The last two weeks got me really worried because Nico had an on-and-off fever for so many days. I feared it was dengue but thank God, I was wrong. Several tests of CBC and platelets counts indicated normal figures and the pediatrician ruled it was just one of those usual viral infection.  He was prescribed antibiotics in the form of Amoxiclav that Nico took thrice daily (on an 8-hour interval) for seven days.

In as much as we do not want to resort “always giving antibiotics” since it’s common knowledge that “the frequent a person takes antibiotics, the more his/her immune system weakens”, we had no other choice but to give him antibiotics. His throat was irritated so bad and all swelling that the aid of antibiotics is badly needed.

So we bought.  Augmentin was the brand.  And since the antibiotic was in suspension form, we had it already mixed at the Pharmacy.  The doctor’s instruction was to give 5ml, preferably after each meal for better efficacy of the medicine.  I took a second look at the doctor’s instructions versus the packaging of the medicine and it all got me confused.  Good thing I recalled a former prescription of another doctor for the same medicine (this was in August of 2007 when Nico took antibiotics because of swollen gums in his upper front teet that brought high fever).  I browsed Nico’s medical files and there, I saw the other doctor’s prescription was 7.5ml and not 5ml as what the current doctor’s instruction told.

I suspected that maybe the doctor was wrong with the dosage so we went back to the Clinic to reconfirm the dosage.  I showed him the former prescription of the other doctor for the same medicine and there he rechecked his computations.  Using a calculator, he based his computations of the age of my son, his weight and the milligram contents of the antibiotic. It turned out in his computations that he was correct with the dosage.  He said the former prescription of the other doctor was an overdosage.  Oh my!  But well, when I said the antibiotics were for the swollen gums, he rephrased what he said and told me, it still depends on what the antibiotics are for and how urgent it is needed.

So curious and still doubtful that I am, I asked the doctor how he arrived at the figure.  He showed me how it’s computed and oh boy, the more I was confused.  The per mg multiplied by the weight in kilos and age of the patient.  See, I’m very poor in Math, I don’t even remember how it’s computed.  So I just resorted to googling and thank goodness, Wikipedia did not fail me.

Dosages for children are also given three times a day using suspensions containing co-amoxiclav 250/62 in each 5 mL (Augmentin ‘250/62 SF’) for those between the ages of 6–12 years and co-amoxiclav 125/31 (Augmentin ‘125/31 SF’) for those between the ages of 1–6 years. A more concentrated solution, co-amoxiclav 400/57 (Augmentin ‘400/57 SF’), may be administered more conveniently just twice daily to children from as young as 2 months of age; quantities are based on body weight with 2.5 mL from the age of 2 years and 5 mL after the age of 6 years.

The doctor was right with the 5ml dosage all along, provided it’s taken thrice a day and it should be the 250 per 5ml suspension.  The 7.5ml that Nico took last year was the more concentrated solution, the 400/57.

At least next time, Nico is prescribed with such medicine (and I really hope he will not), or any antibiotics for that matter, I can refer to this again and discern if the doctor’s prescription of the dosage is correct.