[Anonymous]

Basically, i had a chest infection a couple of weeks ago (its almost gone now) and my doctor prescribed me on a week course of augmentin? One of its side effects was diarrhea which i started suffering from. This kinda lingered around slightly till my exam on Tuesday.... I would go multiple times in a day. Naturally, couldn't go to the exam with this problem so the night before i took a couple of immodium and one before the exam the next morning. I'm now suffering from constipation. Have been since Wednesday. When will this wear off? Can i expect to go back to normal bowel movements after this?

Also, i'm not 100% sure but there is the possibility of light anal discharge after i've had trouble on the toilet? Not too clear on this matter?

Help!

Sorry about the gross details guys Any help is appreciated.

[thruppence]

OK, I've taking amoxicillin in the past and have never tolerated it and this is in augmentin. It sounds like your dose was quite strong and it's given me bad diarrhoea too as it damages the good bacteria in your gut. What you need to do is firstly have some sort of probiotic yogurt / yoghurt drink everyday or twice a day (eg, Muller Vitality or Yeo Valley). That gets the good bacteria in your gut. The immodium does work as a temporary thing to keep the bowels under control, but it's best to start off with just one instead of two initially. Also still eat healthily and drink plenty of water.

Good news is it will get back to normal eventually. However, do go back to your doctor about this and if you need antibiotics in the future, insist you have a different one.

Anal discharge. You mean that stuff that looks like raw egg white? If it's that, then it's nothing to be worried about.

Hope it goes away soon!

[Catchetat]

if you're straining too much in the loo you could get a bit of fresh blood in our stools but it's usually nothing to worry about. as for your week course of augmentin. make sure you complete the course. if you are worried especially if you get rashes call the gp. and as thruppence said, the diarrhea is likely because it's killed the good bacteria. make sure you drink plenty of water.