vancomycin

[Guest guest]

As many of you know, I have permanent vestibular loss due to the gentamicin that

was used to combat a life threatening nosocomial infection after an ERCP. That

means that the " hair cells " in my ears were damaged and I have lost some hearing

and my sense of balance. While vancomycin is not an aminoglycoside like " gent "

there have been some reports of ototoxicity attributed to vancomycin. The

reports may be valid or flawed, but I think that you should be aware of

potential damage and react quickly if anyone taking vancomycin shows signs of

hearing loss, loss of balance or tinnitus. The issue is somewhat clouded in

that, very often in emergency situations, several drugs are used simultaneously.

In my case, I was on long term IV " gent " so we are sure that it was the culprit.

Penny

[Guest guest]

I'd like to make an important point about the vancomycin studies conducted at

Stanford with pediatric patients, and in the Boston, MA area with adult

patients. These studies are with oral vancomycin, not with intravenous

vancomycin. The oral vancomycin is not absorbed from the gut, and so is only

affecting bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Vancomycin is a very large

molecule, and is not absorbed orally (the molecule is too big to be transported

across the gut membranes):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancomycin

Dave

(father of (23); PSC 07/03; UC 08/03)

[Guest guest]

I'd like to make an important point about the vancomycin studies conducted at

Stanford with pediatric patients, and in the Boston, MA area with adult

patients. These studies are with oral vancomycin, not with intravenous

vancomycin. The oral vancomycin is not absorbed from the gut, and so is only

affecting bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract. Vancomycin is a very large

molecule, and is not absorbed orally (the molecule is too big to be transported

across the gut membranes):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vancomycin

Dave

(father of (23); PSC 07/03; UC 08/03)