Antibiotic Resistance in Elderly Patient with Chronic Bronchitis: Seeking Solutions

Question
My mother is facing a life threatening situation. She is suffering from chronic to severe bronchitis for last one year (the doctor's haven't specified what infection she has). She is 65 years old. A month ago, with WBC count above 19000 she had to be admitted to ICU. She can't take almost any antibiotic. Whatever antibiotic she takes, after a few doses she says she has a burning feeling in her body. She vomits. She is restless. Moxiflaxocin, Linox, etc. could not be administered for long. Presently, she has a WBC count over 13000. Doctor has given cefadroxil, but the same problem is happening again. How can her life be saved?

Answer
antibiotics are a broad range of chemicals.... if she has allergies to some classes of antibiotics, there is often another class that may be tolerable.  With the symptoms she is getting, it may also be possible to co-administer steroids to suppress some of those feelings or to sedate her while she is being treated.   Your intensive care doctor should be well trained in situations where medication options are limited because this does come up a lot with elderly chronically ill people.

I hope this helps....