Unanticipated side effects of antibiotics

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

As is not unusual at my age (66), I came down with diverticulitis and was prescribed two very strong antibiotics. I happened to ask the pharmacist about any limitations, and was surprised to find out that (1) absolutely no alcohol until three days after finishing one of them and (2) any minerals, such as antacids, vitamins and minerals, or calcium in dairy products, could bind with one of the antibiotics and render it useless.

Not feeling entirely up to snuff, I decided not to fly. Then I happened to get on line and look up side effects and found that my particular physiology had experienced these published side effects:
From one antibiotic: back pain, dizziness, drowsiness, shakiness and unsteady walk, unusual tiredness (energy crashes, in my case)
From the other: dizziness, light headedness

I'd never heard of side effects from antibiotics, although I recalled safety talks (IMSAFE) in which it was mentioned that if you need medication, strongly consider if the need for medication indicates a condition that should ground you temporarily.

Y'all be careful out there! RVs reward alert flying but can generate NTSB reports from impaired flying.

[mturnerb]

Good post Ed. Of course and as you noted, diverticulitis itself is a pretty good reason for a "no-go". In addition to feeling just generally sick from the illness, the gas inside your intestinal tract expands with altitude and thus flying might make diverticulitis symptoms worse. Sometimes diverticulitis causes little gas pockets to form outside the bowel and those might cause even more discomfort.

Most people who take antibiotics have few or no side effects. However, as you have learned the potential side effects of various antibiotics are significant - but the most common ones are the same as most other meds: stuff like nausea, dizziness, fatigue etc. I'm assuming you're on Flagyl/metronidazole since it's commonly used for diverticulitis and is well-known to react with alcohol.

Most of the time I would say it's safe to assume that the illness that requires antibiotic treatments is probably reason enough to consider not flying - the impairment may be subtle but most illnesses take an edge off of performance whether physical or cognitive.

Back in my flight surgeon days, pilots were sometimes reluctant to visit us with a cold or similar minor illness (usually no antibiotics needed, just tincture of time). We were very conservative about temporarily grounding pilots for relatively minor illnesses. (Of course if someone wanted to skip a trip/mission they might be eager to visit the flight surgeon) Even the innocuous common cold can be problematic with altitude changes - ear and sinus blocks can be painful and very distracting.

[usnrph]

Glad you stayed on the ground, Ed, during your illness. I hope you are getting well.
While most antibiotics have minimal side effects, some have side effects that are serious. Fluoroquinolones (ciprofloxacin) are well known to occasionally cause drowsiness, dizziness, and headache. They also may cause low blood sugar and tendon inflammation and even tendon rupture. Metronidazole (Flagyl) often causes headache, dizziness, gastric disturbances in addition to the warning to avoid alcoholic beverages while on and for 3 days after.
Your pharmacist did a great job of counseling you on your medication. They are the medication experts.
Safe Flying.

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

Neither pill bottle showed any warnings about the side effects or warnings against operating machinery...

[Raymo]

Ed,

While you are self-grounded, stop up at 3J1 (Ridgeland, SC) and check out the RVs being built and say HI to a few local friends on VAF.

BTW, I thought diverticulitis was an aviation ailment that caused pilots to never make their destination airport, having to divert to another

Get well soon.