Are you a woman with Bacterial Acne infections? I bet “Clindamycin” is a common name that you have heard again and again. For those unaware, Clindamycin is a prescribed antibiotic used for treating critical bacterial infections. The causative agent is an anaerobic bacteria.
Commonly, Clindamycin is a popular medicine amongst women dealing with bacterial acne. The medication is prescribed for a short period and shows gradual progress to the target area. It is a lincosamide drug i.e a strong broad-spectrum antibiotic also prescribed to treat life-threatening infectious diseases.
People often get a little impatient after ingesting it for a long time. A lot of them search for “How long does it take to show results?”, “ Is it effective at all?”, or “How long does Clindamycin stay in your system?” and so on.
Here are some answers to your inquisitive minds. Stay tuned:
Table of Content
All about Clindamycin
Clindamycin is a lincomycin group of medication used for treating serious bacterial infections of lungs, skin, female reproductive organs, blood, and even internal organs. It is an advanced-stage broad-spectrum antibiotic that is specifically used to slow or stop bacterial growth.
It is available in two forms, capsule, and liquid. Are you thinking about how long does iv clindamycin stays in your system? It’s the same as the capsules form.
The antibiotic is ineffective against normal bacterial or viral infections like cold, cough, rhinitis, allergies, etc.
The half-life of Clindamycin indicates how long it stays in your system. The half-life of Clindamycin after an oral administration is 3.2 hours for adults. For older patients, it is a bit more like 4 hours. So it is eliminated from the body of a person by 3 to 4 hours.
Clindamycin must be taken every 6 hours interval for 14 days. It is reported to cause antibiotic resistance, so you should take it in due time. Missing or skipping doses will make the patient susceptible to more severe bacterial infections.
Clindamycin use
Generally, Clindamycin is used for treating https://transparentpharmacy.net infections in the respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin, and reproductive organs. Mostly, these are anaerobic infectious agents like staphylococcus, streptococcus, pneumococci, etc.
The dosage is fixed according to the patient’s age, sex, and medical condition. The usual dosage for an adult is 150-450 mg every six hours, according to severity. For kids, the dose is 3 to 6 mg/kg body weight.
Clindamycin is prescribed post-meal and with omeprazole to avoid any kind of gastric discomfort. After taking it, the patient should not be lying down. Lying down delays the absorption of the medicine and makes it unproductive.
Widely used as a broad-spectrum antibiotic, clindamycin is prescribed to treat the following diseases:
- Anthrax
- Malaria
- Otitis media
- Tonsillitis
- Pharyngitis
- Toxoplasmosis
- Endocarditis
- Vaginitis
- Orchitis
- Lung abscess
- Emphysema
When not to use
Patients having a history of hypersensitivity reactions are discouraged to use Clindamycin. It may develop skin rashes on the superficial layer. These can worsen with time as well.
Clindamycin demonstrates neuromuscular blocking properties. When given with other neuromuscular blocking agents, it instigates the activity. This can develop episodes of seizures.
Erythromycin is an antagonist to Clindamycin and hence should not be given together.
Vitamin K antagonists and Clindamycin can cause bleeding or irregular platelet counts.
Patients with Myasthenia gravis, Crohn’s disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Severe bowel disease, renal impairments contraindicates Clindamycin intakes.
A few drugs interact with Clindamycin and slow down its action. The medicines include low-strength aspirin, Benadryl, Claritin, fish oil, etc.
If you are using Clindamycin when you are not supposed to do so the drug becomes ineffective as it is interrupted or obstructed from progress.
How long does clindamycin stay in your system?
Like every other medicine, when Clindamycin does not stay long in the body. This is for its comparatively short half-life of 3 to 4 hours.
How long Clindamycin will stay in your system depends on various conditions, one of them being age group.
For children, the time of elimination is two to three hours. For adults, it is also the same.
On the other hand for elderly people, it is four hours. Clindamycin has the potential of staying for about eleven to forty-eight hours and clears out every six hours. This is also the very reason why Clindamycin is prescribed every six hours.
After the last dose of Clindamycin is taken, it persists in the body for a maximum of six hours. But shows effective results by a week of intake. An individual if not previously resistant to Clindamycin or not vouching for any sort of allergy will show quicker results.
Sudden stopping can cause diarrhea. Besides, the action also stops in the targeted area. This can deteriorate the infection and the bacterial growth may continue.
Benefits
Clindamycin works perfectly on serious bacterial infections. But it has also benefited people with the following infections:
Tooth infection
Penicillin and Amoxicillin are the primary drug of choice for any sort of tooth infection. But Clindamycin has shown significant results too for any further infection that can worsen the progress.
So, how long does it take clindamycin to work for bacterial infection? Well, it depends on how quickly your body can absorb it. But, it’s typically 2-3 days.
Acne
1.2% of Clindamycin phosphate has shown effective benefits on acne dark spots and hyperpigmentation. Clindamycin is the drug of choice against bacterial acne. It heals the targeted area within 1-2 weeks.
Sexually Transmitted diseases
Several sexually Transmitted infections are cured through Clindamycin, like Chlamydia infections.
If you have an STI it is better to ask your doctor about the medicine rather than worrying about how long does clindamycin stays in your system.
Side Effects of Clindamycin
Clindamycin is expected to initiate side effects to more or less all the systems of the body. When the clindamycin side effects after stopping start to show, it lowers the effect of the medicine.
Gastrointestinal system
Diarrhea has been reported after administration of Clindamycin for two to three weeks. Patients suffering from gastrointestinal problems have complained more about diarrhea than any other discomfort. The other discomforts are nausea, vomiting, acidity, etc.
Cardiovascular systems
The overall effect of Clindamycin is very localized rather than systemic. It does not have many dangerous cardiac side effects but some of the basic ones include, heartburn, palpitation, pressure fluctuation, etc.
Skin
The widest effects are on the skin. Rashes, itching, blisters, patches are all very common reactions on the skin. But how long do clindamycin side effects last on the skin? It typically stays there for the first few days of use.
Reproductive systems
The medicine shows a few side effects mostly on female reproductive systems. The most prominent side effects are vaginal irritation, itching, burning, swelling, vaginal discharge, etc.
Urinary system
Painful urination, pain in the urethra can happen from Clindamycin. You can be a bit concerned about how long does clindamycin stays in your system. However, you don’t need to worry about any UTI from Clindamycin.
Others
Joint pain, metallic taste in the mouth, pain in deglutition, swallowing, yellowing of eyes, swelling of face, eyes, mouth, etc are a few other side effects that can happen from Clindamycin.
FAQ
In what forms Clindamycin is cleared from your body?
On average, the biological half-life of Clindamycin is 2.4 hours. So after that, it clears out through the body in 10% of urine, 3.6% of feces and the rest remains as metabolites.
Clindamycin is a strong antibiotic- is it?
Rather than being a strong antibiotic, it is more of a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Meaning, it treats a broader aspect of bacterial infection generally.
What to avoid after taking Clindamycin?
Any sort of probiotic tends to increase gut motility and can progress to diarrhea. Hence, after taking Clindamycin you must avoid taking spicy food in the next meal. It will make the gut tender and bring in gastrointestinal disorders.
Does Clindamycin get rid of toxins?
No, it doesn’t. But it prevents the growth of the pre-existing bacteria in the body by blocking its protein synthesis.
Last words
To answer, “how long does clindamycin stay in your system”, it is easy to narrow it down to 4 hours at best. The rest of it is used or else excreted from the body.
Clindamycin is a beneficial drug, usually used for combating critical bacterial infections. Needless to say, you must have it in due time and complete the course to avoid any sort of antibiotic resistance development. If so, it may become difficult to treat even common infections.
