Taking antibiotics every 8 hours.. Hard?
It is highly inappropriate to take pills greatly out of your doctor's recommendations. I suggest instead to adjust what times of day you take it. My wife is on such a schedule. The one that works best for her is: 6am, 2pm, 10pm I typically wake her up at 6am for her morning dose since I'm getting up that early for work anyway. She is then awake and able to take care of the 2pm and 10pm dose herself. Hope that schedule works for you.
Ok to take antibiotic an hour early?
I am prescribed Cephalexin (Keflex) 500mg, 3x Daily, every 8 hours. Due to my schedule I have been taking one in the morning around 7:30AM, again at 3PM, and again at 10:30PM before bed. So dosing would be every 7.5 hours from morning to mid-day, 7.5 hours from mid-day to bedtime then 9 hours to morning. Then repeat every day. Its within 30 minutes to an hour from the recommended every 8 hours normally... Is this ok to take this medication like this at these times?
Can you take a antibiotic dose a little early?
yes. you can take it 30mins before or after the scheduled time.
What happens if I took an antibiotic every 9 hours, instead of 12 hours for 3 days?
nothing and it will be effective as long as you resume every 12 hours for the rest of the antibiotics course.If you take them every 9 hour you will end the course a bit sooner which is not ideal so try to take them as scheduled as close as possible and finish all of them.
Is it important to take antibiotics at the same time every day?
It doesn't have to be EXACTLY at the same time, but try to stay within a window. For example, nurses in hospitals in America have an hour window, meaning that a medication scheduled to be given at 0800 can be given within an hour either way of that time(0700–0900). The reason that scheduled antibiotics or any other prescription medication should be taken within that window is because of what is called the half life of the medication. That means that by the time your next dose is due, there's not very much of that previously taken medication still circulating throughout your body or attacking bacteria or whatever other function it is designed for. It sounds funny to say as a nurse, but I am not a huge fan of prescription medication, I tend to move towards the more natural, nutritional, alternative medicine, but antibiotics are a different story. Our bodies used to be able to fight off all kinds of bacteria on its own, but bacteria has evolved and our immune systems seem to have devolved. And take every last one! Don't ever stop taking a course of antibiotics until they are completely finished regardless of whether or not you feel better or symptoms have abated .
Is it okay if I gave my dog his antibiotics early?
Yes, one dose that is out of order won't hurt anything, but when using antibiotics, whether with dogs or people, they should be given at least one hour before meals, or two hours afterwards. The life of some antibiotics is 12 hours, and those are fine given twice a day, but others only have a life of 5 to 6 hours so must be given oftener. The most important thing with antibiotics is to use all of them and don't stop just because you think the dog is just fine.
I am on an antibiotic that is supposed to be taken once every 12 hours. Will it still be effective if I only take it once every morning?
No. Please take as directed. If you have questions, ask your pharmacist or doctor.By skipping the evening dose, you will be doing this:Reducing the effectiveness of the medication. Your infection may not go away. All drugs have a characteristic curve that represents their effective level in the blood stream. The antibiotics you were given apparently won't last 24 hours and must become ineffective by 12 hours or so. Your antibiotic dose will fluctuate from effective to ineffective levels within a 24-hour period.Breeding antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Right in your own body! If a few bacteria survive the morning dose, they would have been likely to be killed by the evening dose. Skipping the evening dose allows some the bacteria that survived the morning dose to breed. The bacteria will evolve to be resistant to the antibiotic during the lulls in the bacteria dose.In short, you are doing yourself no good and may be breeding superbugs in your very own body.This is exactly how evolution works. Don't use your body to prove the theory of evolution .
What should I do if I miss to take my antibiotic by 12 hours?
You should continue with the prescribed regimen. The antibiotics will remain present - although a bit diluted - so you are still gaining benefit while you missed your dose.The main thing is that you continue taking the antibiotics as prescribed until the end of the treatment regimen.The idea is that the antibiotics knock back the bacteria to help your immune system fight the invaders. Antibiotic resistance is said to be partly due to patients not completing the prescribed antibiotic treatment regimen, mostly because patients stop taking the treatment when they feel better even if the patient is half way through their pills. This is due to the antibiotics remaining in the environment - maybe binned or flushed - thereby allowing selection pressure on non-resistant colonies. Also, there is concern that an individual may become a reservoir of antibiotic-resistant bacteria capable of spreading these organisms among the community. Of course, these resistant bacteria only cause a problem if the host is treated with the antibiotic to which they are resistant and this is rare - but more common in a hospital setting.Best advice: take the full course as prescribed and keep away from hospitals until you are well again
Would it be so bad to give my son his antibiotic an hour and a half early tonight?
My son has an ear infection and we went to the doctor this AM... She gave him an antibiotic that needs to be taken every 12 hours. I gave him his first dose at 10:30 this morning but he will be sleeping at 10:30 tonight... Would it be so bad to give it to him at 9 instead so we can be on a 12 hour schedule in which he will be awake for the night dose?
Is 8 hours too soon to take the second dose of antibiotics?
Yep, knew right away that this one was written anonymously!Anonymous, when your doctor wrote your prescription, he/she also specified how often you are supposed to take it. Because all antibiotics are different, your doctor chose the best way for you to take yours, based on the particular antibiotic and the reason you are taking it.Soooo, look on your bottle and read what it says! If it says to take it every 8 hours (or three times a day), then yes, 8 hours is what you are supposed to do. If it says every 6 hours (or 4 times a day), then you should have taken it 2 hours ago (take the dose now, but wait 6 hours before the next dose). If it says every 4 hours (or 6 times a day), then you are way off. If it says every 12 hours (or twice a day), then it’s 4 hours too soon for the next dose.I repeat, all antibiotics are different and are taken on different schedules. Call your doctor if you have questions!