The end of the tunnel [antibiotics, amoxicillin, and change in behavior]

My sense is that finally, we're breaking through the thick walls of sickness that has engulfed our lives these past 2 weeks. Yes, it's pretty much felt like a dark tunnel these past 2 weeks. We used to pride ourselves about how strong Tesla was, how well she ate, and never got sick. Well, we got it all packaged in one bomb.

I am still a bit congested but have my energy. Dav has been mildly sick throughout, and I think escaped the worse, probably because he slept on the couch while I was in bed with Tesla as she coughed all over my face. Tesla is more and more herself.

However, my earlier post about modern medicine now has a second chapter. Being the first time, and seeing Tesla not move, eat, drink, or do anything really for 5 days was scary. So having access to a hospital to give required drugs was good. And the antibiotics (the very common amoxicillin) worked after 36 hours. We could see her focus more, her breathing was better...she moved! Who knows how far down she would have gone if we had not given the antibiotics. Thing is...shortly after, like 3 days into the treatment, her behavior changed. It's incredibly hard to describe, and only Dav and I saw her like this, but she became animal-like. She started having giant tantrums about 4 times a day for benign, almost random reasons. She went into a tizzy that was off the charts of what we've seen or even imagined a toddler could do. The most common thing was to roar at the top of her lungs 30 ~ 45 minutes, mouth never closing, just breathing in air, and screaming herself hoarse. At times, her arms shaked, flailing out for me, then pushing me away. She stopped using words all together.

We were perplexed but thought maybe that now she had more energy, she was letting her anger out about being miserable for so long.Dav still thinks this is the likely explanation. We faithfully continued the antibiotics, but called the docs about her behavior, and they only said she might be in pain so give her pain relief. Others said they never heard of any reaction so it must be something else. But my gut feeling told me her behavior was so completely different that there was something else, and although I will never know and could be completely wrong, that it was because of the antibiotics.

I searched on the internet and found informal forums where parents shared similar experiences...and some kids later were diagnosed autistic or already autistic kids became regressive. [New Note: there is solid scientific evidence that vaccinations are not related to autism so don't confuse that with this. I am striking the above sentence as it's a strong statement that I read back then and I don't want to mislead anyone since the vaccination debate may have clouded statements.]

Some adults said they experienced high anxiety when taking it. Again, I cannot know cause and effect. Yet parents, who take care of their kids day in day out, know their kids intimitely. And after reading others having my hunch, I just couldn't help using that to affirm my instincts. It makes sense; the antibiotics kill the bad bad bacteria. Yay! But it also kills the good bacteria in the gut. And at times, without the good to fight, some of the bad bacteria can get to the brain.

I am uncomfortable airing all this because I have no idea what is the truth, and this may be nonsense. But, this is my experience and what I really felt. If anyone in the future is in my position, perhaps they will find this post and have assurance that they aren't crazy. What they decide thereafter is up to them. Tesla's behavior was serious, and not just a cranky or even in-pain toddler. We decided to take her off the antibiotics (even though we did get an alternative antibiotic when I told the doc I just couldn't give her amoxicillin anymore). I've always followed orders, and know fully well we may have pneumonia knocking on our door again, but this is our decision. Tesla is slowly back to her normal self. Even though she is still moody, we haven't seen her go ballistic.

This is the most unlikely Thanksgiving post I ever imagined. Tesla woke up with smiles and is chattering away. I feel better. We have a group of friends coming over for a chill pot-luck to eat, hang, and have fun together. Remembering the few hours when I let myself think about the what-if...I now feel immensely grateful for health, love, family, and friends. Thank you to Michelle who brought groceries, sent lovely emails, made sure I was OK, and Rachel who checked in everyday and braved our germy house to bring flowers and hang out. And to my mom who wished she were here to help so I could rest.

Comments

[dav]

When this was happening and Mie did the research on the Internets pointing at a possible link between the medicine and long term behavioral changes, we decided to stop the treatment immediately just in case.

However, I believe that in this case the numerous Internet postings about this link are most likely a promoting and snowballing a spurious correlation. There is the fact that many parents, an abnormal amount in the Bay Area, have children with behavioral issues. There is also the fact that a lot of these children have been exposed to this medicine. However the two are not necessarily related. You could make a lot of other spurious correlations. For example, most of these children have probably taken aspirin, or eaten sushi (very common around here), or had abnormal exposure to computer screens.

[Claire Barton]

I am very grateful to have found this post as the same thing has just happened to my nearly three year old girl. We live in New Zealand and after only two days on amoxicillin she started behaving very strangely and in a similar way that you have described, uncharacteristic tantrums and talking or listening properly. It has been very disturbing and upsetting, and the ER dr we saw was completely disregarding of our concerns. We have never seen her behave like this before and she has been sick a lot in her short life. No more amoxicillin for us!

[Ashley]

This is currently happening with my 14 month old son. Scariest thing I have ever seen and very worrisome. We stopped the Amoxicillin after his dose this morning and I'm praying tomorrow he will be back to his happy go lucky self...I pray!!

[genie, Melbourne, Australia]

Thank you for writing about your experience (also to all the other contributors who took the time to share on your blog too). My son, Josh, who's almost three years old, recently had a bout of ear infection, Like your daughter, he was always strong and hardly sick. This was his first ear infection and he was prescribed Amoxicillin by our family doctor. We were relieved when the antibiotics fixed his high fever episodes. About 2 days ago, we started experiencing extreme tantrums and contrariness from Josh. It was always for irrational reasons. This was soooo out of character for Josh who's not prone to tantrums, or if he was headed that way, was easily diverted. At first, we thought the Terrible Twos or Threes that everyone warned us about was finally here. However, his screams became uncontrollable, and he was unconsolable no matter what we did. His mood swings were lightning-quick. He had anxiety attacks. Last night he woke up twice crying and fearful of sleeping in his bed. It started warning bells ringing. I finally raised my concerns about this unusual behaviour change with my husband. I expressed my doubts about the antibiotics, not because I read somewhere about the side effects of it (in fact, my doctor wasn't very forthcoming about any side effects), but because, well, call it a mother's gut instinct. Anyway, I thought I'd see if anyone else had similiar experiences as us, and yours was the first site I came across. I want to share this from my search for more information about side effects of Amoxicillin, particularly on behaviour. Please check out the Lance Armstrong Foundation website, which brought light on this subject, citing credible information from the US National Library of Medicine's MedlinePlus: http://www.livestrong.com/article/51088-side-effects-amoxicillin/
We stopped giving Josh his antibiotics this morning, and we didn't experienced one tantrum episode today, although he was hyperactive. My mum thinks I'm mad for stopping the antibiotics without consulting the doctor first. There was really maybe only three more days to his course and, well, she wasn't there to experience his scary out-of-control anguish.

[Kokochi]

Hi Genie,

Thanks for your comment. And thanks for the link to the Livestrong.com article. This makes sense. I am glad my post is helpful for other who have experienced what we experienced, and gone with the mother's gut that something is not aright. It was perplexing for us to hear, "no, we have never heard of reactions" from our doctor, only to be seeing something different.

I am not a doctor and also somewhat conflicted about putting my story out there, not wanting anyone to stop treatment because of it, but glad it made sense for you. I knew in my gut the antibiotics were not right for my girl...

I hope Josh is doing well. It's super scary to see your child as if a different being. The key thing is, we as parents, need to trust doctors, but also trust what we know. It's the combined effort that is best...

[Genie]

Hi Kokochi

In my heart, I'm very certain that Josh's behavioural change can be attributed to the Amoxicillin. He's back to the Josh we know. We haven't seen one episode of screaming tantrums, anxiety-attacks, up-down mood swings, and irrational behaviour. Even my husband concurred. He's in agreement with me that we'll never go back to Amoxicillin again. We'll have to find an alternative antibiotic. We ditched the family doctor we were using and went to one who was more willing to listen. She said that she'd never heard about possible side effects of Amoxicillin on behaviour. But she did not disregard it, and was even willing to look into it. I'm sure all the scientific research into it will indicate inconclusive evidence. But my husband and I don't care. We saw and experience it for ourselves. Whilst the info on Medline Plus indicates no long term effect, I'm not trusting that if it were to happen often enough that it won't impact on my son's brain. It won't be funny to us if, in the future, the medical professionals say, "oh, oh, research now show's that there IS long term effect". I'm not a medical practitioner nor a scientist, or concerned about being accused of being paranoid. But I can figure out for myself that if something can unbalance the chemicals in the brain in such a way as to change one's behaviour for the worse (ie mood swings, anxiety, fear, violence, etc), you can't possibly get away scot-free without long-term effect if the brain chemicals are compromised often. Possible long-term effects that I can think of are depression and bi-polar disorder. All views are mine.

[Dan]

Hello I am a 24 year old male and I have been taking amox. For about 11 days. It was prescribed by my dentist after getting a wisdom tooth pulled and I have been experiencing rapid mood swings. Always over trivial things. I've felt very aggitated and easily upset. I've also had a hard time grasping concepts and have been foggy headed. I KNOW that these mood swings are caused by the amox. It's supposed to be a rare side effect. This is the first medication I have ever showed allergy to. Also I am not taking any other medicines, haven't had an alcoholic beverage since starting the amox, and diet and exercise every day.

[Tania]

I am so thankful I found your blog while researching behavioural side effects to Amoxil. Our three year son had an ear infection and was prescribed Amoxil on Sunday. On Monday and Tuesday his behaviour was so extremely altered and out of character! He was in manic states and screamed "no way, no way!" for 3 hours straight. NOTHING could console him. We were devastated wondering where our sweet little boy was and then it dawned on us that it had to be this medicine he was on. My gut told me that it was the problem so on Wednesday we stopped the medication. By Wednesday night he was nearly back to normal and I am glad to say that today (Thursday) he is my sweet little boy again. Thank you for your blog posting, it reassures me that I am not losing my mind and I will NEVER EVER allow him to be on Amoxil again!

[Kokochi]

Hi Tania,
Thanks for your note. I still feel mixed about posting this because I don't want anyone to take actions because of it - but just use it to know I experienced what I experienced, and that can add to one's own perspective. Very glad things worked out.

[kristin]

THank you soooo much for making this blog. Our son will be 4 in june and last wednesday night he had us up all night crying and upset. Doctor told us on thurs he had and inner ear infection and sinus infection. Started amoxycillin that evening. It is now Wed night almost one week later and it has been the worst week ever. I know it is normal for any child or even adult to have some mood changes when sick-cranky, tired, whiney due to not feeling well but his behavior has been out of control. He is very angry, argumentative, not listening at all and even aggresive. He hit a little girl at daycare and has not been able to sleep well or nap since last thurs. I am calling his doctor tomorrow morning asap to discuss another option. We are in the process of adopting him and even though he has been with us since the age of 2 this is the first time he has been on amoxycillin. Thank you again, Kristin

[Kokochi]

Hi Kristin,
Thanks for your note. I still really feel weird about airing my feelings, since I REALLY don't want to misguide anyone. Yet I will stick by my gut experience and what doctors were telling me. To this day, I feel the medicine, although helpful, was too powerful for a little one. I do feel that as the child grows older, these medicines may be fine. My only real message is to be in-tune with your kid, and when you gut-feel something is off, trust it as a parent.

I am somewhat surprised at others experiencing the same issue, so am happily leaving my post up. If this continues, I may pass it on to someone with knowledge about this since parents' voices count.

Thanks for leaving a note!

[Lara]

I personally have serious psychiatric side effects when taking Amoxicillin. The last time I took it- and it will forever be the very last time- I was having minor hallucinations and seeing visual tracers in my peripheral vision. I was disoriented and confused as well, getting lost and calling my husban for help because I was having a difficult time driving myself home from the grocery store...almost 2 miles away. Upon stopping the medication, I slowly returned to normal within 24 hours.
My son is on day 2 and my husband is in room rocking him in his bed right now because of a crazy tantrum he's been having the last hour and a half- strange, out of character, and it all started over us exposing the word "festival" to him...what?!?!! I thought of my own experience immediately, of course...called pharmacist and they've "never heard of such." first thing the pharmacy paperwork says under "Call your doctor immediately if" is "if you experience behavior changes" so somebody in the pharmacy world has heard of it. Also I noted that confusion is listed third under the immediate action side effects, so people are aware it's possible.

[Lara]

I meant to say "explaining the word festival" but my phone auto-corrected, I guess. My son is 6 years old, by the way. The tantrum he had was in no way comparable to other fits or whining he may have on occasion normally. His scream was high-pitched and he was sobbing so much and wouldn't let us cuddle him until he was just too exhausted to fight us off, really. Not to be confused with sickness grumpies! This was crazy.
I respect your insistence of noting you are not wanting to influence people to stop taking the medication- its important not to take that lightly. Resistance to antibiotics could hinder life-saving medications from doing their job one day, and that is medically proven, I believe. Its still a parents choice, but it should be made carefully for sure.
I will say that I have been tested for an allergy to Amoxicillin with a medical allergy and immunology specialist and it came back negative. I was tested through NAET and it came back very positive indeed, and I was treated for it with that NAET practitioner.
So...it could be that some people react because it is an allergy of some kind- and not all allergy reaction symptoms are the same in different people, so they may not be like the ones listed on the warning labels.

[Adrienne]

Thanks for this post! I'm relieved to see that other parents are having this issue. My brother-in-law is a pharmacist, so I'm running these thoughts by him for his input, too. My 20 month old has been on amoxicillin for about five days and the past three days have been HELL. He's so sensitive and moody and just hysterical much of the time. We're practically walking on eggshells just waiting for the next thing that's going to send him into a crazy tantrum. At first I thought maybe he was just used to being coddled from being sick and or if maybe this was due to the medicine.

[Annette Edger]

As I read your post my heart is sinking. My grandson has been on two rounds of antibiotics for ear infections and has had severe behavior changes and very irratic sleep patterns. It is like another personality has taken over his body at night. We have noticed this for about the past three weeks. He took it for 10 days which brought on some changes, then he was better now back on a new med and again the behavior is back and worse. A typical bedtime for him would be singing 2 songs and our angel was a littel restless (normal) then asleep within minutes. Now gettinghim to lay still for 1 song is a battle and once the door closes he completey distroys the room (never ever has he done this before). I am calling his doctor tomorrow. So worried for my grandson!!! I pray stopping the anitbiotics returns our sweet little boy back to us.

[Jennifer]

I feel like I'm a little late to the game, here, but I did want to share what helped me with my little girls. From what I've found and read, the bacteria in your stomach/intestines somehow affects your brain. So, no matter what antibiotics you try, you're probably going to have the same problem. I noticed this with my older daughter. She turned from a normally active kid to a hyperactive and violent terror! My cousin told me she had the same problems with her son. (Hitting, kicking, tantrums, etc) What helped us was giving our kids yogurt, to keep the gut bacteria healthy. The next time my daughter had to have an antibiotic, she ate yogurt the entire time she took the medicine, and I had no problems whatsoever with her behavior. There are also probiotic powders and pills, if yogurt isn't your thing. I know at some point in time, my kids will have need of antibiotics, but I also know that giving them some form of probiotics will keep them from the terrible tantrums and mood swings that used to go along with it.

[Bernard]

Like the other parents that commented, my daughter was diagnosed with a mild ear infection and sore throat and was prescribed amoxicillin. Now I have taken amoxicillin when I was a kid and it helped my ear infections and bronchitis. But I don't recall having mood swings, but I was the patient, not the observer. So when I heard the doctor prescribe amoxicillin, I was pretty glad since it helped me in the past. My daughter is 22 months old. After she took her first dose, she started to act up. My wife told me she was acting irrational and crazy. I thought this was because she felt sick. But my daughter never acted like this in past sickness episodes. She's usually pretty strong. Even before the antibiotics, her behavior was very quiet, low energy, and just wanting rest with her mom or dad. When I came home from work today, I saw her whining tantrums and bouts of crying and not crying. She was indecisive in watching dvds, videos, cable channels. She rapidly switches to something else after she gets what she wants. It's like some form of psychosis behavior. I'm so glad that this is day 1 of her antibiotics. I know the rule-of-thumb is that you take antibiotics for 10 days so that the body cannot become immune to it. But seeing how my daughter drastically changed her emotional behavior, I will probably not continue the antibiotics. This is my choice as a parent esp. one who took the antibiotics throughout his life. I also think this is a form of allergy. If my daughter has another infection, I would probably ask for a substitute for antibiotics and talk to the pediatrician about it. I won't say its cause and effect because I do not have scientific evidence; however, this forum with other parents sharing their experiences is enough to question the possibility of cause and effect. I know my daughter. She doesn't throw these kind of tantrums. I'm not saying she never will, but I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the amoxicillin. If she needs it in the future, I will definitely take the advice of the other parent in making sure my daughter takes probiotics yogurt with it. But I will try to avoid it at all costs as well. I'm commenting this now because although this blog is 5 years old, it should not be dismissed as coincidence.

[Catherine Vega]

Last week my 13 year old son was given amoxicillin for bronchitis and sinusitis. He has become completely irrational screaming, crying and throwing items. I thought it may have to with the antibiotic but now I am sure. Thanks for posting.

[spardike]

I created an account just so I could comment on this, even though it's almost 10 years old!

Weirdly, I'm currently experience the exact same issues with my 4 yo daughter, who is also named Tesla. She was put on Zithromax for 5 days for mild bronchitis and I noticed a change in her personality on day 2. She's more aggressive and morbid (almost violent) in some of her play, although this doesn't translate to physical play with kids. She's also fidgety and anxious during times she's normally relaxes, and seems to swing between sad and hyperactive at times. It's like she's experiencing anxiety and mood swings throughout the day and doesn't understand or have the mechanisms to cope with what's happening. While this shift in personality hasn't been what I call extreme, it's something I picked up on as soon as it began to happen. I even questioned myself but my husband confirmed she's not acting like herself. FYI - the cough is literally her only symptom of illness, so I hesitate to say that the behavioral change is just due to her feeling icky, as I have seen many people suggest.

It got me to thinking that about 8 months ago she was prescribed Amoxicillin, and while I don't recall this type of behavioral change during the course of the antibiotic, toward the middle-end she developed severe separation anxiety during daycare drop-off that lasted for MONTHS. We never found a cause for it, but had assumed it was related to our travels the month before. She eventually overcame it and isn't exhibiting that this time around, but I'm wondering if both instances of antibiotics are related to her behavioral changes/increase in anxiety. Thanks for making this post - I've been researching this for hours and it's clear that there are numerous parents who have experienced behavioral changes in their little ones during a course of antibiotics. I'm also wondering how many times parents have passed something like this off as "a phase".

Luckily tonight is her last dose, and if her behavior rapidly returns to normal it will confirm my suspicion, at least this time around. Now that I'm terrified of any future antibiotic need for her, would you mind letting me know if you ever found an antibiotic your child could tolerate?