Does Z-Pack work for us?

I am sick as a dog - and before the surgery the only drug that worked to cure anything was a Z-Pack (a 5-day pill that stays in your system for 20 days).  I am thinking due to the time-release nature this won't work anymore?  Or maybe this drug works a different way?

Please let me know if you have any experience with this magic pill post-op.

Holly

"z-pack" is azithromycin, which is a macrolide antibiotic.

It only helps if what you have is a bacterial infection.  It does nothing for viral infections.

a z pack works just fine for sinus infections. If you have a viral cold, try some probiotics from the pharmacy. What is wrong exactly?

Yes, it worked fine for me, and mine was only a 3-pill pack (one each for three days, if I recall correctly), 11 months post-DS for me.  Although, it is possible I was getting better on my own by then, but it really cleared up my food-borne diarrheal illness straight away.  I had had the problem around 6 days, and was kind of stalling in seeking care for it, because I was having lack of appetite from it, which is very rare for me, and I was liking the weight-loss assistance the illness was giving me.  But, then I got sensible to the dehydration risk or other risks, and called the office where my PCP works.  In the past my PCP told me her nurse practitioner keeps openings in her (the nurse's) schedule for same-day appointments, and I was able to be seen that day (Friday). The nurse followed the sensible path and didn't write am Rx immediately.  She had me give a stool sample and ordered some bloodwork.  I took the stool sample over to the affiliated hospital's lab Saturday, since the clinic was closed.  Monday morning I received a call from a worker at the clinic letting me know that my stool sample tested positive for antibodies to campylobacter, and that the nurse practitioner wanted to fax an Rx for Z-pack to my pharmacy.  It worked great.

Oh you poor kid, what do you think you ate that gave it to you?

I had been keeping a food journal to track my protein intake, so that part was handy.  My own top suspicion was from old, cheapy-brand hamburger that I had sort of lost in the back of the freezer and found and still used.  It was a Kroger Value-brand stack of pre-formed frozen hamburgers with wax paper between patties.  It turned out I undercooked my last patty, I saw pink in the middle, but I was too lazy to take it back to the skillet to recook it.  However, when I looked up campylobacter on the internet after the diagnosis, and then when I got a phone call from the health department with questions for me about it (because it is a mandated report diagnosis for the lab), I was told it is usually from chicken, turkey, or other birds.  I didn't see anywhere in my recent food journal that stood out there.  I later did get some notices for a while on the end of my receipts from Dillon's (a local grocery chain in my area that is a subsidiary of Kroger) that frozen turkey I may have purchased from them had been recalled.  I no longer had any in my freezer that fit their description, so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with it.  It also could have been from fast food, or elsewhere, even though none of those stood out to me from my food diary.

Thanks all - I have strep.  The z-pack is the only thing was the only thing that worked for me in the past.  It turns out they have it in liquid form (for kids) and the doctor mentioned this is what he perscripes for any post-op bari.  Day 2 and it's working great!

I'm glad you're getting relief!

 This is soooooooo good to know. Thank you

i am on it now hope it helps