According to Dr B's guidelines, with particular abx like Ceftinm, Augmentin, Amoxicillin and Doxycycline, one is supposed to get blood peak and trough levels measured.
Has anyone had that done, or just take the prescribed dose without checking peak and trough blood levels?
DLL
Posted by treepatrol (Member # 4117) on :
I never had it done. They are usually at MFG's recomended dosage for peak serum levels according to weight scale.
Fine-Tuning the Antibiotic
To fight infections successfully you need the correct antibiotic at the correct dose for a long enough time to assure that the infection is gone. That is why your doctor and nurse will remind you to take all of the antibiotic prescribed, even though the signs and symptoms of infection seem to disappear after a day to two.
Most antibiotic pills are prescribed for a week to ten days. More severe infections may require IV antibiotics for a few days, and then, depending on the organism and your response, you may be switched to pills, tablets, or capsules.
The dose of some antibiotics must be fine-tuned to be sure it is effective against the infection, but not harmful to your body. The doctor, therefore, needs to know the antibiotic's peak and trough. The peak is the greatest amount of medicine in your system (right after you receive it), and the trough is the least amount in your system (right before the next dose).
To determine the peak and trough, your blood will be drawn twice, both before and after you get the medication. With this information, your doctor can adjust the dose to the right level for you.
There are some anomolies reported with the drug absorption with certain drugs, these variations have been observed to be unrelated to body mass. This observation has been made by that particular Dr and has been reported a number of times in presentations. One of the drugs that displays this problem is apparently amoxi.
The big problem is that not many labs can do the measurements. So I guess the best answer to your question if I where in the same situation, is if it can be done easily then do the measurement, if not then go with the standard. The risk is of course that the drug may not be as effective as it could be.
I have personally seen this effect with Doxy also. Oral dose, even when taken at high levels, never got to the same level as IV even though the levels should have been higher with the oral doses I ended up taking.
If the drugs are IV, I think the actual serum levels are much more predictable.
PM me and I can give you specifics.
PS. your PM is full and I can't send anything.
Posted by dontlikeliver (Member # 4749) on :
Thanks Tree and David,
David I've emptied my mailbox, you can PM me now (I hope).
Posted by johnlyme1 (Member # 7343) on :
I have had the levels tested 2 times while on doxy. The first time I was on doxy was about a year ago. I was on 400mg a day and my levels tested great. I was on doxy about 4 weeks ago, 400mg and they tested levels again. this came back to low. I have been having a lot of intestinal issues, Leaky gut now that we are addressing from all the abx treatments. They bumped up my doxy to 600mg a day to get to theraputic levels. So, yes levels should be checked once and awhile.
Posted by TBD-PA (Member # 9790) on :
All good thoughts, I just posted similar on the Doxy thread from eariler today. Check levels on Doxy, ceftin, amoxil, augmention, vanco (if used long term) & mepron