Omnicef and hives

My daughter is 18 months old. She has a bad ear infection that doctor thinks that it is lingering since it has started a month ago. Omnicef was her 3rd dose of antibiotics that we tried after amoxicillin and augmentin. After her 2nd dose she started getting red in her cheeks and had loose bowels, after 4th dose she was covered with hives and rash all over her body, worst on her cheeks. After taking her to the doctors office, we were told that she has allergic reaction to omnicef. She was given benadryl (4x 1tspn per day),doctor said it might take a week for the rash to disappear and for the ear infection she was prescribed with zithromax ( 1tspn per day for 3 days). If anybody has experience with this kind of problem, I would appreciate some feedback.

My 5 year old daughter has tolerated Omnicef will each of the 3 times she has taken it. She is allergic to penicillin. This time she was on day 9 of Omnicef when she developed some hives on her hands and trunk. By morning the hives are all over including her face, butt, waist line, feet. They are especially bad around her knees, wrists and elbows. This is causing her a lot of discomfort. She is taking Benadryl and Motrin to manage the pain.

hello i am 25 and just perscibed this medication.. for an bad ear infection. i have been on it for 4 days.. my infection has not cleared up and now i have a sore throat , mucas cough, sweats, chills, and confusion.. i am on an albuterol inhaler for asthma and it seems flare up with this medication.. i am calling my dr today. i am also allergic to pennicillian and my dr told me i can get the hives like i did w/ pennicillian can't wait for that!!!

I was amazed by other parents entries on the side effects of Omnicef. My 6 year old son Matthew has had the exact same side effects! Hives that look like he was lashed, horrible stools, etc. He has Autism, so you can imagine how horrible this was for his emotions. I discovered this website today and have immediately stopped the medication. He was taking this for Sinititus. I definitely will be spreading the word on these side effects to other parents!

My 4 1/2 year old son took his 5th dose today b/c of an ear infetion and almost immediately broke out in severe hives and rashes all over his back and stomach. Went to the Dr. after giving him Benadryl and they said it could either be a viral infection or maybe a reaction to the medicine. They said since his ear was better to stop the medicine. Six hours later, he broke out in severe hives and rashes again this time all over his legs, face and shoulders. My poor son cant stop itching himself. His behavior has also been way off, cranky, irritable and extremely moody. After reading this site, I will never allow any of my kids to take this medication. thanks.

My son who is 11 years old who is allergic to pennicellian was perscribed Omnicef 300 mg twice a day for 10 days. On day number 8 he broke out in severe hives. I researched Omnicef and it is not recommended for people with allergic reactions to Ominicef.

My 6 year old daughter is having severe joint pain in several spots and redness/swelling around her joints. She is unable to grasp a pencil and is unable to walk due to the pain. This is almost identical to what happened to her almost two years ago, so I took her to the doctor and we just got home. We learned that two years ago my daughter had finished her 10 days of Omnicef just a few days before these symptoms showed up. Coincidentally, my daughter finished Omnicef two days ago for a sinus infection and her current symptoms showed up yesterday. These are the only two times in her life that she has taken Omnicef and unfortunately no one (including myself) ever made the connection that Omnicef might have been the reason for the reaction two years ago. After reading some of the other stories here and many blood tests and doctors visits later with still no answer for the symptoms, I feel very strongly that it is more than a coincidence that Omnicef is the cause of my daughter's pain. Two years ago she had the hives as well and all the symptoms lasted about 10 days. We are only in day 2 now and giving Motrin for the pain, but no hives yet this time. I will not allow Omnicef again for my kids - way too scary to see the amount of pain a drug reaction can cause.

My son is 15 months. He has been on Omnicef 2 times prior to this with only great results. Where other drugs had failed to cure his infections, omnicef wiped it out. Yet this time I have a different story. I am an RN and have enough education to know that the problem may not be omnicef at all but yeasterday I swore I knew it was. Four days ago my son begain running a temp (102/103). I don't like to rush to antibiotics everytime he gets sick so I decided to wait a while to see what happens (because this was really the only symptom he had). After about a day and a half I noticed a little sinus drainage. My sister in law who is a Family Nurse Practitioner took a look at him and said he has a bit of an ear infection and inflammed throat so she decided to put him on omnicef. The next day his fever broke and seemed to be feeling better. Of course I noticed the usual reddish colored stools but this is normal (as well as some abdominal discomfort and runny stools). Anyways after about 3 doses of omnicef he began to develop a rash on his trunk. This same rash had appeared the last time he had augmentin and thus his Drs weren't sure if he was allergic or not. The rash isn't hives or the type of rash associated with allergies so it was a bit confusing. But, after his 4th dose the rash got 10 times worse. Naturally I started to freak out but this morning I took him to his pediatrician and he thinks its roseola. After reading more about Roseola I am fairly certain this is it but I'm still quite confused about the coincidence with this rash appearing after augmentin and now omnicef. I know that there is cross-sensitivity between penecillins (augmentin) and cephlasporins (omnicef) and so I was really convinced he was having some sort of mild allergic reaction to both. After educating myself more on the signs and symptoms of roseola, I am 99% sure that it is the real culpret. I do wonder however if antibiotics such as the ones I mentioned can aggrivate it??? Anyone else out there have any similar experiences??? By the way, because I am a mother and a nurse, I find it hard to discredit other parents beliefs when it comes to things like this, but you must always stop and ask yourselves if some of these strange "behaviors" aren't due to the fact that your kids are already ill? My son kept me up all night long too and I admit it is tempting to blame the drug but who really knows. My advice is to take the severity of the situation into strong consideration. Like I said, I have had wonderful results with omnicef in the past. but just because a drug works, doesn't mean it doesn't have consequences. Its when the risks outwiegh the benefits that another option should be sought after.

My four year old son was on omnicef for the very first time. He had a re-occuring ear infection that would not go away with the normal treatment, which was augmentin. The morning of his last dose, he awoke several hours prior to his norm, screaming, crying, and could not get comfortable at all. I awoke to get him a quick drink of water, and he followed me. At that time I had noticed blotches all over his face, neck, hair line, torso, legs, arms, yeah, everywhere. Being that I work in the early childhood field and have a 7 year old as well, I had thought it was just the begining of the ever so popular chicken pox. I gave him a bath in the oatmeal mix and noticed after that the blotches did not come to a head but had now gotten what seemed to be even worse. I called the doctor, at this point extremely concerned, he had never had an allergic reaction to anything before, and he was nearly done with the meds, why now was he having a reaction? I took him in and upon the doctor arriving into the room she peeked inside and yelled to the nurse to get 2 1/2 teaspoons of orapred immediatley, he was displaying an extremely severe allergic reaction to the omnicef. Apparently it takes days to be in thier systems in order to then have the reaction. That was yesterday morning. He is now doing fine, but on benadryl and orapred for several days, I just hope all the hives go completely away. So, what I could say is you never know how your child will react to a new medication, you need to be aware when your child is taking something new all the possible side effects, becuase unfortunatley it can happen to anyone or any child.

MY 3 YEAR OLD SON WAS GIVEN OMNICEF FOR AN EAR INFECTION, HE WOKE UP THE MORNING AFTER HIS 8TH DAY OF THE 10 DAY ANITBIOTIC WITH A LITTLE BUMP ON BIG TOE. WITHIN AN HOUR I NOTICED ANOTHER BUMP ON HIS ELBOW. THEY RESEMBLED MOSQUITO BITES. WITHIN THREE HOURS HIS HANDS AND KNEES WERE VERY SWOLLEN AND HE ALSO HAD SEVERAL MORE BUMPS ON HIS FACE AND ARMS. I TOOK HIM STRIAGHT INTO THE DR BECASUE WE WERE ALREADY IN TOWN. THEY SAID IT WAS A REACTION TO THE OMNICEF. WITHIN ABOUT 30 MINUTES AT THE PEDIATRICIANS OFFICE AND HIM HAVING HIS SHOES OFF, HIS FEET SWELLED ENOUGH THAT I COULDN'T PUT HIS SHOES BACK ON. THIS ALL STARTED ON MONDAY MORNING. BY TUESDAY EVENING HE WAS COMPLETELY COVERED IN HUGE WELPS AND THERE WERE CIRCLE SHAPED WELPS OVER THE ALREADY VERY RED SWOLLEN WELPS. I TOOK HIM BACK IN BECASUE HIS SKIN APPEARS TO BE BRUISING AND HIS EYES ARE SO DARK. HE IS ITCHING AND HIS SKIN HURTS HE SAYS. BENADRYL IS HELPING BUT FOR ONLY A FEW HOURS AT A TIME. THE PEDIATRICIAN SAYS IT IS REALLY BAD HIVES AND COULD LAST FOR UP TO 6 WEEKS. MY LITTLE GUY IS IN WAY MORE PAIN THAN BEFORE THE OMNICEF EVEN WITH HIS EAR INFECTION. HE DIDN'T HAVE ANY DIAREAH OR STOMACH PAIN THE FIRST 8 DAYS, THIS JUST CAME ON SUDDENLY AND UNEXPECTEDLY. NEVER AGAIN WILL ANY MEMBER OF OUR FAMILY USE OMNICEF.

What a weird thread! Lot of very excitable parents out there! Most of the "side effects" I read here are symptoms of many different diseases...The clay or maroon colored stool is a well known side effect of Omnicef... every time my doctor has prescribed it she has mentioned it to me. My kids (5, 6, and 9) are currently taking Omnicef for Strep infection with no side effects. (except the strep is clearing up!!) They had stomach pain before the Omnicef because that is a symptom of Strep. Maybe your children are manic, grumpy, and not sleeping because they are ILL. It is common for children to "not be themselves" when sick. The rash or hives occurs in .3% of patients and should definitely be discontinued in such circumstances- just the same as when using any other antibiotics! HELLO.

I have two children who were both prescribed Omnicef for bronchitis/sinus infections. My four year old began complaining within hours of severe stomache cramping and vomited followed the next morning by HUGE(golf ball and larger) hives all over her body(worse on her hands and feet) We stopped it immediately and swithched antibiotics. My 2 year old had already been on for a few days and had become very cranky, pacing back and forth, crying, mean,hitting,and repeating himself over and over. He was unable to sleep at night and developed what the doctor called excema mostly on his face and scalp. He completed the med yesteday and today broke out in full body hives (not as big as my daughters but very itchy and more severe around his eyes, hands and bottom. I was amazed that these side effect are supposedly not common but my two children who have both been on several different antibiotics for ear infections have never had any reaction. No more Omnicef at my house!!!!!

My 6 year old son had a photosensitive reaction to Omnicef on his 10th and final day. That night it appeared as if he had gotten sunburned but he was also crying that his feet and palms were itchy. The next morning we could see welts on his trunk that moved to his arms and legs. The rash moved around and gradually improved over the next week. But now, three weeks later the welts/hives are back again and seem to be getting worse. They went from his trunk, to his arms and legs, and are now on his face, scalp, and ears, and his feet. Omnicef is not suppose to be photoreactive from what I have read, but this is the only thing that could have caused my son's reaction. My advice - do not take any antibiotic unless the condition is life threatening or will end in a loss of function.