Antibiotic use & disturbing new ideas

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Hi ,

Thanks for your feedback and the link below (i'll check it out).

I've had a few infections that didn't bother me much but most, left untreated make me really sick. It's usually a mega bug thats hitting hard and often slams in to my lungs.

Awesome that you've had such a long run with out antibiotics! Best,

Liz

From: Keefer <julie.keefer@...>Subject: RE: Antibiotic use & disturbing new ideassamters Date: Saturday, September 26, 2009, 11:58 AM

I think doctors may be becoming more reluctant to prescribe antibiotics for sinus infections based on studies that have shown that in a lot of cases, internally taken antibiotics have little to no effect on clearing out a sinus infection. Here is a link that references a recent study http://www.webmd. com/allergies/ sinus-pain- pressure- 9/antibiotics it does say at the bottom of the page that there are guidelines in place for when antibiotics should be prescribed, which includes people who cannot fight off infection as well as normal. I haven’t taken an antibiotic in at least 3 years, even when I have gotten the funny-colored mucus that I used to go running to the doctor about. He would do a culture, say I had an infection, then I would be on antibiotics for

2-4 weeks. Since then, any of the “infections†I seem to get go away in the same amount of time or less. It never seemed the antibiotics cleared them up any faster. I have to wonder if they are infections or allergies, since they coincide with allergy season, I never get infections in the winter! However, there have been a couple of times when I had an obvious cold that became a sinus infection (usually one I got from my husband!) and I got an antibiotic and it would start to clear up within 24 hrs of starting an antibiotic. I therefore think that if an antibiotic isn’t effective quickly, then either it is the wrong antibiotic or whatever is going on is not bacteria! I also have the added issue of being allergic to the quinolones (Avelox, Cipro, etc), which are one of the preferred antibiotic classes for the sinuses, esp. for nasty bugs like pseudomonas.

So, I don’t think Samter’s patients will be cut off from antibiotics with this line of thinking! Any doc with half a brain should take your overall health and history into account when prescribing antibiotics even if he/she doesn’t have a clue about Samter’s.

K.

From: samters@groups .com [mailto:samters] On Behalf Of BostonSent: Thursday, September 24, 2009 6:21 AMsamters@groups .comSubject: Antibiotic use & disturbing new ideas

I've been a Samters patient since 1996 and have had many, many infections--

In the last month or so, I've read several different articles where the doctors are saying-emphatically -not to bother with antibiotic use because they are unsuccessful in treating sinus infection.

My experience has been consistent. Occassionally I can clear a mild infection with steroids. But severe infections or the more lethal bacteria (ecoli, pseudomonas aeruginosa, serratia, etc) have made me really sick and caused polyps to fully occlude my sinuses. But steroids and the right antibiotic have always cleared the infection (and usually shrunk the polyposis). There have been times when I've been too sick to walk and can't imagine a rinse being prescribed as the answer. I've spent fortunes in money and health with alternative treatments that just didn't work.

Are Samters patients being cut off from antibiotics with this line of thinking?

I'm worried.

Thanks,

Liz

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