What Medicine Is Best For Itchy Red And Distended Rash Due To Insect Bite ?

Posted on Mon, 7 May 2012

Question: I have an insect bite on my wrist. I was just sitting in the grass, so i'm not too sure what kind of insect it was. A few hours later, it became very distended, dark red, and warm, and was spreading to about my elbow area. I did go to emerg, they gave my iv antibiotic, they did an ultrasound and said there was no fluid underneath at the bite spot. They said I have a soft tissue infection. They also gave me 500mg of Apo-Cephalex to take 4x a day for 7 days. I'm now finishing day 4. I noticed some improvement, it certainly is not as red or distended, it is still warm, but still goes to my elbow, and is even more itchy. I don't have very good luck usually when it comes to antibiotics, and am practically bed ridden due to a severe headache from the antibiotic. I do not see this being gone after 7 days. Is there another type of antibiotic that would work better? I am allergic to amoxicillin. thanks.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Naveen Kumar Nanjasetty (39 minutes later)

Hi,

Thanks for the query

If you are allergic to Amoxycillin, you can try higher group of antibiotics such as Cephalosporins. The antibiotic you are already taking is Cephalexin, which belongs to Cephalosporin group of drugs. But, if you have discontinued then there are chances of you developing resistance to that drug. There are only couple of antibiotics which can be taken for 3-5 days and for rest of the antibiotics the course is always for 7-12days.

I can understand that, any antibiotics you take, headache is for sure. But in that case, doctors will have limited options in treating you unless you do not have any other side effects.

Hence, I would suggest you to reconsider the antibiotic course after discussing with your doctor. Also, taken an antihistaminic (meant for allergy) to reduce the itching. You can try applying a local antibiotic application over the infected site, which will help in healing faster.

Hope I have answered your query, if you have any more doubts please feel free to contact.

Regards

Note: For further information on diet changes to reduce allergy symptoms or to boost your immunity, Ask here.

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