Is Dry Mouth A Side Effect Of Taking Amoxicillin And Azithromycin?

Posted on Sat, 21 Mar 2015

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

Sat, 21 Mar 2015 Answered on

Sun, 19 Apr 2015 Last reviewed on

Question : My mother in law was diagnosed with pneumonia last week (march 14) and was prescribed Amoxicillin and Azithromycin. Today she has had a dry mouth. It is listed as a symptom that requires immediate medical attention. What might be the problem?

Answered by Dr. Panagiotis Zografakis (39 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Dehydration usually

Detailed Answer:
Hello,

dry mouth usually means dehydration (loss of water that has not been replenished). If your mother in law gets better in terms of her temperature (no fever) and general condition (blood pressure, heart rate, urine production) then this is not so worrisome.
If she has a low blood pressure and increased heart rate and/or low urine production then she needs fluids. If she can't get them by mouth then she'll have to take them intravenously.

I hope I've helped!
You can ask for clarifications, if you'd like, using your follow-up questions.

Kind Regards!

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