Major headache from taking antibiotics for UTI infection

[integral]

Have a friend experiencing this.

is there a way to avoid the headaches/vomiting?

Is there a binder that can be taken?

Why exactly is this happening?

How does it work? 

I always assume there is a closeminded reason that doctors are missing that can avoid all this. Like killing bacteria releases toxins therefor take a binder with it to prevent the body from being overloaded! But im not sure if this is true, just a hunch. 

Any insight would be great. 

[Leo Gura]

Antibiotics are pretty bad for you and can cause many nasty side-effects.

You can take activated charcoal as a binder but the side-effects could just be due to the drug, not the bacterial die-off, in which case the binder is not going to help.

There are many kinds of antibiotics. It's wise to switch to a different kind which can have less side-effects.

Some antibiotics give me horrible side-effects while others are okay.

There are also natural antibiotics and antimicrobials which can be equally as effective with no side-effects. Those are worth researching and testing out before you take the heavy prescription kind.

[Michael569]

If she has headaches to the point of vomiting she should contact her doctor pretty quickly. Rare cases may happen that she has some enzymatic deficiencies or mutations at the site of P450 liver enzyme family and the antibiotics are messing her up because she is having issues metabolising them. It could also be some severe early-onset allergic reaction. Let's ask the expert @undeather who can probably shine more spotlight here. 

It could also be that her body has triggered a fever or strong immune response and headache is a side effect of that immune system vs bacteria warfare 

The headache could be linked both to the UTI & the antibiotics as well as many other factors. For example, dehydration can be common in people experiencing UTIs (lack of urethral flow increases chance of bacterial retrograde mobilisation up from urethra towards bladder) and dehydration can cause headaches. 

It could be the die-off from antibiotics taking a lot of friendly fire inside the gut and creating a buildup of LPS (dead bacteria releasing these toxins as you said).... Maybe all of the above and maybe none of that. 

 

[undeather]

3 hours ago, integral said:

Have a friend experiencing this.

is there a way to avoid the headaches/vomiting?

Is there a binder that can be taken?

Why exactly is this happening?

How does it work? 

I always assume there is a closeminded reason that doctors are missing that can avoid all this. Like killing bacteria releases toxins therefor take a binder with it to prevent the body from being overloaded! But im not sure if this is true, just a hunch. 

Any insight would be great. 

First of all, what kind of antibiotic is your friend taking? Are there any known allergies? 

From the symptoms you mentioned, its propably Fosfomycin - headaches/nausea/vomiting are rare, but definitely not unheard of . There is a certain kind of irrational fearmongering that surround antibiotics and this is especially common in the alternative medicine/spiritual space. Most people who actually prescribe these drugs to their patients will tell you their experiences are mostly positive. That said, there is of course an argument to be made about the potential harms that are caused by these drugs (micriobiome etc.). There is also a huge problem with overperscription and doctors (yes, iam looking at you.. surgeons!) who just use the same agent against ANYthing resembling a bacterial infection. 

Side effects can happen with every drug or supplement on the market. Thats just how it is and thats exactly the reason why every treament regime is a risk/reward calculation at its core. Nothing is without risk. The mechanism of action is usually mostly unknown and highly complex. It could potentially involve all kinds of symstems in your body - from genetic disposition to enzymatic issues to simple allergic reactions and so on. Its important to avoid this kind of medication (this particular agent) in the future. 

There is no closeminded reason doctors are missing (I mean, there are 1000's of those, but propablynot in this case). How could they know that your friend will react like that? Thats not how it works. Most things in todays medicine are simply known/unknown unknowns and we have to deal with this issue every day. You will always find the occasional snakeoil-salesman or hobby-physician on the internet that wants to convince you otherwise..but I guess thats just how it is. There are alternatives to antibiotics that are kinda valid, but the data is super shaky and usually based on anecdotes or raw mechanisms. 

So here is the deal: Stop the drug (if it was a 1x treatment with fosfomycin then its over anyway) and contact your doctor. Depending on the circumstances, he will either get your friend another agent-class or the therapy will be stopped altogether. Some UTI's dont actually need AB's to heal out. Tell him/her to drink a lot.

 

[integral]

Thanks for help guys!

@undeather She's taking cefixime but has a known allergy to amoxicillin (causes skin irritation).

She tested for a reaction with a 5ml dose with no issues, today with a full dose of 9.4 ml she had headaches + vomited once. Also its taken with cranberry juice. 

 

Edited December 6, 2021 by integral

[Preety_India]

@integral if you're taking antibiotics, one suggestion from my experience would be to drink copious amounts of water. That usually cures the headache and prevents it. 

And antibiotics should be strictly taken with food and never on empty stomach 

 

[undeather]

9 hours ago, integral said:

Thanks for help guys!

@undeather She's taking cefixime but has a known allergy to amoxicillin (causes skin irritation).

She tested for a reaction with a 5ml dose with no issues, today with a full dose of 9.4 ml she had headaches + vomited once. Also its taken with cranberry juice. 

 

A bit of an unusual choice for treating an UTI, but a legit one. Did they test for the specific pathogen? (like neisseria gonorrhoeae?)

Cranberry juice does up & downregulate some of the so called CYP-Enzymes, but its propably not the cause of the reaction. This is highly likely a plain and simple side effect and the easiest way to deal with it is to change the agent. Side effects can occur dose dependent, thats why there wasnt a problem with the 5ml. As I mentioned, AB's are not necessary in every UTI case - talk to your doctor about this. 

 

Quote

And antibiotics should be strictly taken with food and never on empty stomach 

Depends entirely on the specific antibiotic and is not true in general. 
Penicillin should be taken before food for example.