Allergic to Clindamycin, now what?

[RAinPA]

I’ve been taking 100mg of minocycline MWF for about 4 months with little improvement. My AP Dr wanted me to do the clindy iv’s to help move things along. I started them this past Wednesday, did the 300 mgs wednesday and thursday, then Friday upped it to 600 mgs and about 20 min in, I started to have a bad reaction. I was having hot and cold flashes, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat with horrible papultations, I thought I was going to pass out. My nurse (a family friend) who was administering the iv stopped it immediately and gave me benedryl in liquid and pill form which stopped the symptoms within a few minutes. I have to call my AP DR tomorrow and tell him what happened but I was wondering if this has happened to any of you? What should I do from here? Thanks for any imput.

[nspiker]

Hi RAinPA,

I haven’t personally heard of this happening to anyone else. Searching on-line for allergic side-effects it lists the following:

A very serious allergic reaction to this drug is rare. However, seek immediate medical attention if you notice any symptoms of a serious allergic reaction, including: rash, itching/swelling (especially of the face/tongue/throat), severe dizziness, trouble breathing.

Please let us know what your AP doctor had to say. Thank goodness you had an astute nurse-friend, who acted quickly.
nancy

[Maz]

@RAinPA wrote:

I was having hot and cold flashes, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat with horrible papultations, I thought I was going to pass out. My nurse (a family friend) who was administering the iv stopped it immediately and gave me benedryl in liquid and pill form which stopped the symptoms within a few minutes. I have to call my AP DR tomorrow and tell him what happened but I was wondering if this has happened to any of you? What should I do from here?

Hi RAinPA,

If it helps, I can send you the contact info of Dr. S in Iowa for a second AP doc opinion (he’s very kind to answer emails and phone calls). He’s an expert in IV clindy, as the very reason so many thousands of rheumatics have traveled to see him is specifically to receive the 5 day IV series. So, if anyone has “seen it all,” it would be Dr. S. He may have some very good insight for you on why this occured and if you would/would not be a candidate for IV clindy in the future.

I had a similar reaction when starting azithromycin (orally) and had to go very low and slow, taking only 250mg every 10 days to start with and had very swift reactions. For me, with Lyme and babesiosis, I just had to go low and slow. I was eventually able to get the dose right up to 250mg BID. In my case, I was just severely hypersensitive at the outset.

It might require a trip to see the allergist/immunologist to see if they can determine whether or not your are indeed allergic. This is pretty rare with clindamycin, but can happen. So it is important to check this before trying again, for sure.

[RAinPA]

Maz, if you could send me Dr. S’s contact information, that would be great. I called my AP Dr today and he was not happy with me. He said that I should have continued the IV’s and that in his 20+ years of treating patients, he’s never had one with the symptoms that I described so I must have had something else going on with my body. I started having the heart palputations again today after taking my oral minocycline (this has never happened to me before) so I am feeling quite lost right now and really don’t know where to go from here. I DO NOT want to go back on mtx and start down the long dark road to biologics but Dr. B told me today that AP therapy will not work unless I do the clindy IV”s. Seeming as how I felt like my heart was going to explode during the clindy treatment, I’m a little hesitant to try again.

[Maz]

@RAinPA wrote:

I started having the heart palputations again today after taking my oral minocycline (this has never happened to me before) so I am feeling quite lost right now and really don’t know where to go from here.

RAinPA, I can understand your angst and would feel the exact same way. I think you did the right thing to halt the IVs and check with Dr. B before proceeding.

If it would help to put your mind at rest, it might not be a bad idea to check in with your GP and get an EKG run, just to be sure all is okay.

Also, have you considered the Lyme question? It’s pretty endemic down in PA and can seriously affect heart function/rhythm. I suffered for years with this (PVCs – premature ventricular contractions, which were benign, but very scary), putting it down to hormones, as all my EKGs, ultrasounds, holter monitor tests, etc were normal. After getting appropriate Lyme treatments, these are now a thing of the past, except for the odd occasion when I’ve changed protocols and herxed, but nothing like in the years prior to and early days of treatment.

Will send you a PM with Dr. S’s contact info. 😉

[Krys]

Dear RAinPA,
That was a very scary experience you have been through! You’ve received excellent advice. And I totally agree that your decision to stop IV was very astute. And it is great that you will really check the possibility of an allergic reaction.
I have not taken Clindamycin IV, neither have I started Minocin, which I keep intending to switch to from doxycycline. I’m responding to your post because from my personal experience very violent reactions can be huge herx due to very fast die off. Maz mentioned her reaction to Azith. and how she had to build it up very slowly. I had violent reactions after introducing a very small dose of wormwood while on already intense herbal anti-microbials. I had a very violent neurological reaction after starting doxycycline which subsided after 2 weeks and then even worse after adding Azith. When things quietened down, during my once monthly Rife Machine treatment, the person operating the machine decided to be extra generous and set the machine frequencies up for Babesia. I had earlier used the machine (for Borrelia) and everything was great. This time, I was not informed about the change, and I felt good during the procedure. I was informed at the the very end of the session that it had been set for Babesia, was a little alarmed, because my LLMD had told me that due to my severe reaction to wormwood, he would proceed very cautiously when we eventually start treating Babesia. I left the office still feeling good. About an hour later I started having strong multiple something like cramps within the heart, big arrhythmia, palpitations, scorching heat within the heart, and also violent cramps, spasms and rapid movements within the brain. I knew it was a herx. There was almost no sleep that night and I kept wondering if I was going to survive the night. I did survive and I still have not reached the level of progress I had before this Rife for Babesia treatment, which took place in January. There must have been a very massive die off. As Babesia is a red blood cell parasite, I did and still do think the “dosage” of frequencies I received was dangerously high for me. I don’t regret it happening but I would have never chosen to go through this experience, had I been asked.
I am going to resume the Rife treatment eventually, but not yet, not so strongly, and absolutely not for the length of time it was administered.
All the above is given as an example that big bacterial die off can produce very scary reactions that may possibly be dangerous if very intense. And while it does mean that the antibiotic /or a treatment is hitting the target, the scary reactions in most cases will be due to the die off, not due to an allergy to the antibiotic. It’s good that you have the option to check it out with 2 experienced doctors! And there must be a way to check for an antibiotic allergy, too.
Wish you lots of great luck on you AP road back to health. Warm wishes, Krys

[Rosemary Perth Aust.]

RA Have you ever tried lincomycin instead/ It is a sister drug which I used IM (intra muscular) mostly because of the cost of the Clinda IV and the fact that dr. was away surfing in the Maldives for a week or so and I could not go without my treatment so we went down that road and I did it myself two days on and one day rest. Heard about it on the board here years ago and sure helped me out, in more ways than one.

[Jan Lucinda1]

Sorry this happened. You were O.K. with the lower dosage. Can you go back down to it?

Jan

[Rosemary Perth Aust.]

Jan – it was a relief actually, the build up and break of the IV nearly killed me. From what I remember it was 600mg working up to about 1200, not sure about that though, then a break of 6 weeks. It was way too strong. I put up with it because I felt better after the dreadful herx stopped, I knew I just had to if I wanted to survive. The 300 of the Lincomycin was super, being consistent also suited me much better the lower dose. Fortunately they taught me how to inject myself in the States with the iron daily. We are not taught to do it ourselves here.

[RAinPA]

Thank you everyone for your responses. A little update…I am still having the “palpitations” on a daily basis pretty frequently throughout the day. I went to my family Dr who did an EKG (which was normal) and he also did a 24 hour holster monitor test which showed I am having premature venticular contractions (PVC’s) which are benign. I still don’t understand why these started all of a sudden and now 4 weeks later I’m still having them. I’m only 29 years old, I should not be having heart issues this young.
I have been chatting with Maz (thank you again for all your help) and I ordered the Igenix lyme test and am also making an appointment with a LLMD in my area. So for right now I’m still taking 100 mgs of minocycline MWF and 5 mgs of prednisone daily.

[maz.aust]

So sorry to hear you have had what you believe to be a reaction to the abx. As the mum of a daughter who is allergic to penicillin/sulfa/bactrim & erythromycin group medications it is extremely important that you find out categorically if you are actually allergic to the drug or whether it is something else. The main thing to remember is that if you do develop an allergy to something the chances are that you will remain allergic to whatever it is, the minor thing to remember is that under extreme stress on rare occassions your body can react as if you have come in contact with that very thing you are allergic to without having been in contact with it; yes I know it sounds strange, but it can happen. However I am happy to report that there are alternative abx available to you so it isn’t really a problem, your doctor will just have to put his/her thinking cap on.

I am sure that whatever it is that you will be ok.

Good luck,
Maz – Aust

Dec07: Diagnosed PRA, (CTD; Fibromyalgia; suspected Lyme):
Mar08: Diet to heal gut/bolster immune system (no gluten, dairy, sulphites or sugar)

Jan 2018: ABX Mon/Wed/Fri (started AP 2008)
1/2 x 150mg Roxithromycin(Biasig), 1/2 x 150mg Clarithromycin (Klacid),
1/2 x Fungillin, 1 x 250mg Cephalexin (Keflex)

All off days Probiotics

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