amoxicillin

I have to share my experience with this so-called wonder drug that all doctors from here to India give all children with any form of bacterial infection: amoxicillin.

Sunday: A couple of week ago, poor Benjamin wakes up at 4am on our big day to see very-pregnant Beth with a fever of 102. (To be honest, my first thought was, "Please God, not another stomach virus. I just can't live through another day/night of hotdog all over me.) Of course this was a Sunday because ALL children get sick on the weekends when it's next to impossible to see a doctor for a routine sickness.

Monday: We go and see a doctor here in town and they give the wonder drug amoxicillin for his ear infection. Yes, I did forget to mention that that's all it was, so thank you God for keeping the hotdogs in his tummy and not all over mine.

Tuesday: Happy baby! All was proclaimed well and our trip was rescheduled for the next day. We went to eat mexican partly to celebrate this event and partly because I will turn into a Gremlin if I go longer than a week without cheese dip. No idea why, this is just part of my life that we all have to deal with. So lunch was a fun trip and I even have a picture of this delicious dip all over Benjamin to prove how much fun we had. Thirty minutes after lunch, Benjamin starts grunting and crying uncontrollably and quite frankly scared the beejesus out of me. He was turning red and getting on all fours like an animal and rocking back and forth. REALLY weird. Mom came home from work because I was frantic and called the paramedics because we were concerned he was having trouble breathing. They get here and in not so many words call me crazy because he calmed down a bit by then and almost fell asleep. Now, I know my child and this was not any sort of behavior that was remotely normal, but yet they continued to look at me as if I were the ignorant "new mom". Oh well, I'm just glad that all it turned out to be was a "stomachache" from the cheese dip. (I can't even tell you how many times he's had cheese dip.) We call the Dr who saw him and she recommended that we "cut down on milk and all dairy". The problem with this is that Benjamin loves milk. It was a bad night, I tell ya.

Wednesday: Benjamin is now drinking Lactaid (which btw he is still on and it is working quite nicely) and has mysterious looking bumps on the back of his neck. I thought it was from the tag on his new shirt. About ten minutes later, the bumps were all over his chest, back, and creeping in on his face. He appears healthy otherwise. I of course immediately thought it was from the medicine and read the side affects and "severe stomachache" and "rash" were two of the most awful ones listed and "discontinue drug" posted right beside it if problems arise. What the heck was this doctor thinking? Stomachache from the cheese dip my ***.

We went to the ER and he was placed on a different antibiotic for his ear infection, which had almost cleared up completely by this point, and he has been happy ever since. Doctors sometimes really should listen to parents a little more closely.

This is sooooo not the first time that I knew something was wrong with my child and I was labeled a "new mom".