn't breathe and shortly afterward broke out in a rash. It was a followup with her dermatologist that actually got to the bottom of it after a blood test. The prescribed antibiotic induced DRESS syndrome, a highly dangerous reaction. She spent a month on prednisone and had numerous followup blood tests.

Allergic reaction is a very real thing, but can believe that many of the "black box" warnings of the strong antibiotics are incorrectly attributed to allergy to the med. I had such a strong response after my first Diverticulitis attack that I spent months having MRIs and neurological tests. I attributed it to Ciprofloxacin and have subsequently been treated with Augmentin. But the reality is that any antibiotic is an unnatural substance that will likely produce unhappy reactions while doing its thing. I wouldn't hesitate seeking emergency care if difficulty breathing and a rash develop. Best of luck.