Suggest Treatment For Cold When Undergoing Chemotherapy

Posted on Sat, 1 Mar 2014

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

Sat, 1 Mar 2014 Answered on

Tue, 18 Mar 2014 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi Dr. my mom is 82 and has CLL. She successfully completed three cycles of chemo and just this past thursday, went for 2nd follow up and the dr said shes doing great. However, i guess she must've caught a cold while in the drs office as she now has a bad cough not awful since it just started today. while i wait for her oncologist to call me back, is there anything over the counter i should give her or home remedy? It sounds bronchial and im really hoping to tackle it.

Answered by Dr. Vaddadi Suresh (32 minutes later)

Brief Answer: she needs prompt usage of good antibiotics Detailed Answer: hi XXXX I appreciate your concern for your mother. At her age, she has gone through chemos, which would clobber the immunity. she needs prompt usage of good antibiotics, even if it seems like viral flu as even a little infection can jeopardize her health due to immune suppression. Put her on amoxy clav 625 twice a day or azithromycin 500 once a day whichever is available over the counter before you get oncologist's service. hope this helped.

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