Azithromycin is a wonder drug. Although Azithromycin’s side effects can be annoying, or even harmful at times, let’s face it: what other drug can get you well in such a short amount of time? In three day, or seven day doses, Azithromycin is great when you don’t have time to be sick.
I encountered Azithromycin and its side effects for the first time three years ago. Still in high school, I found myself with laryngitis, a sore throat so painful I didn’t want to even exist – and I went to my doctor. She prescribed the drug to me under the name, Zithromax, and within three days dosing of the drug, my voice was starting to come back after a few days without it! By the end of the seventh dose (seven days) I was ready to head back to school and pick up my life where I had left it off almost two weeks before.
That Friday, however, shortly after sitting down in my U.S. History class, I began to feel hot and a little itchy. Looking at my wrists, I realized I had little reddish white bumps and patches around. My close friend, sitting next to me, asked what she already knew the answer to: Do you have hives?
Excusing myself from class and heading to the nurse, I soon found myself driving home, with these annoying little hives spreading all over my body, from my arms to my stomach and all the way down my legs. My doctor recommended Benadryl to counteract the allergic reaction to Azithromycin’s side effects, and an oatmeal bath to ease the hives.
I was more or less ‘out of service’ the entire day! Even a miracle drug has some drawbacks. Writing myself off as allergic to Zithromax / Azithromycin, I decided never to take the drug again. Yet, a few weeks ago, I found myself in Costa Rica, victim to a malady of the throat yet again. Not wanting to ruin my vacation, I headed over to the local pharmacy, and the pharmacist gave me a three day dose of some drug. I took it without thinking, not recognizing that “Azithromycina” really meant, “That stuff you’re allergic to.”
I hadn’t realized that Azithromycin could be concentrated in a three day dose. The side effects of Azithromycin hit me yet again, one day after I took the final dose. My voice had come back, as the drug’s eternal promise, but I broke out in hives again. These hives were not all over, but concentrated on my wrists, and only a few at that.
Azithromycin’s side effects – especially if they’re hives or a similar allergic reaction – have the chance to be irritating, and perhaps even dangerous. It seems to me – although I will not be taking the drug again – that the allergic reaction lessens over time. Cheap and effective, I’d recommend the Azithromycin, despite its negative reaction to my body. When you need it, take it.
