Prescription Running Out Before He Finishes Antibiotic

You may have already received this response, but I don't have time to read through everything, and wanted to tell you mine.

This happened with my daughter as well and I was using the dropper method to give her the medicine. When she ran out before she should have I called the pharmacy and they asked immediately if I was using the medicine dropper to administer the medication. I told them I was and she told me that when you use the dropper, that some of the medication gets "wasted" each time, because a little remains in the dropper. The pharmacist gave me an additional amount of the antibiotic so she could continue taking it for the recommended amount of time...

They give a course of 10 days to ensure the infection clears but it only actually takes 7 days of antiobiotics for the infection to clear up , so your son should be fine , just make sure you finish what you have.

no, no
that happened to me. they didn't add enough water. i called and said i need this much for my daughter to finish the dose. no ifs no buts. she needed 10 days worth of antibiotics for the ear infection. they filled me a new one (free of charge) and i was able to finish the antibiotics. so no. they're wrong. if anything, there is always some left, so call and say i need this much left and tell them you always fill it up carefully so you know some is missing

Well, you've gotten some varying advice already. What I would do is call your pediatrician and see what they say to do.

This happens ALL the time with us. We are always short at least 1/2-1 dose and once was shorted two doses. I complained to the pharmacy and got the same response you did. I complained to the doc who told me it wasn't a big deal as long as she got all the rest of it. I can tell you my daughter never had a rebound infection for that reason.

I consider it another one of those pharmacological issues that needs to be addressed, but how can I prove it happened.

Assuming it was a 10-day supply, you should be OK.

I don't have an answer to your problems but it seems it's pretty common. This has happened to me more than once and I've read about it here a few times, so you're not alone. The first time I went back to the pharmacy and they basically told me I must have been giving too much medicine. When I asked if they could have made an error when adding the water they weren't too pleased. I hardly doubt I gave enough to be 2 days short. They said the Dr. would have to order a new RX & I would have to pay for it.

This just happened to me today! I called the pharmacy and they are giving me more. I will be sure next time to ask the pediatrician to add some more to the prescription so this doesn't happen again. They gave me the exact number of milliliters and it's so hard when you are using this type of bottle (you can't pour more back into it) and a syringe. I would try calling the pharmacy first.

He should be just fine. I did not give any antibiotics to my daughter for her ear infections til she was over 3 and then only if it was really bad, and then only a few doses. This was all with my Dr.s okay and I did the research too. I also have my own personal experience, where I had tons of EI's as a child and Antibiotics for every one and I ended up with tubes twice and allergies to antibiotics and EI's lasting into my teen years. My daughter is now 4 and has had only one EI this year, and likely she is almost outgrown it, without needing tubes or antibiotics. My son had worse EI's and I still only give him 2 to 3 days of of treatment to clear it up(many are viral and antibiotics don't really help apparently is what my Dr. tells me) and he is always fine, never had one come back. So apparently the Dr.s are now recommending a wait and see approach, at least mine does. And she says this is hopefully going to cut back on antibiotic resistant bugs and decrease the frequency of developing an allergy to it. And from my own research this appears to be true. I say appears because there is no data that I can I find that shows anything definitively. Anyway, I just wanted to say he should be fine without having anymore. But if you are worried that it isn't enough you could always call his Dr. Hope he feels better soon!

maybe they didn't add enough water to it. Always ask for dropper when you get prescription and call up pharmacy, they should give you little more. most will.

I just recently had the same problem and didn't think I could have been so wrong with my measuring. My daughter's prescription was for 2 doses/day for 10 days. By the end of day 7, I knew I could only make it one more dose. I called the pharmacy first, then called the prescribing pediatrician. The doctor asked if my daughter was feeling better and since she was, we did not need to go out and get another 2 1/2 days worth of the antibiotic. I would call your son's doctor to make sure, but I can't imagine if your son is feeling better you would need to go out and get two more doses. You've done a great job- I think those syringes are really easy to over or under measure with.

call the dr and seewhat he says. lots of times they will renew it. in the uture ask the dr for a precription for a bit more medicine in case of misdosing/lost meds esp. if your child has a habit of spitting up the medicine. in the end it will cost you less money and aggravation! hope this helps. also if you are not comfortable with the pharmacy, maybe you should switch. Supermarket pharmacies seem to have pharmacists that give better care than some of the chains. Good luck!

The same thing happens with my sons antibiotic.Of course the person filling it couldn't of filled it wrong ! I would call the dr. and tell them that you don't have enough and see if they would call more into the pharmacy.When my son was younger,half the bottle would end up on him ! (he hated taking it and it was allways a fight)Even now,he takes it with no problem,I fill it to where it should be and I allways come up short....Let the dr. tell you if the couple of missed doses won't matter.. More than likely they'll have no problem calling you in more.Good Luck. K. S

Hi, Veronica:

Don't worry. You didn't do anything wrong. The Pharmacist knows that the amount given will take care of the infection.

There are concerns now a days that antibiotics causes resistant strains of bacteria. The doctors don't want to overload the body with antibiotics.

Hope this helps. Good luck. D.

I would call both the doctor and the pharmasist, have them do the math on how big each dose is supposed to be and how much was given. I have had an antibiotic for my child once that they had to put in 2 bottles to give me the whole prescribed dosage. Someone made an error somewhere. It's possible the pharmacy did not give you the correct amount to begin with.