Why Shouldn't One Take Antibiotics Left Over from an Old Prescription?

QUESTION: Prescription drugs cost a fortune, and I frequently get better
sooner than my doctor thought I could. That means I can always save a number
of pills if I ever get sick again. Why shouldn't one take antibiotics that
are left over from an old prescription?
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ANSWER: For many highly important reasons!
Taking such antibiotics could cause serious effects including severe
allergic reactions. Your first experience with an antibiotic may have just
been enough to provoke a reaction when it is taken next, particularly if you
only took a small amount the first time. Once you restart a medication on
your own, you interfere with managing the illness you are currently
experiencing and can complicate your doctor's efforts to diagnose exactly what
disease you have now.
Among the serious problems doctors face are patients not taking every
antibiotic capsule or pill as prescribed.
Many patients fail to tell the doctor or admit to this type of "self
medication," possibly because they really know better. It really is foolish
to stop taking the medicine as soon as you begin to feel better, without
giving the medicine the necessary time to complete its job, and take the
dosage over a period of time that can completely wipe out the infection.
Hoarding medications in the cabinet against a future possible occasion
doesn't save money, and puts you in real jeopardy.
In a recent study, Illinois researchers found antibiotics in the urine of
17 of 270 patients. Only five of them admitted self-medication. That is
dangerous. Not admitting to taking self-prescribed medication could result in
doctors administering other medicines that can cause life-threatening
reactions.
I'm all for saving money, so ask your doctor to prescribe just the
quantity of medicine you need for this illness (he probably is doing this
anyway) and then take your medicine as directed, knowing that in this way it
will do you the most good.
It's worth repeating: when your physician prescribes medication for
you--particularly antibiotics--TAKE IT ALL.