Temperature when taking antibiotics

Antibiotics are very serious drugs, despite the fact that they are sold without prescription in any pharmacy. Reception of such medicines should be carried out only according to the doctor's prescription, otherwise you may encounter many complications and errors. For example, the temperature when taking antibiotics - is this a normal phenomenon or a pathology? Of course, the answer to this question should be addressed directly to the attending physician, since it depends on the specific disease, the type of antibiotic used, its dosage and many, many other reasons. Nevertheless, let's try to understand the problem briefly.

The causes of temperature when taking antibiotics

For most enlightened patients, it is not a secret that antibiotics should be used only for infectious diseases that are caused by bacteria. For viruses and fungi such drugs do not work.

It should also be noted that in hospitals in the treatment of severe and complicated infectious diseases (for example, pneumonia or meningitis), the responsibility for a competently selected and correctly prescribed antibiotic rests entirely with the doctor who constantly observes the patient and has the results of the necessary studies and analyzes . In the treatment of simple infectious diseases that do not require a patient's inpatient stay, the situation is different. Antibiotics can be used independently, indiscriminately, without any treatment regimen, which can not only do no good, but also do much harm. In the best case, a doctor will be called, who, writing out the treatment, will be faced with a fact: for example, parents themselves ask to prescribe an antibiotic to the child, while not having the slightest idea of whether or not it really is necessary. Unfortunately, many doctors, instead of wasting time and nerves on explanations, just submissively prescribe the drug. What in the end - the absolute inexpediency of its application.

And yet we will return to the question of temperature in antibiotic therapy. Why does this happen?

• The antibiotic is out of place: the disease is not caused by a bacterial flora, so the drug does not work.
• Any antimicrobial medication is selected taking into account the sensitivity of microorganisms to it. It often happens that the medicine is prescribed without testing for sensitivity. In such cases, the chosen drug simply does not affect the desired microbes, which means that it was originally chosen incorrectly.
• Incorrect dosage: incorrectly chosen treatment scheme does not allow to kill the infection - bacteria simply slow down their development, continuing their harmful effects.
• Antibiotics are not prescribed for temperature reduction: such drugs are designed to kill infectious agents, and not to affect the centers of thermoregulation. For these purposes, special antipyretic agents are used.
• Some antibiotics can cause a rise in temperature, as a side effect of taking the remedy.
• If at first after taking antibiotics the patient went on the mend, but then the temperature rises again, there may be a chance of joining another infection, to which this antibiotic does not have an effect.

Next, consider the most common situations with the use of antibiotics, in which temperature can be observed.

• If the drug is appropriately and correctly prescribed, then the temperature may drop only on the third or even the fourth day, so if you have a fever while taking antibiotics, you should not worry, you just need to continue the prescribed treatment.
• To begin with, it should be noted that antibiotics to the child can not be appointed very often. First, it depresses the child's own immunity. Secondly, the hemopoietic system, liver, digestive system of the child suffers. Antibiotic therapy in pediatrics is used only in extreme cases, if the bacterial nature of the disease is confirmed. If you are taking antimicrobials, and the temperature when taking antibiotics in a child holds for 3-4 days or more - then the treatment scheme is chosen incorrectly.
• If the temperature has risen when taking antibiotics, then allergies to drugs may appear. Particularly dangerous in this sense are penicillin agents, and, usually, an allergic reaction appears when the medication is repeated. The rise in temperature can manifest itself as an independent and unique symptom of allergy. As a rule, this occurs 4-7 days after the start of treatment and completely disappears when the antibiotic is canceled for several days. With allergy, temperature can reach 39-40 ° C, of additional signs - tachycardia.
• If the antibiotic is prescribed correctly, then the temperature of 37 ° C when taking antibiotics can be related to the mass death of bacteria due to the initiation of treatment. The death of microbes is accompanied by the release into the blood of a large number of toxins - the products of the decay of bacterial cells. This temperature with antibiotic therapy is considered normal and does not require its special reduction.
• If you take the antibiotic at 38 ° C or lower, it may take some more time. The main thing is to follow the results of blood and urine tests: there should not be pathologies in them. Continue the treatment prescribed by the doctor.

Diagnosis of temperature when taking antibiotics

The most common method of determining the temperature at home is to touch your forehead with your hand or lips. Of course, this method is not accurate, but is only a preliminary definition of the violation. In order to know the exact figures, you need to use a thermometer. The choice of thermometers is now quite large: electronic, rectal, ear, oral thermometer, or in the form of frontal bands.

As for the diagnosis of the causes of fever, the doctor chooses the method here, depending on the disease, the age of the patient, the temperature values, the appropriateness of the antibiotics, etc.,

Diagnostics can include:

• an objective examination, anamnesis;
• blood test (general and biochemical);
• general urine analysis;
• allergological tests, allergist consultation;
• radiograph;
• functional examination of the digestive system (for example, ultrasound examination of the abdominal cavity);
• examination of the cardiovascular system (cardiography, ultrasound examination of the heart and blood vessels);
• sowing biological materials on sensitivity to antibiotics.

The diagnosis is confirmed by the detection of the causative agent of an infectious disease in blood cultures.

[1], [2], [3], [4]

Treatment of temperature when taking antibiotics

To treat or not treat the fever when taking antibiotics, the doctor should decide. Of course, in order to make the right decision, it is necessary to know the reasons for this reaction.

• If the temperature is associated with an allergic reaction, then the antibiotic is canceled, or replaced by another. Additionally prescribed antihistamines: suprastin, tavegil, etc., at the discretion of the doctor.
• If the temperature rise is caused by the inappropriate use of an antimicrobial drug, then this antibiotic is canceled and a more suitable drug is prescribed. These can be antiviral or antifungal drugs, depending on the detected disease.
• If the diagnosis concomitantly reveals concomitant diseases, then prescribe treatment of all pathologies, taking into account the reasons that caused them. For example, if you initially treated bronchitis, and subsequently the temperature rises due to the development of pneumonia, then the doctor will necessarily review the treatment, and the antibiotic will be replaced by another, more effective (or even several).

If antibiotics are prescribed correctly and according to the indications, and the temperature still holds for a while, then measures should be taken to speed up its stabilization.

It is important to drink a sufficient amount of liquid: warm water, tea, compotes, fruit drinks. The liquid will accelerate the excretion of toxic substances from the body, and the temperature will normalize faster.

If the values exceed 38 ° C, do not expect antibiotics to "knock off" the temperature: take a febrifuge, for example, paracetamol.

Do not drink medicines without the doctor's advice, since any drug has its own particular application.

Forecast of temperature when taking antibiotics

Regarding the prognosis of temperature increase during antibiotic therapy, we can say the following: if the antibiotic is prescribed and selected correctly, then this temperature eventually stabilizes and the patient is cured.

With self-administration and administration of antibiotics, the prognosis may be unpredictable. Taking the pill alone, without the recommendation of a doctor, the patient himself assumes all responsibility for possible negative consequences.

In addition, cases with wave-like temperature manifestations have an unfavorable prognosis, when temperatures of different heights alternate at certain time intervals. Often this indicates the development of complications.

The temperature at reception of antibiotics in many cases can be considered as the normal phenomenon, but sometimes such situation serves and a sign of connection of complications. What happened in each case - the norm or pathology - let the medical specialist decide. The task of every patient is to choose a competent doctor, to follow his recommendations accurately and not to engage in self-medication.

[5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12]