Clindamycin

The need-to-know information for Clindamycin

Clindamycin

Some pearls and fun nuggets

1. Clindamycin is harsh on the gut flora 😷 It increases the risk of hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile colitis about fourfold and thus is only recommended when other antibiotics are not appropriate.[4][1

2. It’s not the best tasting medication😕 Oral suspension is not favored for administration of clindamycin to children, due to its extremely foul taste and odor.

3. Clindamycin comes in a cream too 🍦 It is formulated in a vaginal cream and as vaginal ovules for treatment of bacterial vaginosis.[30] It is also available for topical administration in gel form, as a lotion, and in a foam delivery system (each containing clindamycin phosphate) and a solution in ethanol (containing clindamycin hydrochloride) and is used primarily as a prescription acne treatment.[61]

4. It can treat bacterial skin infections as well ✔ Clindamycin may be useful in skin and soft tissue infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA);[3] many strains of MRSA are still susceptible to clindamycin; however, in the United States spreading from the West Coast eastwards, MRSA is becoming increasingly resistant.

5. Good for acne too! 👌 The use of topical clindamycin and benzoyl peroxide for long-term treatment of acne was similar to salicylic acid plus benzoyl peroxide.[16]

Patient Perspectives

“I had a tooth infection which spread into the bone and was making me ill. Dentist extracted the tooth and cleaned it up, put me on Clindamycin 150 mg every 6 hours for a week. I looked here first and was scared to take it – almost emailed him to ask for a different ATB but I tried it and it seems to be working! It didn’t give me heartburn or diarrhea, I’m just tired but that could be the pain meds and healing.”

 

“Taking clindamycin has been difficult for me. It’s caused nausea, diarrhea, and stomach pain. But it’s also been the only thing to clear up my jaw bone infection. They gave me 2 other types of antibiotics before this and neither helped. If you can endure the unpleasant side effects, it’s a good medicine for it.”

 

“I was on day six of the seven day course and was about to rate Clindamycin a Ten, then in 30min time my body was covered with a rash and hives known as a drug eruption. Now just hoping I don’t get C-Diff in addition but have had no problems on that end maybe because I took probiotics. It cured my abscess but I am allergic to it so never again!”

Brandon Simpson, PA-C
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