Newby - Amoxicillin

[ZaraB90]

Hi there,

First post here so sorry if it's in the wrong place! Bit of background: I've been grappling with what I think is the start of Health Anxiety for a long time now - basically since I had an unexpected, very severe chest infection. Because I had just moved away from home (and my family live on the other side of the world), it hit me really hard that if anything were to happen, I would be alone here. Since then I've had a huge phobia of anything happening to me given my family are 28 hours away. Any time I start to feel ill, I feel every symptom about ten million times harder than I probably ought.

So yesterday morning I woke up and had a dry tickle in my throat. Within the space of 12 hours, I was feverish, coughing up a dark yellow mucus, and my entire body was aching. My dad said (via FB) that I was experiencing ordinary symptoms of the flu. I tried to ignore it. But then I felt like I was having stabbing pains on my sides and managed to get out and see the doctor. The doctor has prescribed me Amoxicillin - one 500mg pill three times a day.

I've taken Amoxicillin before (for UTI's mostly) and never had any issue, but I think because I'm feeling so unwell already, I'm panicking about stupid things like that my mouth feels itchy. It's not mega itchy, and I know I'm obviously suffering from throat irritation anyway. But I wanted to know whether it's possible or likely that you could develop an allergy to a previously tolerated pill? Didn't want to Google it and know I've always found really helpful posts on here - hence the joining to post. Just getting really anxious about everything and was hoping to hear some sound words of advice!

Thanks in advance xx

[RedXIII]

I just finished a week of amoxicillin for an ear infection.

I had terrible ichy mouth. I even developed a weird dry patch that was rough on the roof of my mouth... 2 days after finishing the script its almost gone.

You will be fine

[ZaraB90]

Phew - thank you!
It's so silly; my mind just runs to all these places the moment I feel anything happening. I focus on it, zero in on it, and then nothing else but that exists. I've tried to stop doing it because obviously it all spirals from there, but the moment I get some 'new' feeling, I get anxious about it.
Today's worry is the fact my head is twinging with pain sporadically, which I'm sure is really related to whatever bizarre-o cough/flu/chesty thing I have, but doesn't stop me from panicking and thinking about what it 'might' mean...
Time to try to zone out xP
Thanks again
xx

[AlexandriaUK]

I was told by my dentist that these dry itchy patches in our mouth is more probably caused by insufficient fluids and if you have a virus you will need more water, welcome to UK and the forum hope you feel better soon x

[ZaraB90]

Thank you!
I read that about the fluids, too (must stop Googling...) but I've basically had about 2 litres of water every 24 hours since this started - surely that's enough? Freaking out now because I'm having massively intense bouts of dizziness. Does it ever end? How long does Amoxicillin take to make a difference? Blehhhhhhhhh
xx

[AlexandriaUK]

About 48 hours to get into system unless it's intravenous, you should be resting and dizziness is v common with viruses, chicken soup is great not just an old wives tale.
Food on a regular basis is also important

[CA88]

When I was on Amoxicillin 500mg for an abscess I have awful awful trouble. Dizzy Spells where the ground would literally feel like it was moving under my feet, and sickness/explosive poo! I stopped taking them before the end of the course as it was affecting my work, and the infection cleared up! (Never do that by the way, always take antibiotics until the end of the course)

Amoxicillin are seen as a 'mild' antibiotic, and I had always been fine on the 250mg. But not the 500. This episode set me health anxiety off again big time, because dizziness is the biggest theme of that!

[ZaraB90]

CA88 - dizziness really affects me, too! Can't handle it when the world stops feeling like it's in my control, you know? Sorry to hear you had so much trouble - but glad to hear the infection cleared up I'm on the 500 too. Today has, thankfully, been much better - I actually feel somewhat human again, which is great! Still panicking, of course, about the amount of phlegm in my coughs and how thick my throat feels (charming, I know).

AlexandriaUK - thank you so much for the advice. Definitely feel better than I did on Friday morning! Have just stocked up on soup and will be taking it easy tomorrow, too. Have to go back to work on Monday, though, so praying that one more super easy day will be enough to let my body go for it on Monday. I'll mostly be sitting down so won't be exerting myself too much.

xx

---------- Post added at 19:12 ---------- Previous post was at 18:39 ----------

I'm now panicking because I was just watching a film and my throat suddenly started feeling really warm inside. Obviously earlier today I was on FB and saw a story about someone whose throat was bleeding, so now my head is like 'You may have internal bleeding in the throat!' I know it's silly, and I'm trying to calm myself by reminding myself that actually I already know I have the flu. I really wish I could stop imagining myself having things that I read about - I have to stop reading things where they tell you someone is sick/dead and what with/from. :(
xx