Advice to patients (23) Penicillin V tablets
- This medicine is an antibiotic which is usually used to treat infections. Occasionally it is used to prevent infections.
- It is a type of penicillin. If you are allergic to penicillin, do not take any of this medicine without first telling your doctor/dentist.
- It is important that you keep taking the tablets until they have all gone, even if you feel better quickly. Space the doses evenly through the day.
- Try to take the tablets at least one hour before or two hours after meals. The medicine will not work so well if you take it with food.
- Like all medicines, penicillin V can have some unwanted effects. Some people have diarrhoea, but this usually stops within a day or two of finishing the tablets. If the diarrhoea does not stop or if is very bad, you should tell your doctor. If you have itching, a skin rash, wheezing or difficulty breathing, contact your doctor straight away.
- Women of child-bearing age - this medicine can reduce the effectiveness of some contraceptive pills. You may need to use an additional form of contraception while you are taking it.
This series of "advice tips" on commonly used drugs is written by
pharmacists from the Sussex Pharmacy Academic Practice Unit. It is intended
as a reminder of points to be made by pharmacists as they hand out dispensed
medicines. The list is not intended to be comprehensive but to cover some important
points.
By Carina and Duncan Livingstone
Other advice
tips | Cards
for sale
©The Pharmaceutical Journal