What is CIPRO please?

I note that some north Americans/Canadians take a CIPRO prescription with them on holiday for diarrhoea. Is this an antibiotic? Would ANY antibiotic work? (I was getting desperate and my partner had some antibiotics on him from the dentist and I didn't know if they would work so I didn't take them). I'd like to know for future reference.

Yes, CYPRO is a very effective, but relatively expensive, prescription antibiotic. It is commonly used in the treatment of prostate inflamation/infection. I suppose to be totally accurate, an antibiotic wouldn't be used to fight diarrhoea per se, but rather to fight anything in your system that may end up giving you diarrhoea. The more effective the antibiotic, the better your chances of avoiding it! In the case you can't avoid the inevitable (and you probably won't), pick yourself up an over the counter "quick fix". ie. Imodium

Actually, in Boca Chica for example, CIPRO (Cirpofloxacin) is quite cheap - 15 pesos per 500 mg caplet, and you need 10 (2 a day for 5 days,once per 12 hours and take all 10 once started) - a total expenditure of 150 pesos, or about $9.00 US for the regimen.

According to the CDC, for the Carribean it is the treatment of choice for this ailment (vs. Sulfa drugs) as it is not resistant.

While Imodium can control symptoms it can cause increased infection risk due to the concentration of the material (I am trying to say this delicately) in you vs. out of you, so if you are not better with Imodium and fluids after a full day and a half, you may want to take CIPRO to kill off the accumulated bacteria causing the problem.

Note- buy your Imodium in advance in North America - amazingly it was quite hard to find in Boca Chica and quite costly vs. the generic version OTC in an Canadian or US drugstore.

I had this problem in Mar/Apr and CIPRO proved to be necessary - despite having Imodium handy and taking 8 doses a day the first day -if the problem persists through,say,day 2 of CIPRO treatment you should see a doctor as there is the risk of dysentery or giardisis (caused by amoebas) which is not treated with an antibiotic but by an anti-parasitic agent such as Flagyl.

A powerful anti-biotic specific to the GI tract (I would much prefer ECH explain this more clearly)

Speaking from experience, Cipro is a God send, effectively stopping the stmptoms withing 8-12 hours (But of course you need to continue the regime, but the symptoms are releived as if by "magic")

Having experienced this problem previously, I personally carry an Rx of Cipro for "emergencies" when immodium fails.

Treatment with antibacterial agents alters the normal flora of the colon and may permit overgrowth of clostridia. Studies indicate that a toxin produced by Clostridium difficile is one primary cause of "antibiotic-associated colitis."

Patients are advised to avoid excessive sunlight or artificial ultraviolet light while receiving ciprofloxacin and to discontinue therapy if phototoxicity occurs. Difficult to avoid the sun in the D.R.!

CIPRO is not an innocuous medication and should be taken with extreme caution and only on the advice of your physician. There can be very serious consequences and adverse reactions assoicated with this particular medication. Trimethoprim-Sulfa is another widely used medication that is far less toxic if one is not allergic to the medication.

I always found a few of doses of BACTRIM FORTE (or Septram) and an immodium with the first one works extremely well. Usually relieving symptons sometimes as quickly as within an hour or so as if by magic.
Have used that (maybe once a year) over the last 15 years with great success.
I originally read about this as a treatment used by some American doctors in Mexico about 15 years ago and beleive that this actually makes a combination of a 3 drug coctail. (Sulfametoxazol & Trimetoprim and the immodium...Loperamidhydrochlorid)
Maybe ECH, M.D. would comment on this treatment as well.

What has been recommended in regard to Septrum (Trimetoprim + Sulfa or another trade name (Bactrim) is to take ONE tablet every day for 3 days prior to entering the country and one tablet every day during the next ten or 14 days of vacation and for three days AFTER return. You can NOT take sulfa or any antibiotic much beyond that or you will steralize the bowel and cause major problems with the gastro-intestinal tract. Remember, the bowel needs the normal resident flora to function properly and you can not or should not upset the delicate balance. That is why I recommend checking with your physician before you take ANY medication.

This is supposed to be the best script for diarhea, I took some to Mexico years ago and on the advice of my physician was not take any, unless I had a bout of Montezuma's revenge. When good ole Montezuma arrived I took 1 (one) lomatil tablet and 4 hours later was fine.
According to my doctor it is no longer available in Canada due to the apparent liver complications it can cause, but I have seen it over the counter in some Caribbean countries.
Your comments.

You are right Hlywud, it is an excellent medication, however... It is a Controlled substance: Lomotil is classified as a Schedule V controlled substance by federal regulation. Diphenoxylate hydrochloride is chemically related to the narcotic analgesic meperidine. Meperidine is our fancy name for DEMEROL a synthetic morphine type drug. ALL narcotic preparations are constipating and many times, uncontrolled diarrhea is responsive to codeine! As in Tylenol with Codeine or even cough syrup with codeine. Hope this helps. It is still available but you need a script for it due to the abuse potential. A good OTC substitute is IMMODIUM; very similar action without the abuse potential.

In keeping with the eschatalogical tone of this string, allow me to ask a burning question: WTF are you all putting in your mouths?
I have lived all over, drank all over and eaten all over this country and Haiti and have never experienced this plethora of problems.

Common sense dictates washing of hands before eating anything. Intelligence suggests that eating on the street to be counter-productive (and this is the same as eating on the beach, yes, even that delicious coconut with ice, sugar and rum--have you even thought where that ice came from? Where that machete sleeps, or what those nice dark hands have touched since getting up? Did you notice that there are no lavetories near the beach??)

Upset tummies, I can see. Shoot, from Chicago to NYC you can get those. But these terrible bouts of the trots seems to be caused by s-t-u-p-i-d-i-t-y or carelessness at the least.

Sorry for the rant, but I, like ECH, just hate to see antibiotics used where common sense can avoid.....These are drugs to be used only in major infections.

Ever wonder why the DR has lots of drug resistant TB?? Damned near untreatable here.....

HB