# IV antibiotics and probiotics?



## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

My mother is going to be on IV antibiotics for the next six weeks. She had knee replacement surgury a month ago and then the surgical wound got infected. She had to be re-hospitalized, needed surgury to remove the infected tissue, and she just got home yesterday (yay!!!)

Now she'll be on IV abx for the next 6 weeks. Will this affect her gut flora the same way oral abx would? Should I get her probiotics to take for the duration of the abx? If so, what kind, and in what dosage, and how should she time the dosing? She gets the abx once a day, in the mornings (well, it was afternoon when the visiting nurse came today, but we'll have to wean her down to mornings so the weekly bloodwork will be accurate.)

Should she take probiotics at night? Should she take them more than once a day?


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## nataliachick7 (Apr 3, 2007)

The way I see it is, antibiotics are antibiotics. They kill gut flora. A good brand of probiotics that i have used is kirkman labs. Enzymatic therapies also sells nice pearls that are tiny (easy to swallow) and dont need refrigeration. The probiotics should be given 3-4 hours apart from antibiotics.


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## sbgrace (Sep 22, 2004)

I don't know honestly. I know when my son was on IV antibiotics and they thought he had c. diff they were going to have to do oral vanc. to try to kill it.

My son was put on IV antibiotics with mastoiditis. He had been taking quality probiotics very heavily prior but he was NPO (so no giving him anything by mouth including probiotics) in prep for surgery for three days (major children's hospital going into a holiday week-end and so his surgery kept being pushed for emergencies). He did end up with a very nasty bacterial overgrowth in the gut. However, I don't know if that was because of the IV antibiotics or my "heavy hitting" probiotics just naturally died in the NPO time and what was left couldn't handle the hospital nasties. My inclination is the IV killed them as they should have lasted three days and he had diarrhea before the three days were even up.

Either way I suggest you get some Florastor. It isn't killed off by antibiotics like other probiotics. So this is the one you want. I dose with each antibiotic dose but since she's in the hospital what I would do is one in the morning and one in the evening if you can. I would also do culturelle (though I know oral antibiotics kill it) twice a day. Both these are very good with the kinds of yucky bacterias found in hospitals like c. diff. AS the pp said, you would keep the culturelle or other probiotics three hours after the antibiotic. But for IV, at least my son's schedule, I didn't find the timing thing very possible at all. Do what's convenient enough to get done regularly and load up on florastor for insurance.


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## katelove (Apr 28, 2009)

Yep, IVABs can certainly kill gut flora.


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## Koalamom (Dec 27, 2007)

Well according to the dr's that were treating my serious knee infection, IV abx have to way to get to the gut... How False!!! Did these guys even go to med shcool!!?? I had 2 rounds and got a terrible yeast infection and got all gittery from the metals in the IV abx.


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## Ruthla (Jun 2, 2004)

She's home now- she was in the hospital, came home on a Friday, went back in the following Tuesday, then came home again last night (after I guess another full week.)

She's at home now; I'm cooking for her, doing all her shopping, helping her bathe, etc. If anybody's going to buy probiotics for her, it's going to be me. The IV antibiotics are being administered at home (again, by me) once a day, and it takes about 1.5-2 hours for this.

Where do I find this "Florastor"? Is this something my health food store is likely to carry? It seems like a waste to give her something that's going to be killed off by the antibiotic anyway (and I think the dosage is intended to stay in her system all the time.) Would it make more sense to wait on the probiotics and just load her up with them after the 6 weeks are up?


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## sbgrace (Sep 22, 2004)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ruthla* 

Where do I find this "Florastor"? Is this something my health food store is likely to carry? It seems like a waste to give her something that's going to be killed off by the antibiotic anyway (and I think the dosage is intended to stay in her system all the time.) Would it make more sense to wait on the probiotics and just load her up with them after the 6 weeks are up?

You don't wait. You can get in a horrible mess where you have an overgrowth of bacteria or yeast. Probiotics aren't good at "taking back" from that type of situation they are good at preventing it in the first place.
I order my florastor online from newton tiemman (misspelled probably) pharmacy. Google florastor mail and you'll find it.
I always have it at home now because of what happened with my son. I want to be able to have it should we suddenly find ourselves in that situation again.

Until you can get it do culturelle three hours after the IV is finished. I'd do two culturelle a day. Do order the florastor.


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## 4273cove (Nov 18, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ruthla* 
She's home now- she was in the hospital, came home on a Friday, went back in the following Tuesday, then came home again last night (after I guess another full week.)

She's at home now; I'm cooking for her, doing all her shopping, helping her bathe, etc. If anybody's going to buy probiotics for her, it's going to be me. The IV antibiotics are being administered at home (again, by me) once a day, and it takes about 1.5-2 hours for this.

Where do I find this "Florastor"? Is this something my health food store is likely to carry? It seems like a waste to give her something that's going to be killed off by the antibiotic anyway (and I think the dosage is intended to stay in her system all the time.) Would it make more sense to wait on the probiotics and just load her up with them after the 6 weeks are up?

Florastor is the probiotic that is resistant to antibiotics so it is the best probiotic to take when on antibiotics. You can buy Florastor and Florastor Kids at any Pharmacy, you just have to ask the Pharmacist because most hold it behind the counter. Hope she is feeling better!


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## 4273cove (Nov 18, 2009)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Ruthla* 
My mother is going to be on IV antibiotics for the next six weeks. She had knee replacement surgury a month ago and then the surgical wound got infected. She had to be re-hospitalized, needed surgury to remove the infected tissue, and she just got home yesterday (yay!!!)

Now she'll be on IV abx for the next 6 weeks. Will this affect her gut flora the same way oral abx would? Should I get her probiotics to take for the duration of the abx? If so, what kind, and in what dosage, and how should she time the dosing? She gets the abx once a day, in the mornings (well, it was afternoon when the visiting nurse came today, but we'll have to wean her down to mornings so the weekly bloodwork will be accurate.)

Should she take probiotics at night? Should she take them more than once a day?

If you give your mom Florastor she can take 1-2 in the morning and 1-2 at night. It can be taken at the same time as any antibiotic unlike like other probiotics, you don't have to worry about the antibiotic killing off this particular probiotic. I believe they have a website florastor.com


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