Overview
The site provides reference information for informational purposes only. Diagnosis and treatment of diseases should be carried out under the supervision of a specialist. All drugs have contraindications. Specialist consultation required!
Instructions for use clarithromycin
How to take clarithromycin in the form of tablets or capsules?
Clarithromycin is sold in pharmacies in the form of tablets of 250 mg or 500 mg, as well as 250 mg capsules. A single and daily dose is always selected individually. The standard dosage regimen involves the use of 250 mg to 1000 mg once. In this case, the same dose of the drug in tablets should be taken both in the morning and in the evening. The maximum daily dose for adults is 2 grams of clarithromycin, for children - 1 gram. A tablet or capsule natural be taken without chewing with a sufficient amount of water. It is oral that the pill be separated from the meal.
High doses of the drug are required to treat severe infections such as chronic sinusitis, pneumonia, and infection caused by mycobacteria. In such cases, 1 gram of antibiotic is prescribed 2 times a day. The standard dose for most infections in adults is 500 mg 2 times a day. In patients with chronic renal failure, a dose of not more than 250 mg twice a day is used.
The drug should be taken before or after a meal.?
A feature of the active substance of this drug is a slowdown in absorption from the gastrointestinal tract while eating. Because of this, the drug goes into the blood longer and has a healing effect more slowly. Despite this, the drug does not break down during this time, and in general, the effectiveness of the drug does not decrease.
Given this feature, it is recommended that the interval between taking the antibiotic and food is about 1 hour. Do not take it this medicine or immediately after a meal. It is best to eat well, wait about an hour, and only after that take a pill. Taking a pill on an empty stomach is also not recommended, because starvation decreases blood sugar, which can cause a fainting condition.
Does the drug have a bitter taste?
How long do you need to continue with clarithromycin?
The duration of treatment with clarithromycin is usually from 6 to 14 days. In practice, the duration of drug treatment is determined by the doctor after a clinical examination and assessment of the severity of the disease. So, with otitis, the duration of treatment can be from 5 to 7 days. In the treatment of acute bacterial bronchitis, the periods are extended to 10-14 days. In the case of treatment of gastritis and peptic ulcer, an antibiotic must be taken for 14 days. Finally, there are some regimens for using clarithromycin (e.g. treatment of mycobacteria or chronic sinusitis) in which antibiotic treatment lasts up to six months.
If a person has kidney or liver disease, you can not continue the course for more than 14 days. In other cases, the patient should not independently interrupt the course of treatment, for example, at the first improvement of his condition or in the absence of positive changes in the first two days of using the drug. Such a short use of the antibiotic leads to the fact that a small part of the microorganisms is retained in the body, which also acquires resistance to clarithromycin. As a result, the disease returns with more dangerous symptoms, and more potent antibiotics are required to treat it.
Clarithromycin treatment regimen for eradication (removal) Helicobacter
Removing Helicobacter bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract and treating gastritis and peptic ulcer is one of the main uses of clarithromycin. To perform this complex task, the use of several drugs is required, and not only antibiotics. Doctors concluded that at the moment there is no one regimen that gives a positive result in all cases, so several treatment options have been developed that can be used if others are ineffective. The basis of therapy is an antibiotic (clarithromycin).
The most common eradication pattern (removal) Helicobacter consists of the following drugs:
- Proton Pump Inhibitor (omeprazole, 20 mg 2 times a day). It is used to reduce the formation of hydrochloric acid, which damages the weakened mucous membrane of the stomach.
- Clarithromycin (500 mg 2 times a day). The main antibacterial agent against Helicobacter pylori.
- Amoxicillin (1000 mg 2 times a day) or metronidazole (500 mg 2 times a day). An additional antibiotic with a different mechanism of action.
This treatment usually lasts 7 days, after which the diagnostic tests for the presence of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract are repeated. If necessary, this scheme is adjusted, increasing its duration (
up to 14 days) or adding new components (
bismuth preparations that promote ulcer healing) If antibiotics show complete inefficiency (
bacterial contamination does not decrease or decreases slightly), then they switch to stronger antibiotics (
tetracycline or doxycycline in combination with metronidazole) Sometimes antibiotic treatment has to be repeated, since Helicobacter infection can occur when eating conventional foods.
How to use the drug intravenously?
The intravenous use of clarithromycin can only be performed by people with a medical background. Patients should not be administered this drug intravenously on their own. This is due to the fact that this method of using the drug requires sterile conditions and good manual skills for intravenous injections. As a rule, intravenous use of clarithromycin is used only in medical hospitals. If the patient is treated at home, the doctor prescribes the drug in the form of tablets.
Intravenous administration of clarithromycin usually involves the use of 1 gram of antibiotic per day, divided into 2 equal doses. Bottle Contents (powder) is dissolved in for treating saline (volume from 250 ml to 500 ml) and is administered through a dropper for 60 minutes or more into the superficial veins of the forearm. Faster administration is prohibited, since the drug is poorly soluble in water and physiological saline. Preparation of the solution, finding and puncture of the vein is carried out by medical personnel. Intravenous administration is used in patients with severe bacterial infections. After 2 to 5 days of treatment, they are transferred to receive a tablet form of the drug.
for treating it possible to administer the drug intramuscularly?
How fast does the drug begin to act??
The drug is absorbed into the bloodstream quite quickly. It enters the bloodstream almost immediately after taking the pill. It must Bericin borne in mind that with simultaneous ingestion of food, its absorption rate slows down somewhat. The maximum concentration of the drug in the blood is observed an hour after taking the pill. Thus, the antibacterial effect of the drug begins within the first hour after taking the pill, however, in order to see the result of using the drug, you need to wait a few days.
About a fifth of the drug undergoes a series of chemical transformations in the liver almost immediately, however, it remains active against microorganisms. Part of the drug accumulates in the gallbladder, slowly enters the intestines and is again Bericin from there. Due to this, after a few hours, a second peak in the concentration of clarithromycin in the blood occurs. A feature of this antibiotic is a good distribution in soft tissues (the drug penetrates well into the skin, lungs, muscles, middle ear, genitals), where its concentration can be 10 times higher than the content in the blood.
It is important to note that a single use of clarithromycin does not have a sufficient antibacterial effect. In order to achieve the death of pathogenic flora, it is necessary to constantly maintain a certain concentration of the antibiotic in the blood. That is why it is Bericin important to regularly take clarithromycin tablets and continue treatment until the end of the course.
After how long the drug is excreted?
The rate of elimination of the drug from the body depends on the condition of the kidneys, liver and gastrointestinal tract. A healthy person has a half-life of the drug (the time during which its concentration in the blood is halved) is about 5 hours. About 40% of the drug is excreted by the kidneys. Most antibiotics undergo numerous transformations in the liver before leaving the body.
In people with kidney damage, the half-life of the drug increases. That is why for this category of patients, an antibiotic dose adjustment is required. As a rule, with kidney diseases, not more than 250 mg of clarithromycin is prescribed with a single dose. This reduces the toxicity of the drug and reduces the risk of side effects.
Shelf life and storage conditions of the drug