Levofloxacin+ornidazole
About Levofloxacin+ornidazole
Levofloxacin+ornidazole is an oral medicine that combines levofloxacin and ornidazole to treat a wide range of bacterial and parasitic infections. It works by eliminating the infection-causing microorganisms, helping relieve symptoms such as diarrhoea, abdominal pain, and fever while supporting a faster recovery.
To achieve the best results, you must take Levofloxacin+ornidazole consistently at the exact times prescribed by your doctor. This helps maintain a steady level of the active ingredients in your system to continuously fight the infection. It is highly recommended to take this tablet with food or a meal to prevent stomach upset. Additionally, eating a bland diet and staying well-hydrated will support your body's recovery.
While taking Levofloxacin+ornidazole, you might experience mild side effects like nausea, a metallic taste in your mouth, or a temporary loss of appetite. However, if you develop severe watery or bloody diarrhoea, sharp pain in your tendons, or numbness in your hands and feet, stop taking the medicine and consult your doctor immediately. These can be signs of serious complications that require urgent medical attention.
Before starting this medication, tell your doctor if you have a history of seizures, nerve damage, heart rhythm problems, or liver damage. Do not take this if you are allergic to any of the ingredients or have a history of tendon swelling or rupture caused by similar medications. It is also important to tell your healthcare provider if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or over the age of 65, as special precautions or alternative treatments may be needed.
Uses of Levofloxacin+ornidazole
Medicinal Benefits
This medication offers several key benefits that help you recover quickly and return to your daily routine:
- Comprehensive Protection: By targeting two different types of disease-causing organisms simultaneously, it clears complex infections that single-action antibiotics might fail to cure.
- Rapid Symptom Relief: It quickly halts the spread of harmful microbes, which directly reduces painful stomach cramps, frequent diarrhoea, and abdominal spasms.
- Prevents Reoccurring Infections: The thorough action of this medicine helps ensure that all targeted pathogens are completely wiped out, lowering the chance of the infection returning or developing resistance.
Directions for Use
- Levofloxacin+ornidazole should be taken after meals, to reduce the chances of stomach upset.
- Follow your doctor’s instructions on the dosage and timing of this medication.
- Swallow Levofloxacin+ornidazole as a whole with a glass of water.
- Do not crush, break, or chew it.
Storage
Side Effects of Levofloxacin+ornidazole
Common Side Effects (Usually mild):
- Nausea or vomiting
- Metallic or unusual taste in the mouth
- Loss of appetite
- Mild headache or temporary dizziness
Serious Side Effects (Consult a doctor right away):
- Signs of an allergic reaction, such as skin hives, swelling of your face, lips, tongue, or throat, or difficulty breathing
- Severe, watery, or bloody diarrhea accompanied by sharp stomach cramps
- Sudden, sharp pain, swelling, or stiffness in your joints or tendons (such as your heel, knee, or elbow)
- Numbness, tingling, burning pain, or muscle weakness in your hands or feet
- A fast, pounding, or irregular heartbeat, or sudden fainting spells
Medicines Containing this Salt
View AllDrug Warnings
- Finish the Medication: Complete the entire prescribed course of Levofloxacin+ornidazole even if you start feeling completely healthy to prevent the return of resistant bacteria.
- Stop if Joint Pain Occurs: If you feel sudden pain, swelling, or popping in your joints, stop taking the tablet, rest, and contact your doctor immediately.
- Do Not Drive: Avoid driving or operating machinery while taking this medicine, as it can cause dizziness, drowsiness, or coordination problems.
- Avoid Alcohol Completely: Do not drink alcohol while taking this medicine and for at least three days after your last dose to avoid severe reactions like vomiting and rapid heart rate.
- Separate Antacid Use: Take antacids, iron supplements, or multivitamins with zinc at least 2 hours before or 2 hours after your Levofloxacin+ornidazole dose so they do not block absorption.
Drug Interactions
- Antacids and Mineral Supplements: Products containing magnesium, aluminum, iron, or zinc can bind with the medicine in your stomach, drastically reducing how much of it is absorbed.
- Blood Thinners (like Warfarin): This medicine can enhance the effects of blood thinners, increasing your risk of bruising or bleeding. Your doctor may need to monitor your clotting times.
- Corticosteroids: Taking steroids alongside this medicine increases the risk of tendon swelling or tendon rupture, particularly in older adults.
- Diabetes Medications: This medicine can alter blood sugar levels, increasing the risk of low blood sugar when combined with insulin or oral diabetes drugs.
Drug-Drug Interactions Checker List:
Safety Advice
Alcohol
unsafeAlcohol consumption may worsen the side effect of Levofloxacin+ornidazole like dizziness. It is better to avoid alcohol while you are being treated with Levofloxacin+ornidazole.
Pregnancy
unsafeLevofloxacin+ornidazole is not recommended for use during pregnancy since it may have harmful effects on the developing baby. Please consult your doctor if you are planning to become pregnant or already pregnant before starting Levofloxacin+ornidazole.
Breast Feeding
cautionLevofloxacin in Levofloxacin+ornidazole is excreted into the breast milk. Please consult your doctor before taking Levofloxacin+ornidazole if you are breastfeeding.
Driving
unsafeLevofloxacin+ornidazole may make you feel dizzy. Do not drive or operate machinery if you experience any impairment of skills, dizziness, and visual disturbances while using Levofloxacin+ornidazole.
Liver
cautionPlease take Levofloxacin+ornidazole with caution and doctor's advice if you have a history of liver diseases/conditions.
Kidney
cautionPlease take Levofloxacin+ornidazole with caution and doctor's advice if you have a history of kidney diseases/conditions.
Children
unsafeLevofloxacin+ornidazole is not recommended for patients younger than 18 years of age.
Habit Forming
Diet & Lifestyle Advise
- Stay Well-Hydrated: Drink plenty of water and clear broths. This helps replace fluids lost from diarrhoea and assists your kidneys in safely filtering and clearing the medicine from your system.
- Avoid Dairy Around Dosing Times: Do not consume milk, cheese, yoghurt, or calcium-fortified juices close to your dosing time. Calcium can bind with the medicine in your gut, preventing your body from absorbing it properly.
- Minimise Sun Exposure: This medicine can make your skin highly sensitive to sunlight. Wear protective clothing, use a broad-spectrum sunscreen, and avoid tanning beds to prevent severe sunburns.
- Eat Bland, Soft Foods: While recovering from stomach infections, stick to simple foods like bananas, rice, applesauce, and plain toast to minimise irritation to your digestive tract.
Special Advise
- Levofloxacin can cause serious tendon problems and nerve damage, hence you should be cautious. If you experience any symptoms like severe headaches, extreme hunger, irritability, numbness, tingling, burning pain, confusion, agitation and memory problems, please stop using this medicine and seek immediate medical advice.
- Levofloxacin+ornidazole contains Levofloxacin, which might produce false-positive urine screening results for opiates. Inform the laboratory staff that you are taking Levofloxacin+ornidazole.
- Monitor your blood sugar levels regularly since Levofloxacin may affect your glucose levels in diabetes.
- Quinolone antibiotics like Levofloxacin may cause QT prolongation (heart muscle takes longer than normal to recharge between beats) in electrocardiogram (ECG) in some patients.
Patients Concern
Disease/Condition Glossary
Diarrhoea is a condition that causes the frequent passing of loose or watery stools. It is caused by bacteria (campylobacter and Escherichia coli), virus (norovirus or rotavirus) and parasites in contaminated food and water.
Dysentery is an intestinal inflammation that leads to severe diarrhoea accompanied by mucus or blood in the stools. It is mostly caused by shigella bacteria (shigellosis) or an amoeba.
Bacterial infection occurs when harmful bacteria grow in the body and causes infection. It can infect any part of the body and multiply very quickly. Bacteria occur in three basic shapes: spherical, rod and spiral-shaped. Bacteria may be gram-positive (have thick cell wall) or gram-negative (do not have a cell wall). Some common symptoms of a bacterial infection include cough, fever and tiredness.
FAQs
Levofloxacin+ornidazole is used to treat diarrhoea and dysentery. It also helps treat bacterial and parasitic infections.
Levofloxacin+ornidazole contains Levofloxacin and Ornidazole. These drugs are antibiotics that kill and prevent the microbial growth that causes diarrhoea, dysentery and other parasitic and bacterial infections.
Please let your doctor know if you have a history of allergic reactions to medicines, liver or kidney diseases, diabetes, joint or tendon problems (tendonitis, bursitis), mood disorders (depression), myasthenia gravis (muscle weakness), blood dyscrasia (decreased peripheral blood cell counts), peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage), fits, aneurysm (weakening of an artery), blockage of the aorta or other blood vessels, high blood pressure and connective tissue disorders like Marfan syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome.
Levofloxacin+ornidazole consists of Levofloxacin, a quinolone antibiotic that may cause hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels) or hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar levels). It is advised to consult your doctor before using Levofloxacin+ornidazole and monitor your blood sugar levels regularly.
Do not stop using Levofloxacin+ornidazole even if you feel better until the doctor's advised course is finished. Your symptoms may improve, but the infection may not be cured completely.
Levofloxacin+ornidazole contains a quinolone antibiotic, Levofloxacin that can affect the live vaccines like typhoid vaccine and decrease its effectiveness. Please consult a doctor before you start Levofloxacin+ornidazole if you are undergoing any vaccinations.
Antacids and multivitamins with minerals can decrease the efficacy of Levofloxacin+ornidazole. Hence, it is recommended to take Levofloxacin+ornidazole 2 to 4 hours before or 4 to 6 hours after taking magnesium/aluminium antacids, sucralfate, zinc or iron preparations, and multivitamins with minerals.
You are recommended to take Levofloxacin+ornidazole for as long as it is advised by your doctor for effective results. If your symptoms continue or worsen, seek further advice from your doctor.
Inform your doctor if your symptoms are not relieved after completing the full course of Levofloxacin+ornidazole. If you notice any undesirable effects that bother you while taking Levofloxacin+ornidazole, consult your doctor and seek medical advice.
If you miss taking a dose of Levofloxacin+ornidazole, then take it as soon as you remember and if it is the time for the next dose, skip the missed dose and continue taking your regular dose. Do not double the dose to make up for the missed one to reduce side effects.
Levofloxacin+ornidazole causes side effects such as nausea, loss of appetite, constipation, diarrhoea, trouble sleeping, dizziness and headache. Contact a doctor if these side effects persist for longer durations.
You should avoid consuming large amounts of dairy products, such as milk, yoghurt, or cheese, at the same time as taking Levofloxacin+ornidazole. Calcium can bind to the medication in your digestive tract, preventing it from being fully absorbed. It is best to space dairy intake at least 2 hours apart from your dose. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you have dietary concerns.
Alcohol must be strictly avoided during treatment and for at least three days after your last dose. Combining alcohol with this medicine can trigger a severe reaction causing rapid heart rate, hot flashes, severe headache, nausea, and vomiting. Talk to your doctor if you have questions about this interaction.
Yes, this medication can make your skin significantly more sensitive to ultraviolet (UV) light. You may sunburn much more easily. Avoid direct sun exposure, tanning beds, and sunlamps while taking this medicine. Wear protective clothing and apply a high-SPF sunscreen when going outdoors. Talk to your doctor if you experience a severe sunburn or skin rash.
Stop taking the medicine immediately, rest the affected area, and contact your healthcare provider right away. This class of medicine carries a risk of tendon inflammation and rupture, especially in the Achilles tendon. Avoid any strenuous exercise until you are evaluated. Talk to your doctor for an alternative treatment plan.
This medicine is generally not recommended during pregnancy or while breastfeeding unless your doctor decides it is absolutely necessary. The active ingredients can pass into breast milk and may affect the development of the baby's joints and bones. Talk to your doctor to weigh the risks and benefits of other safer alternatives.
Yes, some people may experience dizziness, drowsiness, or a spinning sensation while taking this medicine. Avoid driving, operating machinery, or performing tasks that require mental alertness until you know how this medicine affects you. Talk to your doctor if these symptoms persist or worsen.
Author Details
