Patient was educated on the side effects of using Erythromycin as follows:
- Nausea and vomiting
- This is the most common side effect of Erythromycin. 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.
- Erythromycin works by killing the bacteria. While doing this, Erythromycin does not differentiate between good and bad bacteria.
- Consequently, apart from killing the bad infectious bacteria, Erythromycin 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 Erythromycin 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.
- Renal damage
- Long term Erythromycin intake can lead to renal damage, thus compromising kidney function.
- Renal injury and altered kidney function can result in increased creatinine levels in the body, accumulation of other wastes resulting in altered levels of consciousness, and reduced urine formation.
