Yes, and it tore my stomach up. Was given it years later and I made sure I took some over-the-counter probiotic. Was fine the second time.

Although the instructions on most antibiotics state to take it on an empty stomach I have had pharmacists and my doctor tell me to ignore that suggestion printed on the label because they can tear your stomach up.

I’m fact I have been taking this all week...I have had no real side affects but do not feel up to par. I chalked it up to heat and high humidity. Were you told not to take it within 2 hours of any milk products, vitamins or over the counter supplements? if you read the side affect sheet, stomach issues are part of them.

I started probiotics yesterday but I think it was too late. I feel like it's killed all the good bacteria in my stomach and while I'm not constipated, none of the trapped air is moving. I've barely been able to eat anything since last Friday so I'm not sure if that's helping or hurting.

The bottle just says take with or without food and not to take antacids or iron products within 2 hours.

Chi, I think it would be a good idea to see your doctor if for no other reason than peace of mind. You sound like you are very uncomfortable and the added stress and worries are not helping. I hope you feel better very soon.

I had the same reaction to Biaxin, it’s on all of my charts with every doctor that I am allergic. I personally would stop it and get some yougurt into my body immediately.

Oh interesting, is an allergy different than side effects?

That’s what my doctor said!

An allergy can be different from side effects but it would be better if anyone that is interested looked it up.

Initially I had nothing to add, but I came back because it occurred to me that your discomfort may be due to complications from the surgery and not the medication. Please see your doctor. I hope you feel better soon.

Yeah it's definitely been hard to tell. I did a round of IVF and had an egg retrieval last Friday, 5 days ago, and ended up in the ER that night for severe pain. They found some internal bleeding, which my RE said is normal and to be expected. They also found elevated white blood cells in my blood and urine so they suspected UTI, hence the antibiotics.

In hindsight I should have asked for a shorter round of the antibiotics. I've been on Percocets for 5 days. I've also lost my appetite so I've barely eaten since Friday. I forced myself to eat a large meal today and after some initial discomfort, I think it's been helpful in getting my digestive tract moving again.

The reason I think it's the antibiotics is that I consistently would get the hot flashes an hour or two after taking them, and my stomach would bloat up and become very tender to the touch. Both symptoms would resolve at least somewhat within a few hours only to come back a few hours after the next dose.

I'm feeling a bit better now, but just in time for my next dose, which I'm skipping. Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll feel a lot better.

The weird thing is that I'm still having UTI-like pain when surely the antibiotics would have fixed that by now (I also had IV antibiotics in the ER and for 2 days during egg retrieval) so I'm doubting it was actually a UTI. I plan to ask my Dr tomorrow to recheck my wbc.

Get thee to the doctor.

Thanks mdln. I'll try my primary tomorrow unless the pain becomes unbearable or she can't help. She is a lot less expensive. :)

Please let us know how it goes. Hope you're feeling better soon!

I have nothing useful to add, but I'm sorry you're going through this, Chi!

Just seeing this...sure hope you have gone to ER or Urgent by now. Please,

don't fool around with this stuff. Hugs and hope by now you are having

relief.

I'm going to go in today. I'm actually feeling a lot better already. A few hours ago, my hospital emailed my updated lab culture and it was normal so now I'm confused whether there was a UTI or not.

Thanks for checking back in...hope you just keep getting better and better.

Glad you are going to get it checked out anyway.

I'm sorry you've had to go through this, Chi, sounds miserable. Though I know you've been thoroughly checked, my sister first knew something was wrong (she had a type of ovarian cancer,) when she had a niggling pain that she and the doctor thought was a uti. My point is that it's very hart to know what a little pain in the lower abdomen is from. I do hope you can switch doctors if this one is not helpful.

I always say I have a med allergy when that med doesn't agree with me in some way, so that it's written on my record and docs pay attention. For instance, sulpha drugs make me (and my kids) dizzy, so our records say we're allergic to it, even though we're not.

Thanks Sjerin. If the pain didn't line up perfectly with the procedure, I think I would be more nervous. Everything is so squished down there that it could be anything from an infection to gas to my very swollen ovaries.

I also have interstitial cystitis so it's possible the anaesthesia or the meds irritated it and that can mimick a UTI. There was blood in my urine though so that's what I need to keep on top of if it wasn't a UTI. Though I think that can also happen with IC though my flare-ups haven't been that bad.

My RE has been wonderful in every other aspect but I just really want another Dr to listen to me.

I hope you feel better soon and that the process you're going through is successful.

Although not normally thought of with a UTI and your pain is probably irritation of the bladder from the procedure you had my almost continuous UTIs were caused by a protozoa and not bacteria. It was not until some technician happened to mention on the report seeing portions of a certain type of protective coating did I finally end my UTIs.

Just an update: while I'm still very uncomfortable, it's better than it has been and I've been able to shower and leave the house for the first time!

I went to the doctor and she seemed unhappy with my RE and scheduled me for another ultrasound in a few days to make sure my sizable hematoma is absorbing. Urine sample still showed slight blood but not enough for a clinical UTI so she said to stop the antibiotics and they would test again next week.

I have been having some lower flank pain since yesterday and passing tiny kidney stones so maybe the blood is from that.

On a less positive note, we were doing so well with our embryos until today, when we received possibly bad news. I will be upset if I go through all of this for nothing. :(

Thanks for all your advice and well wishes. I really appreciate it.

Glad to know you're doing better, Chi. I hope the "possibly bad news" turns out to be a false alarm.

Wishing, praying, hoping for an excellent outcome on all fronts.

I’m sorry about the possibly bad news. The not knowing must be very hard. I hope you are feeling better each day and the possibly doesn’t come to be.

Keeping my fingers crossed that there is no bad news and hoping you feel better every day.

I hope you are feeling better today and only good news comes your way. I know the IVF journey is not an easy one, the emotional and physical pain is overwhelming. My niece had another egg retrieval on Wednesday. Things look promising so far, we all have our fingers crossed. She is type 1 diabetic, so only one egg can be implanted. Hugs to you!

Just wanted to update...I am finally feeling significantly better today. Still not at 100% but maybe 85% which I'll take!

It took a few very painful days to get my digestive tract moving again. I'll spare the tmi details but this drug really seemed to destroy all the good bacteria too. It probably didn't help that I barely ate the whole time I was taking it. But some benefiber and probiotics helped and it's almost back to normal. Still some pain and bloating but it improves every day.

I'm still slightly concerned that my mild fever between 99.5 and 100 is still hanging around. I've read it can be a side effect of antibiotics like cefdinir but it's been 5 days since my last dose. I guess it's possible I have something viral since my wbc was elevated in the ER. I'll give it a few more days and then follow up with my doctor if it's still there. On the plus side, I've lost 18 pounds since last Friday! Most of them were temporary from the IVF hormones but I'm still down a few from where I started.

Thanks again for everyone's support. I'm still waiting to hear the final word on how our embryos are doing (they are being tested) but maybe luck will finally be on my side!

Lol wow, I took my temperature with another thermometer and it was 98.6. I don't feel warm at all despite the one I've been using all week saying 100 an hour ago. It was also normal at the doctor's.

I guess that solves the lingering fever mystery!

Well, one more update. Last night I developed a really painful stabbing sensation in my ribs when I inhaled that wasn't going away, so I went to urgent care and they sent me to the ER with a suspected pulmonary embolism.

I didn't have any symptoms of a dvt but my shortness of breath, pain when breathing, rapid pulse (140+) and high estrogen from ivf made the ER doctor want to rule it out, so I had a chest CT.

Luckily it was clear and just showed some pleurisy, so I was given pain killers and released.

I can't stop thinking about the CT scan though. This is my 5th or 6th I've had in my life already starting at age 16 from kidney stones. I'm so worried about all this radiation. I know I had to do it last night since a PE can be deadly but now that it's negative I find myself regretting it. Easy to say now, I know!

He also tested me for c diff because of how difficult my recovery has been. I'm still having so much abdominal pain and cramping. It was getting better but it came back again. I should get those results today.

What a crappy 2 weeks it has been!

Hope you feel better soon, Chi! Sounds like you've been thru the ringer these last two weeks.

I understand your fears of radiation exposure, but please don't regret that you had the test done.

I hope that you will talk to your doctor on Monday again about this. I do hope things start to go well for you quickly!

I hope they find the reason why you are feeling so poorly. Not knowing makes matters worse. Hope you feel better soon.

Thanks for the well wishes. I'm feeling a bit better, though I learned a hard lesson about not fully reading the discharge instructions. I had CT with contrast last night, and I also take Metformin, and the instructions say to avoid taking Metformin for 48 hours after the CT scan. I took my normal dose tonight.

None of the doctors or nurses mentioned this last night (all of my kidney values were normal) so I started freaking out. I tried calling the ER but they refused to help me over the phone and told me to call my primary doctor (at 8 pm on a weekend?). I finally did a video conference with a random doctor that is a free perk from my insurance, and she made me feel a little better. And the research I'm seeing is that the new guidelines are that Metformin should only be avoided for people with reduced renal function. I'm guessing the instructions were automatically generated because of the two medications in my file.

If it were really important, surely someone would have mentioned it???

Sadly, not necessarily. Some of the staff don't realize how few read the discharge instructions, or assume that the instructions don't really apply to themselves, or simply overlook going over the instructions because they are so busy.

But what you should be doing now, is making sure you drink extra water - to minimize the impact of the contrast on your kidneys.

Only discharge instructions I have been given in ER and other places were given by either an aide or a nurse both told me to read them and if I had any questions to ask before leaving. Neither would be ones that most people would take medical information from. People do call their primary doctor at all hours but normally the call center that handles the call will have someone call you back. Seldom does a doctor actually give you their direct number so do not worry about making a call in the middle of the night if you have an emergency.

I tried calling my primary last night and there was an option for an on-call doctor, but when I chose that, it re-routed me to another menu and said if I needed to talk to a doctor urgently, then go to the ER. There was only an option for hospitals to talk to a doctor.

They have urgent care hours today so I'm here now waiting just to see. I feel fine and I assume I'd know if my kidneys were failing or I developed lactic acidosis. But maybe I can get some lab work done on Tuesday for peace of mind before starting my meds again. I'm not diabetic so it shouldn't be harmful to abstain for a few days but I'm going to ask the PA to be sure.

I know it was my responsibility to read the discharge instructions but when you get home at 4 am after spending 7 hours in the ER, it's not always a priority to read a 15 page document. I think important things like that should be mentioned when I'm discharged. I've been to this ER several times and the discharge instructions have always been routine "if it gets worse, come back" and never dangerous medicine interactions. But I've learned a lesson to read them promptly in the future.

Chi sorry if you thought it was criticism but having dealt with a husband that had Afib and was on blood thinners my comment was a suggestion for you and others. Several times information was left out as in your case or in his case the information would have been life threatening. I hope you never have to visit another ER.

Chi, I agree with you -- I always went over the instructions with my discharges, because I learned early on that a surprising number of adults really can't read, or can't read well enough to comprehend the print out -- or, like you, too tired and/or sick to deal with it at that moment. All hospital staff should realize this, but I think many do not.

Maifleur, I didn't think it was a criticism at all. It's a good idea to read them before leaving the ER. I didn't realize important information was in there as it's always been standard information before about follow up and such, so I didn't think there was a rush to read it unless I was having trouble.

I saw my PA and she was very reassuring and just wants me to focus on hydration and go get labs done on Tuesday before starting the meds again. She said my urinalysis today would show things if I were having serious renal issues and it was clear. And I'm feeling ok. It's funny cause some of the "symptoms" of renal failure are so vague and things I'm already experiencing from my pleurisy like shortness of breath and fatigue.

"Pleurisy" is rarely a stand alone diagnosis -- it is usually the result of something else (like pneumonia or PE). Not to try to alarm you, or say that the ED doc was wrong -- just follow up with your MD, take it easy, and act if it gets at all worse.

Having had Pleurisy several times both upper and lower sides of cavity it hurts like hell. I was given lack of a better term breathing instructions that helped. Probably those are never given any more.

Raee, yeah I'm kind of surprised they were just like "it's not a clot, here's some toradol" but I'm going to follow up with my primary and hopefully she can help me figure out where it came from.

Wouldn't the CT scan see if it was a PE or pneumonia? They also took a chest x-ray. I had a slight cold about 2 weeks ago with a bit of a cough that I tried to suppress because it was so painful in my abdomen/pelvic area. Maybe it formed because I wasn't coughing properly?

I'm also wondering if I developed OHSS from the IVF which I've read can sometimes cause pleurisy. The timeline makes sense as I slept uptight in a recliner for most of my recovery and just switched to my bed a few days before the pain started. Maybe the fluid reached my lungs. Now that I think about it, there were some warning signs before this pain. I've had a harder time recovering after climbing my stairs, and a few days ago I woke up with sharp collarbone pain when I inhaled (on the same side as the rib pain) but didn't think much of it as it went away the next day.

The good news is that it seems to be improving so I am really hoping it's nothing serious. I don't have a cough at all and the pain is very minimal and only when I breathe as deeply as I can.

That's good, Chi! Sounds like it is under control and improving. And it sounds like you may have figured out a plausible reason for it. I recall you had mentioned being bloated -- don't know if you meant swollen all over or just in the belly. The important thing is, you didn't ignore it, and got it checked out.

No, CT is only about 80% +/- for detecting PE. That is why it is usually combined with a blood test and ultrasound of the legs, to be sure. It would be better for pneumonia than a plain chest xray, though. Pneumonia often doesn't show on a chest xray in its early stages, especially if the patient is somewhat dehydrated (as elderly often are). This is where the "art" of medicine plays a role -- our technology doesn't always have all the answers!

At first he mentioned a d-dimer blood test but I don't think he actually ran it, according to my visit summary, and I didn't have an ultrasound. I wonder if my primary doctor should order it just to be sure. Now I'm a little worried that they missed a PE but I would probably be feeling worse I imagine.

I did have bloating, mostly in the abdomen but it's my understanding it can move to the lungs. I thought I had gotten rid of it as I lost 14 pounds in the week after the surgery, but it's possible there was still some around. I'll call my fertility doctor tomorrow and see what he thinks.