Patient was educated on the side effects of using Levofloxacin as follows:
- Nausea and vomiting
- This is the most common side effect of Levofloxacin. Taking the antibiotic with some food and water can minimize the effects of nausea and vomiting.
- Diarrhea
- Human intestines have a lot of bacteria, both good and bad, living in a sensitive balance with each other.
- This helps maintain the normal natural intestinal environment. Levofloxacin works by killing the bacteria.
- While doing this, Levofloxacin does not differentiate between good and bad bacteria. Consequently, apart from killing the bad infectious bacteria, Levofloxacin also kills the good bacteria in the intestinal system, thus compromising the balance between good and bad bacteria.
- This can result in reduction in the number of good bacteria and increase in the number of Levofloxacin resistant bad bacteria, leading to irritation of the intestinal mucosa and diarrhea.
- Diarrhea secondary to the clostridium difficile bacteria in the intestines, is a standard example for this.
- Mild constitutional symptoms, such as, mild chest pain, dizziness, irregular heartbeat, difficulty sleeping, abdominal discomfort with mild diarrhea, skin rash and itching can occur with Levofloxacin.
