Stent was successful/LONG REPLY

[Guest guest]

I have been on long term antibiotic therapy (since April 1997) due to some

rather unusual circumstances. I was treated for life-threatening liver

abscesses with some powerful drugs, including gentamicin which robbed me of

my balance because it destroyed my inner ears. As soon as it became known

that the " gent " was doing damage, I was de-sensitized to sulfa (which I had

been horribly allergic to) and I have been on that, in varying dosages

since June 1997.

Because of the sulfa, I grew " fungal balls " in a duct in my liver which

blocked the bile flow and led to a rather dramatic episode of chest pain and

a long hospitalization. I was then treated with Diflucan to take care of

the fungal ball. I remain on sulfa (in very low doses) even though I may

not have an infection all of the time, because we are concerned that going

off it and back on when needed might cause the allergic response again. We

know exactly what organisms we are dealing with and sulfa and gentamicin are

the two most effective drugs for my specific " bugs " . I urge you to find out

what is growing in the liver by use of cultures of the bile--(my blood

cultures were always negative even through the worst episodes of infection)

so that you can target those organisms with the most effective antibiotic.

So, I remain on sulfa because, in my opinion, I would never consent to take

gentamicin again. I never thought I would be able to sit up by myself or

walk again due to the damage. Granted, " gent " does not treat everyone so

badly, but it certainly damaged me. My infectious disease specialist who

manages my antibiotics, calls gentamicin " not so gentle mycin " .

Feel free to contact me directly if you need more info,

Penny

Irene wrote:

> There are two reasons he does not want to leave

> it in too long: risk of infection and most important, the risk of his

> body getting to used to antibiotics. I realize there are lots of

> different subjects going on at the same time, but I would appreciate

> any feedback on the " long-term use of antibiotics " anyone might

> have. Thanks again, Irene