Greeting everyone,
One month ago, I had an infection that required Bactrim. I took it for two weeks, until I developed flu like symptoms and a head to toe body rash. My doctor said I was having an allergic reaction and to stop taking it immediately. The rash disappeared within 2 days and once it did, started noticing how flawless my skin was. I used to have large black pores on my nose that drove me nuts for years. They were all gone!
Unfortunately, what was left of the Bactrim completely wore off and now I am getting acne worse than I did in highschool (I'm a 35 yr old male, btw). I assume the bacteria on my skin came back with a vengence, because now I have many large pimples on my neck and scalp. I've also developed smaller ones on my chest, back, and nose.
My first question is, has anyone else quit taking Bactrim and had a major flare up and if so, roughly how long did it last?
My other question is, since I'm allergic to Bactrim, is there anything similar I could take. I really felt the best I ever have about my appearance before this flare up.
Thanks for reading and I would love to hear your responses.
I used bactrim approx seven years ago and was on it for approx 3 years. It was magic. I was taken off by my derm because she said it was too long to have been on (I probably agree, however, it was working). While I was off, my skin went back to the way it was and eventually got worse, to the point where I took accutane for 2 months befre being taken off of that due to its effect on my liver. I maintained clarity for approx 3 years after the accutane stint w/ just topicals until I had a severe bout of cystic acne that last approx 4 months before I was put back on bactrim for the last 9 months or so and while im not getting the magical results I had before, it has kept the cysts at bay. Im afraid to come off.
There are several other antibiotics out there that you can try (tetra/mono cycline, doxy, keflex, et al). I cant recommend 1 over the other though because im allergic to all other normal acne antibiotics. Weird that Im able to tolerate Bactrim, which has 1 of the highest allergy rates.
Best of luck!
yeah minocycyline and doxycycline work really well for acne but for me keflex was like the mother of all antibiotics it cleared me up in 5 days which was like a record for me and i had bad cysts and nodules. i am on spiro now so that is doing the job but the keflex really saved my life. i was at my lowest point ever and had been on doxy and it stopped working so then my derm put me on zithromax which did nothing then erthromycin which also did nothing (i already was on mino in the past and am allergic to bactrim) so the keflex was like my last shot before going on acctuane. so glad i took it! good luck to you!