What do trimethoprim do

Trimethoprim comes as a tablet to take by mouth. It usually is taken one or two times a day. Trimethoprim may be taken with or without food. Follow the directions on your prescription label carefully, and ask your pharmacist or doctor to explain any part you do not understand. Take trimethoprim exactly as directed.

Do not take more or less of it or take it more often than prescribed by your doctor. Take trimethoprim on an empty stomach, 1 hour before or 2 hours after meals. However, if you experience nausea, you may take trimethoprim with food. Drink at least eight glasses of liquid water, tea, coffee, soft drinks, milk, and fruit juice every day.

Take the missed dose as soon as you remember it. However, if it is almost time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and continue your dosing schedule. Do not take a double dose to make up for a missed one. Keep this medication in the container it came in, tightly closed, and out of reach of children. Store it at room temperature and away from excess heat and moisture not in the bathroom.

It is important to keep all medication out of sight and reach of children as many containers such as weekly pill minders and those for eye drops, creams, patches, and inhalers are not child-resistant and young children can open them easily.

To protect young children from poisoning, always lock safety caps and immediately place the medication in a safe location — one that is up and away and out of their sight and reach. Trimethoprim constitutes very effective therapy for women with acute symptomatic urinary tract infections caused by E. The safety of trimethoprim in the pregnant woman has not been established.

Since indiscriminate use of trimethoprim could foster the emergence of trimethoprim resistance, thereby negating the value of both trimethoprim and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, trimethoprim should only be prescribed for well defined indications. Trimethoprim is currently being investigated as definitive therapy for a wide range of infections, including bacterial exacerbations of chronic bronchitis, bacterial pneumonia, and typhoid fever.

If you have been prescribed trimethoprim as a treatment for cystitis that comes on after having sex, take it as a single dose within 2 hours of having sex no more than twice a day. The length of time you'll need to take trimethoprim for depends on how bad and where your infection is, your age, whether you're male or female, and whether you have any other health problems.

It's very important that you continue taking trimethoprim until your course is finished, even if you feel better, to help stop the infection coming back.

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 as normal. Never take 2 doses at the same time.

Never take an extra dose to make up for a forgotten one. If you forget doses often, it may help to set an alarm to remind you. You could also ask your pharmacist for advice on other ways to help you remember to take your medicine.

Taking an extra dose of trimethoprim by accident is unlikely to harm you, but it may increase the chances of temporary side effects, such as feeling or being sick and diarrhoea.

You're unlikely to get side effects from trimethoprim. Some people get itching or a skin rash, but this is usually mild and goes away after you stop taking the medicine.

The most common side effects with trimethoprim are itching or a mild rash. They happen in more than 1 in people. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if the side effects bother you or don't go away. In rare cases, it's possible to have a serious allergic reaction to trimethoprim. Trimethoprim isn't the safest antibiotic to take in pregnancy.

Doctors generally agree you should take it only if the benefits outweigh the risks. It's been linked with a small risk of problems for the unborn baby if it's taken in early pregnancy. A substance called folic acid is important for the normal development of an unborn baby. Pregnant women are routinely advised to take a mcg folic acid supplement every day for the first 12 weeks.

Trimethoprim lowers levels of folic acid in the bloodstream. If you take this medicine during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, your doctor will probably prescribe a high dose of folic acid 5mg daily for you to take along with the trimethoprim.

There are no known risks to a pregnant woman or her unborn baby from taking trimethoprim after the first 12 weeks. For more information about how trimethoprim can affect you and your baby during pregnancy, read this leaflet on the Best Use of Medicines BUMPS website. You can breastfeed while taking trimethoprim.

Trimethoprim passes into breast milk, but only in tiny amounts that aren't harmful to the baby. Tell your doctor if you're taking these medicines before starting trimethoprim:. Typhoid vaccine given by mouth may not work properly if you're taking trimethoprim.

This doesn't apply to typhoid vaccines given by injection. There are no known problems with taking herbal remedies and supplements with trimethoprim. Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you're taking any other medicines, including herbal medicines, vitamins or supplements.

Trimethoprim kills bacteria by stopping them making a substance called folic acid, which they need to survive. This is why trimethoprim can sometimes cause low folic acid levels in your blood over time.

It's important that you keep taking trimethoprim until your course is finished. Do this even if you feel better - it'll help stop the infection coming back. Tell your doctor if you don't start feeling better after taking trimethoprim for 3 days, or at any time if you start to feel worse.

Some people get a fungal infection called thrush after taking a course of antibiotics like trimethoprim. It happens because antibiotics kill the normal harmless bacteria that help to protect you against thrush.

There's no firm evidence to suggest that taking trimethoprim will reduce fertility in either men or women.

But if you're a woman and trying to get pregnant, talk to your doctor first as this medicine is usually not recommended in pregnancy. Trimethoprim doesn't stop contraception working, including the combined pill and emergency contraception. But if trimethoprim makes you sick or have severe diarrhoea 6 to 8 watery poos in 24 hours for more than 24 hours, your contraceptive pills may not protect you from pregnancy.

Read more about what to do if you're on the pill and you're being sick or have diarrhoea.