Generic Name: Macrodantin for Urinary Tract Infection (nitrofurantoin)
"Macrodantin was an utter disaster. Felt that I was getting better, then suddenly I had a raging upper urinary tract infection. Fever, nausea, vomiting, terrible pain. I had to be hospitalized with IV antibiotics. This drug is dangerous and should not be used as it gives a false sense of security."
"Macrodantin, also known as nitrofurantoin, is a really good medication for UTI. I was struggling with UTI for a long time. I tried Cefalexin, and it didn't work for me. I did try Augmentin, as I never had a problem with this one, and it's really strong, but I started to vomit after 2 hours of taking the pill. Macrodantin can be a good choice for people with a sensitive stomach. I had no side effects."
"I felt the medication would have worked, my symptoms of UTI were easing. Unfortunately, after just 1 day of taking Macrodantin, I had the most awful sudden reaction, cough, uncontrollable shaking, chills, high temperature, body aches, and chest tightness, I didn't have enough energy to shower or leave my bed. I decided to stop and felt I was getting better from the side affects. 24 hours later, I started the medication again, after the 2nd dose, I woke up during the night with the same symptoms. I had pneumonia years ago, these symptoms felt the same. I know, I can never taken this medication again."
"I was experiencing back-to-back UTIs for 8-9 months. After trying some alternative approaches with my doctor, considering surgery, she decided to put me on a daily low-dose antibiotic: Macrodantin. It has been over three plus months and it works. I honestly am not comfortable taking a daily antibiotic, but I am far more uncomfortable having a UTI. No side effects for me."
"After having a lot of urine infections for the past year I am now back on Macrodantin 50mg 4 times a day for 7 days makes me feel yak headaches keeps me awake slightly dizzy, feel tired a lot.. Then doctor wants me to take a low dose of it for 6 weeks will keep you posted if it actually works this time. I have my doubts."
"Started experiencing pain peeing and went for a quick dip test after blood in urine was strongly apparent. Prescribed Trimethoprim for a week and cleared it up very quickly, however, it came back. On the sixth day, the doctor rang me urgently, saying I needed to take these 4 times a day for a week. No side effects at all. Possible constipation, however, this could be due to not wanting to eat/doing less exercise. No chest pains or anything, and very quickly cleared up any remaining symptoms. Thank you, Macrodantin!"
"Was prescribed Macrodantin for UTI. Was extremely ill from day one with headache, pressure in left ear, muscle pain, back pain and a general illness feeling. Was originally prescribed 5 days of 100mg twice a day. Day 2/3 I couldn't bare it any longer and contacted Doctor to change it, he insisted I stay on it and changed it to 50mg x 4 times a day. Gave up on day 3/4 as I couldn't take the side effects and low mood any longer. Still not feeling great on day 7 and ear still feels full."
"I am extremely sensitive to antibiotic side effects so avoid them whenever possible. Usually I take D-Mannose for Urinary or vaginal (yeast) infections but I was out of it and needed something NOW. Doc called in Macrodantin because I cannot tolerate Cipro or most other ABs. 2nd day on pills and so far zero stomach pain or nausea. I have not noticed a reduction in the pain from the UTI yet so hoping by tonight will see relief. BTW: look up D-mannose. I have used it for over 10 yrs and it has stopped the UTI's and yeast infections if I take it as soon as I feel something. It is a sugar so you can take it every day if needed without any complications. It works by detaching the bacteria from the body. Buy the powder. 2 tsp/day"
"Took 4x 100mg Macrodantin capsules for three days as set by my doctor. Cleared my UTI within two days, however experienced chest pains and shortness of breath on day one. Didn’t realise (until reading this forum) it was linked, so continued to take until I ended up in Emergency Room completely unable to breathe without pain. I’ve been off these tablets for 4 days now and I still can’t take a full breath, have sharp lung pains and am so dizzy. Really disappointed in my doctor for not letting me know the risks first."
"This drug needs to be taken off the market. I have taken antibiotics for recurrent UTI’s and never have EVER had such a bad experience. I took this pill before bed, and almost immediately had body aches. The next morning, I woke up feeling like I was hit with a bad flu. It was horrible! Took five days to get out of my system. Avoid this at all costs!"
"I have suffered from recurrent urinary tract infections since I became sexually active. I would get an infection every time I had sex with my boyfriend. I tried countless courses of antibiotics which apparently cleared the infection but when I had sex again i got another one. finally my doctor put me on nitrofurantoin and this cleared the infection immediately. I have still to finish the course. I haven't had sex while taking the last few courses to make sure the infection has cleared fully! "
"I understand the good outweigh the bad however, the past few days have been hell. I had honestly one the worst urinary tract infections I have ever had. I need the relief so I am going to continue with the meds. Within 24 hours of taking it, I had horrible diarrhea. I am pale, I keep drinking water. "
"I was prescribed 50mg Macrodantin capsules to be used over the course of 7 days for treatment of a UTI. Let me tell you right now, that this medicine not only doesn't work and that I still have a UTI, after completing the course; the side effects were like nothing I had ever felt before and my infection actually progressed to a kidney infection. First off, I started to feel nauseous while taking this medicine, and thought that it would be alright after a few days. However, by day 3 I was in agony with abdominal pain, chest pain, lower back pain, fever and chills. The nausea was also still there. I decided to call my doctor and they advised that I finish my 7 day course and then call back if symptoms did not stop by day 7. By day 7, I still had a UTI, as well as chest pain, abdominal pain, headaches, nausea, dizziness, fever and chills, all of which only started to happen once I took these antibiotics. This medicine may as well be a placebo."
"Excelent for UTI. Especially for E. coli. I had problems with Escherichia coli and ciprofloxacin did not solve it in three consecutive treatments. With Macrodantin the bad smell of urine and fever gone at first dose!"
"Poison. I’m having severe side effects after four days. They came on gradually. Ears are very sensitive to noise, constantly ringing. My eyes almost feel like they have mini seizures when I watch something that moves too fast. My hands and feet tingled and got very cold to the touch, even when it was 90 outside. I quit taking it and this morning I still woke up with a new side effect, difficulty breathing. I even asked the doctor for something else when he prescribed this and he insisted this is what I needed. To top it all off it wasn’t helping the UTI at all, my symptoms only got worse! Going to start Keflex today and I pray it works!"
"Scary experience. I started to get very ill few hours after starting the medication, nausea, headache, vomiting and sensitive to light. 2 days later a gp told me I may have flu. I went home, went to bed. So weak, low fever, chills, could not get warm, still vomiting, horrendous headache. A few days feeling same I noticed a rash on my body. Went to emergency department by ambulance. The antibiotic had caused acute liver failure. I had been on day 5 of a 7 day course. Lucky enough the doctor in the hospital put the connection together and medication was stopped. It took a few months to recover from the fatigue especially but I'm lucky to be alive also. Another few days at home alone I would probably have passed out. I was delirious most days so they were blurry and confusing. No more macrodantion for me. Even have an emergency bracelet if I need to travel outside Ireland."
"I am 45 and I am currently taking Macrodantin to treat a UTI. Never have I ever felt so bad taking medication.bI initially thought my body was fighting the infection but it wasn’t the case. I am now on taking the medicine (4x100mg/day) I feel very tired, very dizzy, I have diarrhea. My breathing is not great and I feel a bit confused ...definitely not myself. Also pains in my fingers.. I can't wait to finish the treatment tomorrow. On a positive side the infection seems gone as urine is clear."
"I’ve had recurrent UTI’s all my life and prefer Macrodantin (usually as Macrobid, the slow release form) because it accumulates in the urine and isn’t as likely to cause yeast infections. I have no side effects from it, luckily. Over the past 3 or 4 years, I’ve noticed that 1) I need to stay on the antibiotic for much, much longer - like a month! - or the infection recurs very rapidly, within a couple of weeks; and 2) it no longer turns my urine bright yellow. Also, while I’m taking it I sometimes have symptoms. Taken together, it makes me wonder if what I’m taking is lower strength. Are there generics out there that are not the same as the original?"
"I was prescribed this to be taken 4 times daily for 3 days. My UTI symptoms were gone by the first day. I have now finished the course and my UTI is gone. This medication worked great for the infection. I did not experience any serious side effects except some tiredness, 'spaced out' feeling, and on the 2nd day I did feel very 'down' not sure if that was because of the medication. However on the third day I feel fine."
"I'm currently taking these twice a day for UTI. I'm on day 5 and I can't seem to sleep, it takes me hours my chest keeps getting tight when breathing and coughing a lot and constant headache today. I haven't eaten a meal or breakfast since 3 days ago because I have lost my appetite. I don't even feel slightly hungry. I wish these 2 days I have left on these tablets would hurry up cos I want to go sleep and eat a meal. They have got rid of my UTI my urine has also gone bright yellow as well"
"My mom began to have a continuing cycle of UTIs in her mid-60s. Her doctor put her on Macrodantin originally to treat the UTIs, but ultimately had her take it continuously as a preventative. Because of dangerous known side affects with this drug she should have had a chest x-ray done every 6 months. Her doctor kept refilling her prescriptions w/o ever doing the chest x-rays. After several years at the age of approximately 67 she noticed that she was having problems with taking a deep breath and she could no longer yawn! She made an appointment with her primary care doctor and he took a chest x-ray. Unfortunately the x-ray showed massive scarring in her lungs and she was diagnosed with Macrodantin poisoning. She immediately stopped the Macrodantin and was put on oxygen 24 hrs/day. A week later she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. Three days later she had a tracheostomy, 4 days later she was transferred to a major hospital's ICU and a week later she was dead."
"No one should be taking this drug. I was prescribed this for kidney infection when I have chronic kidney disease on 22/4/21? I will be alerting doctor who prescribed this that they nearly killed me. Was prescribed dosage of 100 mg 4 times a day, for 7 days. Took it till 27/4/21. Made me feel like I was dying with extreme chills and fever, excruciating back pain, whole body aching, diarrhoea, abdominal aching, gave me asthma and filled my chest with fluid, was very weepy, extreme anxiety, difficulty walking - felt like walking through cement, dizzyness, retained fluid and dropped my kidney function significantly. Was too sick to realise it was the tablets until last day, stopped them and went to another doctor 28/4/21, who wanted me to go to hospital to go on IV etc. Stopped taking the tablets, started a different antibiotic yesterday 28/4/21 and have started to feel better already."
"I have had 3 experiences with Macrodantin and they have all been bad! I am sure that this drug works very well for those that can tolerate it, but is not for me! I have had recurring kidney infections all of my life and the first time I was put on it I became nauseous, vomited and felt very ill. This doctor told me that he would not be giving that drug to me again. Several years later I had a UTI and my new doctor gave it to me but it was under another name, so I didn’t make the correlation. Again, fever, chills, nausea and vomiting. When I researched the medication, I realized it was a generic name for Macrodantin and stopped taking it immediately. This last time, after having been told by my doctor that it was just a coincidence, I tried again! Again, I had the same symptoms as before! I felt miserable for 2 days. I’m off Macrodantin for life!"
"I read reviews on macrobid and I was afraid to take it so I called like 8 pharmacists to ask about it. Oh they said since you've taken it before. You have nothing to worry about having allergic reactions I finally took it. I had a pretty bad allergic reaction throat starting itching, body....good thing it wasn't bad enough to go to hospital. I'm thru taeing chances...now I have a slight cough waiting for it to disappear. Be careful."
"This year I have struggled with repeat UTIs. I have taken Microdantin each time. The first two times for 3 days and it cleared up. The third time for 7 days it cleared up. This is time I took it 100mg for 5 days. After the 3 day of being off the drug the UTI returned. Now I'm on another 5 day course. I do experience the insomnia and distorted dreams. With the first course I had severe diarrhea. No diarrhea with second course. Can't wait to be rid of this drug and infection."
Macrobid, Furadantin
Macrobid, Furadantin
