Side Effects Of Bactrim (Page 3) (Top voted first)

I need to know of any side effects that may occur while taking this medication.

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Dawn, I agree with you, this drug is dangerous if you are at all allergic to sulfa. I never had a problem with sulfa when I was young,but after this reaction I won't take it again. My dr. and the ER dr. said the next time it could be fatal.
I still have some blotches on my skin from the rash and it's been almost a month that I quit taking it. I hope your daughter is feeling better.

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I am trying to recover from a severe reaction to Bactrim. I had burning from head to toe like fire. All over body pain. tingling. chest pain and abdominal spasms radiating through my back. I was screaming with these pains at the ER. I have bruising too. My Creatinine level was up slightly and my kidney function was just out of normal level. My blood work came back fine except for my kidney pannel. I have been off of it today being 3 days. I am still in bad body pain with tingling and itching. I dont know how long this is going to last. The pharmasist told me last night that it will b out of my system in 5 days. but I am beginning to think that is not going to happen. I would love to hear more from others who had symptoms like mine and how long they lasted. Thank you

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I came upon this thread by searching for "Bactrim eyes burn skin itches paranoia sleep". Glad to see it's not something else, at least. Not that it's good to feel so messed up, but at least I know the cause and can talk to pharmacist. Janet (post 20), it is a VERY ignorant and selfish person who assumes that just because something doesn't affect them, it also doesn't affect the world. Bactrim may have fixed your infection, but it sure didn't fix your nasty, narcissistic attitude!

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I have a bladder infection and they gave me Bactrim. I am very sensitive to medication and just after 2 doses I became severely nauseous, dizzy, hives, and had a spell of depression. This is by far the worst drug I have ever taken. I thought I was losing my mind so reading everyone's posts made me feel better. I stopped taking this of course. Does anyone know how long it remains in your system?!

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I started taking Bactrim DS today for a possible UTI. After a few hours I began to notice that I felt itchy. I'm concerned because I received an antibiotic shot (can't remember the name and the stupid doctors never even took record of what they gave me) that also caused me to feel itchy all over. Can I ask my doc for an alternative? Are there any safe alternatives? I wouldn't even be taking antibiotics, but I started to develop a fever and back pain so I was worried about kidney involvement.

Also, what seems weird to me about this is that I have been taking a moderate dose of a sulfa drug for over a year and suffered no allergic reaction. I'm confused. :(

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Ugh, it's almost been four days. Itchy and have a fever now. Not feeling too good. Don't know if it's the infection or the Bactrim. I keep getting hives on my arms and my skin is really dry. Really hope this is over soon.

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I started taking Bactrim a week ago for prostatitus. They can only guess if it is a bacterial infection or just inflammation, but the antibiotics are in case it is bacterial and may get worse. I felt good for 4 days, but on the 5th day I had fever, aches, and chills. I assumed that I had a virus and was a bit relieved that I was taking antibiotics in case my fever was due to a bacterial infection. On the 6th day with bactrim, I started getting very itchy and soon had a rash over almost all of my body. Didn't take another dose after that. But then the rash and itchiness got worse. The rash started off just red and irritated and then progressed to a thousand little red specks. It is all more itchy than I can imagine. Started taking benadryl but went to my primary care physician and they gave me steroids. Just took my first dose so I hope I feel better soon.

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I have been off the med for a few months and still have issues with my skin. Any time I'm in the sun, my arms and face flare up. Get red and feel super hot. I'm starting to wonder if it'll ever go back to normal.

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I have taken Bactrim DS in the past for UTI without problems . However, a few months back it was prescribed for a sinus problem I think and I took one pill and I had some weird reaction so I did not take anymore. It seemed as if the pills were more potent. So here it s now and I just started taking few days ago for this bronchitis respiratory thing that has hit our area. I had the nasal swab done so it did show a specific pathogen. I am in the US. I noticed my ears got red afterward I started on it friday but only took the one pill. I took two on Saturday and Sunday 12 hours apart and one this morning. My cough became worse while taking this . I noticed a few pimple looking things popped up. I am NOT taking anymore. I also started running a fever where I had not been days prior. I am drinking plenty of water. I also made sure I was taking a probiotic. I cannot see taking this up to the tenth day.I also noticed some discomfort in my neck. I am hoping that by only taking it a few days I can drink water to flush it out. I think each bactrim pill takes about 72 hours to leave the body. I am assuming that by next Monday it should be gone out if my system. I really think certain manufacturers put more in pills than others.I heard that Bactrim DS has a half life so it is not excreted right away as it stays in tissues. I also read that it can lower platelets and wbg's and cause bleeding so be careful if you have to take it. It can also cause meningitis. I know crazy right? I am ending this by not taking anymore today. I already called my doctor and told them as Urgent Care had prescribed this. I will just do homeopathic stuff and continue probiotics and water to get it out.Please contact your doctor about continuing or discontinuing any medications at any time. Thank you

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So finally I'm writing an update. In an effort to stop the sun rash from happening I went to an ER doctor, a CNP (who is naturally minded), a dermatologist who then had me come in to a meeting of top University dermatologists to see if any of them could figure out what was going on (I'd guess 15-20 at minimum, none of them had any ideas other than a "slight chance that it could be Lupus" and "something in the Bactrim must have reacted to something I was using on my skin") and finally a Dr. of oriental medicine. The only one that was helpful was the Oriental medicine doctor. She did a live blood analysis. It reveled an autoimmune response and some digestive issues that cause inflammation in my gut. I took a autoimmune supplement called digestacure autoimmune-x, and changed several things in my diet. (BTW autoimmune disease is common in my family not to mention at epidemic proportions in America) During this time I discovered that there are several autoimmune diseases that are drug induced.

I did the strict diet and supplement and kept completely out of the sun (covered my body head to toe even when I walked from the car into the grocery store) for one month. When I returned we did another live blood and it was MUCH better! Truthfully it was amazing & I was not expecting it to be so drastically different. After that I did brief evaluations out in the sun (5 min at first then working up to larger increments with several days in between to see if there was any change in my skin) with Badger sunblock (due to it's limited list of ingredients). I am SO SO SO HAPPY TO REPORT that my skin is no longer reacting to the sun! I have even been out in the sun long enough to get a slight burn and there was still no reaction! I also found out through the dermatologist that Neosporin has sulfa in it so you should not use that any more. Personally I will now use a colloidal silver first aid topical treatment or essential oils (please educate yourself before using ANYTHING on or in your body!) As many of you already on here I will NEVER let any doctor give myself or my loved one a sulfa drug. I believe they do more harm than good in the majority of people who take them. If you'd like more details I'd be happy to share. But I would hands down recommend anyone going through this to see a Dr. of oriental medicine and do the live blood analysis.

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This is in addition to symptoms I've listed in the past. After a year of struggling with my lips cracking and swelling, and wondering why my vitamin b levels dropped to the point of needing injections. I found out that developing a dificency in vitamin b12 can happen after taking Bactrim. Which can cause nervous system damage if not caught soon enough.
Seriously this stuff is poison.

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I took bactrim 2 x a day for 5 days. Last pill was taken on Saturday. I woke up Sunday morning itching like crazy. Covered with hives. Went to urgent care . I was given prednisone and told to take an antihistamine. It was the worst 4 days of my life. I'll never take that medicine again.

I was given the medication for a bladder infection. I had taken it many times before with no reaction.

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I was put on Bactrium for a MRSA infection on my finger. I work as a nurse and think I got while at work. The second day I woke up at 2 am with the worst headache of my life. i was vomiting and I was so anxious I thought I was going crazy. I didn't want to go to the ER because that's where I worked but I knew this was serious. My friend came and got me and I ended up getting a CT of the head and a Lumbar Puncture. This was awful. My blood pressure was through the roof. The only thing that helped was Benadryl and Reglan. I saw my Dr after all this and she was told me I was the second patient of hers that had the same response. For years I have given this drug to my patients. I have never seen anything like it. I have learned what it's like to be on the other side. It's very scary to be in so much pain and not know what is happening. I hope I never have to go on this drug again. I still don't feel normal. Hope this helps someone out there.

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In my case I stopped it after 5 days. It's been a couple weeks since I stopped and I have been experiencing moderate symptoms of peripheral neuropathy, aches and pains dizziness and weakness below the waist . Its been scary and I too hope it is only a temporary thing. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

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I got severe headaches neck and muscle stiffness and blood shot glossy eyes I would Nvr take that again I only took two doses .. Side effects showed right away

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I have been talking bactrim for about 5 days. I thought the chest pain and racing heart episodes were from my anxiety but my anxiety meds aren't helping. Anyone else have these issues?

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I took bactrim ds last Monday night and one dose Tuesday. Since then I've had insomnia and heart palpitations, anxiety/panic, muscle aches and stomach pain. Are your symptoms now resolved? I don't want this to last forever!!!

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I have two staph infections in each breast (I'm breastfeeding my 7 week old infant) and was given a sulfa drug for the infection. This morning (10 days after starting the sulfa) I woke up with a rash head to toe with blood shot eyes and chills, but no fever right now. IT is terrible and so uncomfortable. I went to urgent care and when the doctor came in to see me he actually said "wow, are you taking a sulfa antibiotic by chance?" Obviously I stopped taking this antibiotic, but I'm wondering how long these symptoms will last. And I also wonder if I should stop breastfeeding and pump and throw out milk until the drug is completely out of my system (how long would this take?). My mom is allergic to sulfa drugs, and I must be, so I worry that even the tiny amount that gets to baby through the milk will cause him to have an adverse reaction too. I can't believe how horrible this is and why so many people are prescribed this drug when so many are allergic. It seems to have some pretty bad side effects for a lot of people. When will this get better??

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I have been taking Bactrim since yesterday. I have severe nausea, neck and head pain and a nasty headache, shortness of breath. Now that I realize that it the side effects of this drug...maybe will spend the next couple of days laying down!

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I'm having a Bactrim (sulfa) reaction. I had taken the last of 20 pills for a leg infection, it was day 11. The Rx was gotten late on day 1, so I had two 1/2 dose days. The reaction started yesterday. I didn't know that they were giving me a sulfa drug. My grandfather had allergic reactions to it, nearly killed him. I find it hard to believe that anyone (as one poster did) would find it FUNNY that other people are in pain... I guess it takes the misfortune of others to make some sick people happy in their own petty lives. Anyway, I only wish that the doc would have asked if I had tried a sulfa drug before, as this reaction seems pretty common. They ask about penicillin, they don't just prescribe it without a specific warning... why not do the same with Bactrim? Sure, there are reactions to ALL drugs, but this stuff can kill you, and is pretty common, from my research. I know I am fine with Z-pac, penicillin, amoxycillin, several others... I guess the ball is in my court to demand the correct med. Let the patient advise the doctor. Thanks for the internet, Al. And at least I know that I'm allergic to this for sure, now. I just hope I get better. This is bad stuff, and not funny at all.

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I am curious if anyone else has had any of these side effects from taking bactrim. My mouth is so swollen with blisters ...

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