Traditionally, clinicians and health authorities advocate that patients should complete their full course of antibiotics as prescribed, even when their symptoms have improved, to prevent relapse of infection and the development of antibiotic resistance.
Infections that are not severe may be treated in as little as 3 days, but the typical course of treatment is 5-10 days. Your prescription label insert will tell you how long you should take your amoxicillin.
If an antibiotic prescription is not finished, you could become sick again, according to the CDC. This could happen because you're feeling better and you might think you are over an infection. But, some of the bacteria may still be hanging on in your body.
Once you start taking an antibiotic, it is important to take it exactly as prescribed and continue taking it until it is all gone or until told to stop by your doctor. Do not keep leftover antibiotics and save them for future use. Antibiotics should only be taken if they have been prescribed by your doctor.
Taking antibiotics responsibly
But you need to take the full treatment to kill the disease-causing bacteria. If you don't take an antibiotic as prescribed, you may need to start treatment again later. If you stop taking it, it can also promote the spread of antibiotic-resistant properties among harmful bacteria.
Your antibiotic prescription is designed to effectively address the bacteria completely before the drug is out of your body. This is why dosage and the number of days you will take amoxicillin are important. Take the medication as prescribed, and don't stop until your course is complete or your doctor says to stop.
If you miss a dose of this medicine, take it as soon as possible. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your regular dosing schedule. Do not double doses.
If you fail to complete a course of antibiotics, some of the bacteria causing the infection may survive - and these will be the ones with the greatest resistance to the antibiotic.
The usual dose of amoxicillin capsules in adults is 500 mg or 1000 mg 3 times a day. Your doctor will advise you how long to take amoxicillin for (usually 3–7 days). For most infections, you should feel better within a few days. Always take your amoxicillin exactly as your doctor has told you.
If you stop treatment before the antibiotic cycle is over, the remaining bacteria can continue to multiply. If these bacteria become resistant to the antibiotics, they can potentially do even more harm. It may take longer for you to recover from your illness, and your physician may have to prescribe more medication.
As long as the infection does not involve pus (such as an abscess), it can be treated with antibiotics for five to six days.
If an antibiotic is prescribed for a clear indication, and a minimum duration is supported by evidence-based guidance, patients should be advised not to stop treatment until the end of the course.
“Shorter courses of three to seven days are proven to be just as effective as longer, traditional courses, and can have less harmful side effects,” says Rachel Kenney, Pharm. D., a Henry Ford pharmacist who is co-leading an initiative under the health system's Antimicrobial Stewardship Program.
But why 10 days? Why not seven or nine, or a nice round two weeks? Simply put, 7 – 10 days is the “Goldilocks number”: It's not so brief a span that the bacterial infection will shake it off, but it's also not long enough to cause an adverse reaction.
If you're all well in three days, stop then. If you're not completely well, take it a little longer. But as soon as you feel fine, stop.
A growing body of research finds that telling patients to finish a full course of antibiotics even if they're already feeling better not only fails to prevent drug-resistant “superbugs” from forming, but also might make those pathogens stronger.
How quickly you get better after antibiotic treatment varies. It also depends on the type of infection you're treating. Most antibiotics should be taken for 7 to 14 days . In some cases, shorter treatments work just as well.
A duration of 5–7 days of antibiotics is recommended in adults. This is supported by a systematic review showing no significant difference in outcomes between 3–7 days of antibiotics compared to 7 days or longer.
The study points to past research indicating that shorter courses of antibiotics, 3 to 7 days, have been shown to produce similar outcomes with fewer adverse drug reactions, compared to longer durations of 6 to 10 days.
Most people believe – and have been told by health professionals – that it's essential to finish a course of antibiotics to prevent antibiotic resistance. But this advice is not only wrong, it could actually be harmful.
If you have ever taken an antibiotic, you likely know the drill: Finish the entire course of treatment, even if you are feeling better, or else you risk a relapse. Worse, by not finishing, you might contribute to the dangerous rise of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Most of us were taught that terminating antibiotics prematurely can lead to the development of bacterial resistance. This has proven to be a myth as mounting evidence supports the opposite.
If you forget to take it
If you forget to take a dose, take it as soon as you remember, unless it's nearly time for your next dose. In this case, just leave out the missed dose and take your next dose at the usual time. Never take 2 doses at the same time. Never take an extra dose to make up for a forgotten one.
Your treatment might fail.
If you don't finish your antibiotics, your infection might last longer or even come back. Then you may need a longer drug course or more powerful antibiotics. Incomplete treatments also may make you resistant to antibiotics, so take all your prescribed pills even if you feel better.
But when you skip a couple of doses, there will be a partial reduction in the germs. The time gap will give the bacteria a chance to develop immunity to the drugs and soon, a strain of antibiotic-resistant bacteria will start proliferating.