How does ciprofloxacin work

Not all possible drug interactions are listed here. Remember, keep this and all other medicines out of the reach of children, never share your medicines with others, and use this medication only for the indication prescribed. Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided by Cerner Multum, Inc. Drug information contained herein may be time sensitive. Multum information has been compiled for use by healthcare practitioners and consumers in the United States and therefore Multum does not warrant that uses outside of the United States are appropriate, unless specifically indicated otherwise.

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It does this by blocking enzymes that are needed for bacteria survival. Cipro is a broad-spectrum antibiotic. This means it works against many different types of bacteria.

However, many bacteria have grown to be resistant to Cipro. Resistant bacteria can no longer be treated with a certain drug. Cipro begins to work against bacterial infections within hours of when you take it. However, you may not notice improvement in your symptoms for a few days.

The following information describes dosages that are commonly used or recommended. However, be sure to take the dosage your doctor prescribes for you. Your doctor will determine the best dosage to suit your needs.

The typical dosage for immediate-release Cipro is — mg every 12 hours for up to 14 days. Your doctor will determine the best form and dosage of Cipro for your condition. If you have kidney disease, your doctor may prescribe Cipro at a lower dose or have you take the medication less frequently.

If you miss a dose, take it as soon as you can. You might start to feel better before you finish your entire Cipro treatment. Cipro tablets and suspension should be taken at about the same time each day in the morning and the evening. Cipro can be taken with or without food. Either way you take it, be sure to consume plenty of fluids while taking Cipro. It should be taken at least two hours before or after consuming these products. However, Cipro can be taken along with a meal that contains dairy products or calcium-fortified foods or drinks.

Cipro tablets and Cipro XR extended-release tablets should not be crushed, split, or chewed. They should be swallowed whole. Cipro can interact with several other medications. It can also interact with certain supplements as well as certain foods. Different interactions can cause different effects.

For instance, some can interfere with how well a drug works, while others can cause increased side effects. Below is a list of medications that can interact with Cipro. This list does not contain all drugs that may interact with Cipro. Before taking Cipro, be sure to tell your doctor and pharmacist about all prescription, over-the-counter, and other drugs you take. Also tell them about any vitamins, herbs, and supplements you use.

Sharing this information can help you avoid potential interactions. If you have questions about drug interactions that may affect you, ask your doctor or pharmacist. Many antacids such as Tums, Gaviscon, and Maalox contain calcium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide, and aluminum hydroxide. These ingredients can bind to Cipro and prevent your body from absorbing it.

This can decrease how well Cipro works. To avoid this interaction, take Cipro at least two hours before taking an antacid, or six hours afterward. Taking Cipro with oral anticoagulant drugs such as warfarin Coumadin, Jantoven might increase the anticoagulant effects.

This might result in increased bleeding. If you take an anticoagulant, your doctor may need to monitor your bleeding risk more frequently if you take Cipro. Certain medications prolong your QT interval, which means they might affect the rhythm of your heartbeat. Taking Cipro with these drugs can increase the risk of having a dangerous irregular heartbeat. Cipro should be avoided or used very carefully with these medications.

Taking Cipro with clozapine Versacloz, Fazaclo ODT can increase the levels of clozapine in the body and increase the risk of clozapine side effects. Cipro can increase the blood sugar-lowering effects of certain diabetes drugs, such as glyburide Diabeta, Glynase PresTabs and glimepiride Amaryl.

This might cause blood sugar levels to become too low. Taking Cipro with methotrexate Rasuvo, Otrexup can increase the levels of methotrexate in your body and increase the risk of methotrexate side effects. Taking Cipro with ropinirole Requip, Requip XL can increase the levels of ropinirole in the body and increase the risk of ropinirole side effects.

Taking Cipro with the seizure drug phenytoin Dilantin, Dilantin, Phenytek can cause phenytoin levels in the body to become too low. This can result in uncontrolled seizures in people taking phenytoin for epilepsy. Taking Cipro with sildenafil Viagra , Revatio can increase the levels of sildenafil in your body and increase the risk of sildenafil side effects. Taking Cipro with theophylline can increase levels of theophylline in your body.

This can cause serious theophylline side effects. These include nausea, vomiting, jitters, irritability, abnormal heartbeat, heart attack, seizures, and breathing failure. Cipro and theophylline should not be taken together if possible. Cipro can increase the sedative and blood pressure effects of tizanidine Zanaflex. This might result in excessive sedation from zolpidem. Cipro can prolong your QT interval, which means it might affect the rhythm of your heartbeat.

Using these drugs together might increase the risk of a dangerous irregular heartbeat. Some vitamin and supplement products can bind to Cipro and prevent your body from absorbing it. These supplements include:. To avoid this interaction, you should take Cipro at least two hours before you take these supplements, or at least six hours afterward. Dairy foods or calcium-fortified juice can bind to Cipro and prevent your body from absorbing it.

To avoid this interaction, you should take Cipro at least two hours before you consume these foods, or at least two hours afterward. Cipro can increase the effects of caffeine consumed from coffee, tea, chocolate, and other sources. This might increase the risk of caffeine-related side effects such as nervousness, jitteriness, and trouble sleeping.

Taking Cipro with alcohol will not make the antibiotic less effective, but the combination might increase the risk of certain side effects or make side effects worse. Examples of side effects that might be more likely to occur, or worsened by alcohol use, include:. The dosage should not be more than mg every 12 hours. Some research suggests that taking Cipro early in pregnancy might increase the risk of spontaneous abortion.

Other studies have not found this effect on pregnancy. This medication should be used during pregnancy only if the benefit justifies the potential risk. You should not breastfeed while taking this medication.

Cipro can pass through breast milk and cause side effects in a child who is breastfed. You may need to decide whether to stop breastfeeding or stop taking this medication. There are many different antibiotics that are used as alternatives to Cipro.

The most appropriate antibiotic to use can depend on your age, site of the infection, the type of bacteria causing the infection, drug allergies you may have, and the geographic region you live in. Note : Some of the drugs listed here are used off-label to treat these specific infections.

Cipro and Bactrim are both antibiotic drugs, but they belong to different drug classes. Cipro is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Bactrim is a sulfonamide antibiotic.

Bactrim contains two drugs in one pill, trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole. Cipro is available as an oral tablet and oral suspension that are taken twice daily. Cipro XR extended-release tablets are taken once daily. If you have epilepsy, you might have seizures or fits.

Like all medicines, ciprofloxacin can cause side effects although not everyone gets them. Common side effects of ciprofloxacin happen in more than 1 in people. Tell your doctor if these side effects bother you or do not go away:. They are less likely to happen with the eyedrops, eye ointment or eardrops.

These serious side effects can happen in less than 1 in people. Stop taking ciprofloxacin and tell your doctor straight away if you have:.

Do not drive yourself. Take the ciprofloxacin box or leaflet inside the packet plus any remaining medicine with you. In rare cases, it's possible to have a serious allergic reaction anaphylaxis to ciprofloxacin.

Ciprofloxacin is not usually recommended in pregnancy or when breastfeeding. If you're trying to get pregnant or you're already pregnant, talk to your doctor about the benefits and possible harms of taking ciprofloxacin.

Some medicines can affect the way ciprofloxacin works. They can also make you more likely to get side effects. It's important to tell your doctor if you take any of the following medicines before taking ciprofloxacin:. Iron tablets such as ferrous sulphate or ferrous fumarate , calcium and zinc supplements can affect ciprofloxacin. Leave 2 hours in between doses of these supplements and ciprofloxacin.

There are no known problems with taking other supplements and herbal remedies with ciprofloxacin. Tell your doctor or pharmacist if you're taking any other medicines, including herbal medicines, vitamins or supplements. Ciprofloxacin is from a group of medicines called fluoroquinolone or quinolone antibiotics.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics work by killing the bacteria causing an infection. For most infections, you should feel better within a few days, but this depends on the type of infection.

Tell your doctor if you do not start feeling better after taking or using ciprofloxacin for 2 to 3 days, or if you feel worse at any time. Some infections will take longer to clear, such as bone infections like osteomyelitis. In this case, you should start to feel better after a week or maybe longer. It's very important that you keep taking ciprofloxacin until your course is finished. Do this even if you feel better. It will help to stop the infection coming back.

It is usual to take ciprofloxacin for a week or 2. For some infections you might only need to take it for a day, but up to 3 months for others. However, some people have serious side effects. These can happen during treatment or even months after stopping. In a few people, these can be long-lasting or never go away. Because the side effects can be so serious, ciprofloxacin is not prescribed for more than 3 months at a time. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist if you are worried about this. Carry on taking ciprofloxacin until you've completed the course, even if you feel better.

If you stop your treatment early, the infection could come back. It also gives any remaining bacteria a chance to change or adapt so they are no longer affected by the antibiotic. Your doctor will choose an antibiotic depending on which types of bacteria they think are causing your infection. Some antibiotics are more specific narrow-spectrum and some kill a wider range of bacteria broad-spectrum.

Ciprofloxacin is a broad-spectrum antibiotic that was once used to treat a wide range of infections, especially respiratory and urinary tract infections. Ciprofloxacin is not used as often as some other antibitotics because of the risk of serious side effects.

Other quinolone antibiotics include levofloxacin, moxifloxacin and ofloxacin. All quinolones can be used to treat some chest, eye and genital infections. Levofloxacin and ofloxacin are usually taken 1 or 2 times a day. Moxifloxacin is only taken once a day. Levofloxacin also comes as a liquid that you breathe in for certain infections in your lungs.

Do not take the liquid or tablets with dairy products such as milk, cheese and yoghurt or drinks with added calcium such as some dairy-free milks.

They stop ciprofloxacin entering the body from the stomach. Leave a gap of at least 2 hours between taking ciprofloxacin and having this type of food and drink. It's then OK to have some dairy or calcium as part of a balanced meal. You do not need to avoid any food or drinks if you're using the eyedrops, eye ointment or eardrops. There's no firm evidence to suggest that taking ciprofloxacin will reduce fertility in either men or women.

However, speak to a pharmacist or your doctor before taking it if you're trying to get pregnant. Ciprofloxacin does not affect any type of contraception, including the combined pill and emergency contraception. But if ciprofloxacin makes you sick vomit or have severe diarrhoea for more than 24 hours, your contraceptive pills may not protect you from pregnancy. Find out what to do if you're on the pill and you're being sick or have diarrhoea. Make sure you know how you react to ciprofloxacin before driving or riding a bike.

If you get stinging or burning in your eyes straight after applying ciprofloxacin eyedrops or eye ointment, do not drive or ride a bike. Wait until your eyes are comfortable again and your vision is clear.