User Reviews for Bactrim DS to treat Bacterial Skin Infection

"This is my second time taking this medication, both times it was prescribed for a alleged spider bite. The first time I took it I stopped before finishing because the side effects were terrible. I experienced headache, dizziness, flu symptoms and flushing. The second time I took it had the same experience so I drank 2 liters of water and symptoms subsided tremendously. This a double antibiotic so it is imperative that you drink a very large amount of water when taking it otherwise the medication is concentrated in your system and the side affects will be unbearable."

"I started off with a cut near my mouth that got infected with Staph which then spread to my mouth and throat. I could not eat for a week because of the terrible sores in my mouth. I was prescribed Cefidinr and after being on that for 3 days had no improvement, but as soon as they put me on Bactrim it started clearing up within hours!"

"Bactrim just about killed me. The worst medicine ever. It cleared up my skin infection from a bug bite after two days of taking it but I had to stop it immediately after being hospitalized from severe insomnia, horrible anxiety, body aches, heart palpitations, the list goes on. I would never take this again. Although it did its job, it also has made my life a nightmare. It has been a week since I stopped taking it and I still feel terrible. Please think twice about taking this."

"This is my third different antibiotic for a deep leg wound that was surgically debrided 4 weeks ago. I have taken Bactrim DS many times before for bladder infections with few side effects. This time I want to die. I ache all over. I am nauseated and haven't eaten anything except a few oranges for 4 days. I am drinking ginger ale and water. I can barely walk because of weakness. My cat even walks ahead of me and stops to look back at me every few steps instead of us racing. Lest anyone suggest I do not know how to take this med, I am a Registered Nurse and there is no need to question my proper dosing regimen. If it weren't for the fact that I want to keep my lower leg and foot, I would toss this medicine in the trash."

"****I have had staph skin infection in one form or another my entire life. Cellulitis, MRSA, Staph... it’s all the same thing in one form or another. I know the formula that works every time for me. Doxycycline in conjunction with Bactrim. 2 times a day for 10 days. Bactrim has never worked by itself for me. {Once you get that under control... buy some Hibiclens. Once a week I wash myself with this in the shower, after I have done my usual body cleansing with body wash or whatever. Once a week I also put about 4 pumps of Hibiclens directly in a bath and take a bath. Have your doctor prescribe you Mupirocin ointment. Once a week, before bed, put a little of that ointment on a Qtip and swab the inside of your nostrils out with that.} That is a prevention. It works. Because once you get a staph infection, some people will always get staph infection. ***"

"I had a horrible infection under the skin in my leg as a result of an encounter with a poisonous spider. The pain shoot throughout my leg, to the point where I couldn't walk. Went to the ER and part of the treatment was 7 days on Bactrim one pill twice a day. It definitely helped clean the infected area, and prevented additional tissue loss. I didn't feel any side effects, other than increased dizziness when I mixed with alcohol once, but that was my fault. Overall, a good experience for me."

"I have MRSA from a piercing and was put on Bactrim (2 in the morning, 2 in the evening) 4 days ago, after 2 days on it I took myself to the hospital. I have never felt this horrible, I swear I feel like I'm going to be the end of me. It started out with a bad headache, no appetite, a little dizzy. Right now I'm sitting on the bathroom floor waiting to throw up, I didn't sleep for even a minute last night even though I was exhausted. I can't stop shivering and shaking, I'm so hot but not running a fever, unbelievable headache. My doctor said this is the only medicine that will help MRSA and I'm dumbfounded. Is this medication even worth it? I don't know if these feelings are the medication working, or not."

"I was diagnosed with a staph infection and prescribed bactrim DS. It has not had any effect on the infection after five days. In fact it has gotten worse. It makes me shake and I can't seem to think straight."

"I am on the eighth day out of the total ten day course of sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim I was prescribed, and my boils have not gotten any better. They have gotten larger and more hard. I assume the bactrim is doing something, because they are not draining at all, but they are definitely not going away. The doctor told me this medicine kills MSRA, which can be resistant to antibiotics, but like I said, I haven't seen any improvement, they also still hurt! I will finish out the ones I have and go back to doctor to see what the problem is. I have not read about this medicine not working for people, so I'm confused to why it's not for me."

"My dr prescribed 10 days of Bactrim DS after he drained an abscess in my upper arm. It definitely worked to heal the infection, but with my last few doses, I broke out in hives and am itching all over my body. Use this with caution."

"I have been using this for about 6 days now and already notice a huge difference. The first few days I was very tired but it was well worth it to get rid of the skin condition that came from nowhere. I am 32 and my skin had never done this before. I am so happy that this is working and thank God that it was not an expensive medication either considering I am a widow and single mom. I would tell anyone with this problem to try this first and skip anything else. It is just an infection. Best of luck to you all."

"Medicine cleared up skin problem but I have been tired, dizzy, nauseous, and have had stomach distress the whole time. Today was so bad I went to the emergency room just to be sure there was nothing else wrong with me."

"I'm on my fourth 800/160 pill of bactrim treating MRSA infection which has also caused my lymph nodes behind knee and groin to swell and hurt. I initially took doxycycline for about 4 days with worsening infection. Bactrim worked day 1. The infection started to clear and lymph swelling and pain is going away. Unfortunately I had severe anxiety including shaking tightness in chest very dizzy and feelings of doom. It's possible this was brought on by me overreacting to a slight side effect but this is a very strong antibiotic. It works but you might have to suffer through it. Not fun"

"I have been on Bactrim for 1 week now and my skin is almost completely clear. I had a very bad infection across my chin and up to the right side of my nose, small red pumps, and and itchy rash that would peel over and got infected. Within 2 days I noticed a huge difference. This medicine saved my life for sure. Dermatitis and skin issues on the face can really do a number on your self esteem. I am back to almost clear skin and so so happy. A little tired and was dizzy at first but promethazine helps with that if your doctor can prescribe it, helps with nausea. other then that, this medicine rocks."

"I had an abscess that had been draining for about 6-days without end and finally went to the ER and had it lanced and packed. The ER doctor prescribed Bactrim DS. After two days I become dizzy and nauseous and pretty much bed ridden. Based on the reviews here and other sites I have discontinued using the drug. (10-day dosage) The abscess has stopped draining seems to be doing okay after taking the meds for 5-days. Also the ER doctor failed to notice that my HBP med conflicts with this med. (Lisinopril) Next time I will do more research. Normally, I do but I felt so miserable, I assumed they knew better."

"Super bad reaction. TERRIBLE! High fever, loss of appetite, lethargy, brown urine, LIVER INFLAMATION. NO RASH. After 7 days on Bactrim DS, feeling beyond terrible, I did some internet research and suspected drug fever. Ceased taking. Went to my doctor who ran blood tests which confirmed my suspicions. Liver enzymes: AST/SGOT 335 H (mine) 14-36 (unit/L) (normal range) ALT/SGPT 581 H 9-52 (unit/L) Alk Phos 307 H 38-126 (unit/L) Levels started to go down after I stopped taking it; it took 3 months for levels to return to normal. A lot of information says you have a rash with drug reactions. I did NOT. My skin infection did clear up. It wasn't that bad to start with. I asked him for something topical. Was not my regular Doc who prescribed it. My Doc said it was overkill. Just because the guy's a doctor doesn't mean he is a good doctor! Be your own advocate. Another round of this crap--who knows! Sulfonamides are one of the drugs that can cause a severe reaction"

"I have been taking Bactrim DS for an infection in my toe from a pedicure. It's been 4 days of not feeling human. I'm terribly exhausted. It feels like trying to stay awake after taking NyQuil. After day 2 I started getting bad headaches. I'm only on it for seven days so I'm going to suffer through it but the side effects are almost unbearable."

"I have been having skin infections on my breasts off and on for 6 yrs. Ever since I developed mastitis when I was breastfeeding. I've been given Bactrim DS each time and advised to use Neosporin CREAM, not ointment. I'm not sure if it works all that great. It DOES take care of the red, rashy looking inflammation surrounding the "boil"/"blister", but does not seem to even really touch the actual blister itself. Without medication it will take 3 - 4 weeks or so to heal, with meds it it takes 2 weeks. I think it has alot to do with the healing of the red rash part... so I continue to take it. The only side effect I have noticed is an almost unquenchable thirst. But, no nausea, insomnia or headaches for me."

"I was prescribed Bactrim DS for a Paronychia infection on my right index finger. There was no apparent abscess so the doctor felt a script of Bacrtim DS would do the job. After taking the first pill I began to fill dizzy and nauseous. Over the next few days I had barely any appetite and wanted to sleep all day. I felt like I could not get enough sleep. I was also extremely sensitive to the sunlight which only enhanced my desire to sleep more. Over all the infection did not appear to change in the 3 1/2 days on the antibiotic but that is not to say it did not work. I just was not able to function on it therefore I called my doctor for something else."

"I was diagnosed with a MRSA Impetigo skin infection and was prescribed the Bactrim DS as well as Bactroban ointment, therefore I cannot know which helped the most, but it did work 95%. I stll have a pink area and the original cut that started this all is still slightly visible. This oral med made me feel horrible. Everyday, after the third day, I was nauseous about an hour after taking it and several times had to take Zofran 8mg which did help. My stomach was a roller coaster and the headaches were really bad. I have Daily Chronic Headache which is daily migraines. But I get C spine nerve ablations which allows me to be 90% migraine free for about 1 year. During the 10 days the migraines came back and with a vengence. Glad to be done."

"I found that within a day of taking Bactrim the infection got better, which was GREAT because I had had it for a while. I experienced a few side effects, dizziness, lack of energy, insomnia if I took the pill a few hours before bed (I found to overcome this I took the pill just before going to sleep) and headaches but they seemed to dissipate after 2-3 days."

"Not sure that the medication did much as my abscess burst the night I started the antibiotics. All I know is that by the 3rd and 4th day of antibiotics I was feeling generally unwell, had a headache and awful nausea."

"This was my first time taking Bactrim because I’m allergic to penicillin. I had a infection in my big toe due to an ingrown toenail. I give three stars because it did work to clear up the infection. However on day seven I began having severe reaction to the drug. Excruciating pain my feet knees and hips combined with head to toe rash and itching. I took Benadryl and prednisone and still took several days to go away. The stuff is horrible. The pain in my joints and lower leg bones was unbearable. Never again."

"So I had taken Bactrim before for a UTI and it was great, it cleared it up and I didn’t have any side effects. This time I'm on it for an abscess and it a whole different story. About 3 or 4 days in I couldn’t keep any food down and had EXTREME nausea and vomiting. Another 2 days go by and I can’t even keep down water or pills. I sleep maybe 3 or 4 hours a night and have a terrible headache for like a week. I go to the doctor yesterday and she tells me I have to keep taking them. I’m still dying"

"Bactrim ds cleared up my infected finger, just like most antibiotics do. The difference is in the side effects. The nausea and diarrhea are worse on this one. But the biggest problem was that my depression which I had under control with medication became worse than ever overnight. I don't know whether it interfered with my antidepressant (bupropion xl) or just aggravated the symptoms so much that it was uncontrollable. Either way, I spent a week alternating between despair and rage on a hair trigger. I would not try this again."