Today morning a Bangladesi patient came to my chamber. It was his second visit in the last 3 days. 2 days before ( On Saturday, when I was on weekly leave) he came with upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) with fever. The doctor prescribed him antibiotics along with other medications. Today he returned back with diarrhoea. I saw his prescription and found that he was given Augmentin group antibiotic. And the antibiotic was the guilty one for causing the diarrhoea. We can call it "antibiotic-associated diarrhoea”.
Antibiotic itself doesn't cause diarrhoea, rather it just kills the normal and useful bacteria in our gut which are called "normal flora". An opportunistic bacteria known as Clostridium difficile, take the chance, infect the gut, causes damage to the inner lining resulting in the development of symptoms. Diarrhoea is of the few symptoms caused by it.
There are certain groups are antibiotics which are commonly associated with this problem; Augmentin is one of them. In such cases, the first thing to do is "stopping the antibiotic ". I did and changed it to another group which doesn't cause diarrhoea. He needed an antibiotic for his URTI.
In short, if you start having abdominal problems like abdominal pain, diarrhoea and vomiting after starting an antibiotic, you should consult with your doctor again to see if it due to the antibiotic or not.
Anyone in my friend list here who had a similar problem, like today's patient?
Height162 cm |  | Weight72.4 kg |  | Body Fat% |  |
Waistcm |  | Thighscm |  | Chestcm |  |
