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Overview
Penicillin represents one of the most important drugs ever developed. Its discovery in 1946 permanently changed medicine and set the stage for man's ability to overcome what had previously been life-threatening infections.
Penicillin is effective in fighting infections in many places in the body including the urinary tract, lungs, ears, throat, skin and genital tract.
Penicillin V potassium is prescribed generically or under a variety of brand names including Beepen-VK, Betapen-VK, Ledercillin VK, Pen-V, Pen-Vee K, Robicillin VK, V-Cillin K and Veetids.
Side Effects and Interactions
The most common side effects of penicillin involve digestive tract upset.
Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea can be troublesome for some people. A black hairy tongue, rash, sore mouth, and yeast infections of the mouth, anus or vagina are other potential adverse reactions.
Less common but possibly more serious side effects include anemia and blood disorders.
Report any symptoms to your physician promptly. Long-term treatment with penicillin-type antibiotics requires periodic monitoring by a health professional.
Penicillin VK may interact with aspirin and certain other arthritis medicines.
In addition, oral contraceptives may be less effective in combination with this antibiotic.
Check with your pharmacist and physician before taking any other medicine together with penicillin VK.
Special Precautions
Anyone who is allergic to penicillin-type antibiotics must generally avoid such drugs like the plague.
Symptoms such as breathing difficulty, wheezing, sneezing, hives, itching, and skin rash require immediate emergency treatment.
Life-threatening anaphylactic shock may produce an inability to breathe and cardiovascular collapse and can occur within minutes of exposure.
If you are allergic to penicillin and you ever have to go into the hospital, make sure a sign is placed over the bed alerting hospital personnel to penicillin allergy.
Taking the Medicine
Penicillin VK resists acid breakdown in the stomach so it may be taken with food if it upsets your stomach.
However, for maximum absorption take this antibiotic on an empty stomach. That usually means at least one hour before meals or two hours after eating.
Did this drug work? Average rating: 3.4/5 (24 votes)
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Will long term use of penicillin vk effect your memory,and your bones?
PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: WE ARE NOT AWARE OF SUCH EFFECTS.
I am so mad, I am on the verge of killing myself and/or going to a hospital because of the crap I have been dealing with for the past year and a half.
I have been on Amoxicillin for 2 weeks, then Augmentin XR for another, and now I am on Penicillin for another week due to my dentist who is a complete idiot and did something wrong when placing my bridge, that I was in the worst, AND I MEAN WORST pain of my life for over a year and a half.
My question is: I have been losing much more hair from my head, and my body is itchy, and I am irritated, is this a side effect of all this crap in my body? Can I die or get extremely sick from all this poison (as antibiotics are poison right?) in my body? The reason why I have been on so many, is my dentist did not "know" what was causing my pain, so he "decided" that I had a "sinus infection" and sent me to my sinus dr. So I had x-rays, and was put on antibiotics until they knew for sure. Of course, I have nothing, as I am a very healthy, tofu eating, 31 year old mother of 2, with a good job.
So, here it is now 5 weeks after starting antibiotics, and I feel as though I want to die, due to the pain I was in before another, more qualified dentist performed a root canal. But, my skin is itchy, and dry. I want to rip my hair out, as my scalp is peeling and burns, (kind of like if I bleached my hair for a month straight). I don't know what to do, or who to ask, I just want to die.
Nicollette: do not despair, there are qualified doctors who can help, find one who will! sometimes you have to try several to find one who will listen. you could have an infection from the dental work that only certain antibiotics will get rid of but my skin got really dry and my scalp burned/itched after getting eye infection antibiotic, i think it was augmentin. Dentists can give us infections I had never heard about but they do it by breaking the skin in the mouth and infecting us with israellis actinomyceses. try looking that up.good luck.
I am a 53 year old female with a childhood history of rheumatic fever at age 8 and 9. Both episodes had me bedridden for six months. I was on penicillin for ten years. I have digestive and arthritic issues now. Could the penicillin have compromised me?
I am an asplenic since having my spleen removed in 2002 for a blood disorder called ITP. I am now 53 years old and have been taking Penicillin VK long term since then. I have in the last year developed an irritating cough which the doctors are saying could be asthma. I don't smoke and seldom drink. I recently had a chest X-Ray and they have said my lungs are clear. They have been monitoring a flow chart and say it is normal, but still I have this continued hacking cough. The doctor has now put me on another inhaler (the first was Salbutamol Sulphate) called Beclazone (Beclametasone Dipropionate) I have been taking this for a week now and it has made the cough worse.
My breathing has become more laboured and my peak flow (which was as they say expectable at 350) has now gone down to 310. I was wondering if long time use of Penicillin VK could sometimes cause any kind of reaction like this. I work in a call centre so as you can appreciate it is not very good to keep coughing at people and apologizing all the time. Could you please help me? Regards JG
Don't know if this will be any help, but here goes. I had my spleen removed in 1966 ( also for ITP) and I developed asthma at the same time, without taking daily penicillin. I once saw in a programme about Traditional Chinese Medicine that in China, if a patient presents with any breathing difficulty, then the first thing the doctor checks is spleen function.
I had always been convinced there was a link and that seemed to confirm it. Unfortunately, our medical tradition looks at systems and symptoms separately from one another, and no doctor I have ever mentioned this fact to has known what to do with it.
Also, I don't know if anyone has ever mentioned this to you, but loss of spleen can interfere with the way that fat is metabolized (storing it rather than breaking it down) so you should watch your fat intake. All the Best.
I have recently started to take penicillin tablets for a mild ear infection. The same day I began with the treatment, I started developing a itch and mild rash in my genital area and scrotum, could it be that this is a reaction to the medicine or maybe an allergy? I have not ever had these symptoms. I stopped using the tablets now and will rather deal with the ear infection, than walk around with an itchy groin.
Regina, did you get any answers? I, too, had Rheumatic Fever as a child and was put on Penn V K for YEARS. Now I have so many types of arthritis and other medical problems. Did you get any answers? If so, please share!
Worked 5* to annihilate my acute tonsillitis (when two other antibiotics failed to shift it) BUT gave me chronic diarrhea each morning which, apparently, is a known side effect. Worth it to get rid of tonsillitis! Better now :-)
hi, is it wrong to take pen v with doxycycline?
PEOPLE'S PHARMACY RESPONSE: WE TRUST THE DOCTOR PRESCRIBED BOTH. THEY ARE TWO DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANTIBIOTICS AND WOULDN'T BE USED TOGETHER IN MOST SITUATIONS, BUT MIGHT BE APPROPRIATE UNDER SPECIAL CONDITIONS.
OMG... I remember being kind of paranoid while taking Penicillin VK back in February. That feeling is gone know, thank goodness. Just last week I was put on Zithromax (generic form) and I noticed symptoms of hypoglecemia - my hunger pangs were accompanied by irritability, anxiety and weakness. Never felt that way before. Now, my joints are achy.
I am a kidney/transplant recipient. I was given penicillin several months ago and I am allergic to pencillin bad. It nearly killed me. I was in the hospital and unable to work for sometime. My question is - is there any longterm affects for this. My body cannot fight against things like this because of the immunosuppresents I am on so I am wondering if there is anyway to tell if there is anything that can come up in the future as a result of this.