I am fine after four days of antibiotics. Should I really continue it for seven days?

Question

Hello doctor,

I got Doxycycline prescribed 100 mg twice daily for seven days for a throat infection. The side effects, like upset stomach and bowel movements, are very irritating. The throat infection after four days of taking medicine is much better. Do I need to finish the seven days course?

Answer 1

Hello,

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Ideally, you should complete the seven-day course. A full course of antibiotics is required to ensure that the bacteria do not turn resistant by acquiring resistant traits. The antibiotic now would have killed the bacteria which are living. Once the dormant bacteria gets shifted to the division phase, you may get some symptoms again. That is why the course of antibiotics is important. After a day, some more bacteria will be shifted to the living phase from the dormant or quiescent stage. If you complete the full course, those bacteria will also get killed. For the stomach upset, I would advise you to take some probiotic medicines, like lactobacilli, streptomycin, yeast, etc. Vizylac, Nutrolin, and Befelac are all good probiotics. You may also take dilute curd (yogurt) a few times daily until the course is over. You would want to take the antibiotics after food and take an antacid like Pantoprazole or Rabeprazole before food twice daily. With these measures, you can keep the gastric upset to a minimum yet complete the course of antibiotics.