This has popped up in my search engine list – “search list of one day course of antibiotics”.
One day is not a course, not in any meaning of the word. When I was younger a course was 14 days. Now, thanks to the interference of NICE, you’re doing well if you get 7 days, and then only after a sputum test. NICE are currently looking at reducing that by 50%. If they get their way, people will surely die as a result.
I have my own stock of antibiotics – 500mg Amoxyl – and I can, under certain, quite specific, circumstances, get away with a 3-day course. If I start Amoxyl the moment I detect an impending infection, for example (the only way to do that is to monitor your sputum for changes in taste, smell, quantity and texture), or if I have an infection triggered by inhaling acid reflux (not uncommon in COPD. But that wouldn’t happen at all if I didn’t have my own supply – if I had to wait until an infection was developed enough to be detectable by a GP, 7 days would be an absolute minimum.
There are certain circumstances where just one or two doses are appropriate. One 3gram sachet of Amoxyl, for example, can be used to treat a dental abscess, though in COPD I’ve taken that dose 3 times daily for several weeks. That, though, is the exception rather than the rule.
A caveat, re 3grams of Amoxyl. If you’re not used to it, take it in 2 divided doses an hour or so apart. The first time I took 3g it quite literally knocked me over. It’s quite a shock to the system, and there’s always the possibility it might trigger convulsions, too, so best not to be alone when you take it.
