Antibiotics

[Gingerhair]

I have been taking a low dose antibiotic to prevent UTIs for many years. Is this safe given the concern surrounding antibiotics?

[Professor Bhaskar Somani]

Hi
I presume it was started once you were investigated for recurrent UTIs and these investigations were clear. If it has been a few years and you have not had any infections, then provided you are otherwise healthy with no other urological procedures, sometimes it might be worth coming off it. If you get infections then you might have to re-start it.
However, when we put patients on prophylactic low dose antibiotics, then we normally start rotational antibiotics (at a low dose) which is changed every 6-8 weeks. This ensures that the risk of the infection becoming resistant to the antibiotic is minimised and there is no long term risk of taking the same antibiotic.