Hyperemesis Gravidarum Support and Research Forums

Posted: **Jun 15, 2004 12:35 pm**

I am now in my 17 week and have been feeling some better. However, I still am having the horrible spitting and drainage. I started taking augmentin thinking it may help with the sinus problem.

Within five hours of taking the medicine I could feel my body going down hill. By the next day I felt like I was back to week 12 of this pregnancy. I stopped taking it after the 3rd day and I am slowly starting to feel better.

I just wanted to write in case anyone else who has the same nasal problems might try this medication. I'd advise against it or at least watch it closely.

Posted: **Jun 15, 2004 4:18 pm**

Oh My
Augmentin. My care provider put me on it for a sinus infection, it set me back to throwing up 10-20 times a day for week even after I stopped taking it(and I no where near finished the course).

Posted: **Jun 16, 2004 10:15 pm**

You may already know all of this, so my apologies--I don't want to come across as a know-it-all, but wanted to offer some thougts.

First, many antibiotics, particularly the kind that Augmentin is, can cause nausea in the best of health. Also, it is recommended to take it with food to help the nausea--we all know how "easy" that is, right?

Second, the only way an antibiotic will help is if there is a bacterial infection. So, as a pretty consistent rule, unless the GROSSMENT drainage is green, thick yellow or brownish, it is not bacterial and the antibiotic won't do squat.

If you have a lot of clear drainage, you might try Benadryl--it is an antihistamine and can do a good job of "drying up" sinuses. Also, it has the added benefit of helping nausea in some people. And, it is generally a "pregnancy approved" choice for most docs (check with your own provider however, I am not a doctor!).

Finally, if you don't have an infection, simply taking antibiotics (especially if you can't finish the treatment course) can over time add to your own resistance to that drug. It is becoming a very real problem in health care and to that end, this year even the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends NOT using an antibiotic on ear infection in children over 2 years who are otherwise healthy unless the pain or fever is severe for 2 days. In many people, our own bodies can fight mild infections if we give it a chance. Now that said, I am the first to jump to the doc if I have sinus or bronchitis (my yearly curse) for drugs...so it isn't as if I am some half crazed whacko that hates medications!

Again--you may know all this anyway and may have had a true sinus infection, but I wanted to share my thoughts in case.

Posted: **Jun 18, 2004 2:10 pm**

As for me (a frequent sinus infection sufferer) I KNOW it was an infection, and actually was one that had been going on for some months, as it was the antibiotics for the original infection that jump-started my hyperemesis at 4 weeks or so. We tried three different antibiotics before giving up for a couple of months, then tried the Augmentin, and then when I stopped throwing up from that was finally able to keep down liquid amoxicillan, which, miraculously enough, finally cleared up the infection. I say that because it typically takes starting with a stronger antibiotic or a second course of antibiotics to clear up one of my infections.
However, now that I'm taking Benadryl 2-3 times every night (to stave off a severe skin reaction to the PICC line dressing) I haven't had much problems with my sinuses. :wink:

However, I can't say that I've noticed it helping with the nausea for me, especiallly as I take it orally, I end up throwing up the pills a couple of times a week.