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Antibiotic Induced Diarrhea - Negligence
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You can get antibiotic-associated diarrhoea any time you take certain antibiotics that disrupt the bacterial environment of the intestines. Bowel movements are frequent and watery, sometimes leading to dehydration. Usually, however, antibiotic induced diarrhoea is relatively mild and goes away when the antibiotic is stopped. In rare cases, the condition can lead to colitis or inflammation of the colon. It can be severe, leading to pseudomembranous colitis, which can lead to pain in the abdomen and bloody diarrhoea. Pseudomembranous colitis can be fatal in some situations.
Common symptoms and signs of antibiotic associated diarrhoea include more frequent bowel movements, loose stools, bloody diarrhoea and dehydration. It usually starts within 5 to 10 days after the antibiotic is started but can take up to several weeks to begin seeing symptoms.
As the symptoms become more severe, there is abdominal cramping and pain in the abdomen, pus in the stool, fever, nausea, vomiting and bloody stools. You need to seek medical attention anytime you have severe symptoms such as dehydration or bloody stools.
Antibiotics most likely to cause diarrhoea include cephalosporins, erythromycin, clindamycin, penicillins, quinolone antibiotics, and tetracycline antibiotics. Antibiotics cause problems with diarrhoea because they disrupt the normal flora of the ecosystem of the intestinal tract. Good bacteria are killed off and "bad bacteria" that lead to diarrhoea are left behind. The balance between the good and bad bacteria is disrupted. This leads to diarrh0eal illnesses and toxins in the intestinal tract that lead to diarrhoea. The bowel can be damaged and the bowel becomes inflamed.
The most serious type of antibiotic associated diarrhoea comes from an infection with Clostridium difficile. These bacteria cause pseudomembranous colitis and severe inflammation of the colon and small intestines. It is more common in hospitals and nursing homes. Those at risk for antibiotic associated diarrhoea include those who've been taking antibiotics for another condition, those who are over 65 years, those who have had recent intestinal surgery and those who are in a hospital or nursing home. If you have an inflammatory bowel disease as a baseline, you can get antibiotic associated diarrhoea much more commonly.
Complications of this type of diarrhoea include severe dehydration from intestinal fluid loss. Electrolytes can be lost as well. You can get a perforated bowel due to severe inflammation and bowel damage. You can also get a condition known as toxic megacolon. This involves severe expansion of the colon so that it becomes enlarged and can rupture or leak bacteria out of the colon. It needs to be treated immediately with medications and possible surgery.
Doctors can diagnose antibiotic associated diarrhoea by asking you questions about your antibiotic use and your medical history. A stool analysis can be done which will look to see what bacteria are located in the stool/colon. Stool cultures are done to see what is living in the colon.
Treatment of antibiotic associated diarrhoea may just be a watch and wait kind of thing. Eventually the body regenerates the amount of good bacteria and the problem is resolved. You may need to drink clear liquids for a period of time in order to rest the colon. Sometimes antibiotics are used to fight off the bacteria, particularly those that cause severe antibiotic associated diarrhoea, like Clostridium difficile. The antibiotic targets the bad bacteria, leaving room for the good bacteria to grow and colonize the colon. Flagyl is a commonly used antibiotic for this condition.