Allergic To Penicillin And Erythromycin. Have Infected Toe Nail And Atrial Fibrillation. Given Clindamycin, Had Upset Stomach. Suggest?

Posted on Tue, 16 Jul 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 16 Jul 2013 Answered on

Wed, 7 Aug 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I am allergic to penicillin and erythromycin . I have an infected toe nail. right now I also have afib . The doctor gave me clindamyacin but after one pill I had a very upset stomach. what else could I take

Answered by Dr. Pankaj Malhan (13 minutes later)

Hi

Thanks for asking.

Penicillin allergy is a common condition, but having allergy to both penicillin and erythromycin can cause a problem.

you are prescribed clindamycin which belongs to the same group of erythromycin ( Macrolides).Although cross re activity can happen it is rare.

you are discuss with your doctor the cephalosporins, like the erythromycin and clindamycin, these are related to penicillin but lot of patients do not have cross sensitivity between the penicillin and cephalosporins , although it can happen .Some of the common drugs in this category are cephlexin, cefixime, and ceftriaxone.

Another class of drugs flouroquinolons like ciprofloxacin, ofloxacin etc. can also be used in the penicillin and erythromycin allergic patients.

Thanks.

Please let me know if you need further information.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar