A large number of drugs have been used in clinical trials for the treatment of sinusitis. Unfortunately, the majority of these drugs have shown no significant results.
Sinusitis is generally caused by bacterial and viral infections and, therefore, should be treated well with antibiotics and anti-viral drugs.
This has shown to be contrary on clinical grounds. However, Cephalexin which is an antibiotic drug has shown some desirable results in the recent past.
What is Cephalexin?
Anothee name: Keflex, Ospexin
Cephalexin belongs to a class of antibiotics called cephalosporin. It is a first generation cephalosporin given through oral route of administration.
Cephalexin is utilized to fight bacteria in the body. It works by meddling with the microorganisms' cell wall arrangement, making it break, and executing the bacteria.
Cephalexin is utilized to treat infections brought about by bacteria, including upper respiratory infections, ear infections, skin infections, and urinary tract infections.
Greater potency Gram-positive bacteria
As we move down the four generations of the cephalosporins, the effect starts shifting from gram-positive to gram-negative bacteria. Thus, cephalexin tends to be far more effective in treating infections caused by gram-positive organisms and less effective in those caused by the gram-negative.
How Cephalexin acts
Cephalexin is similar in action to a very famous class of drugs known as Penicillins. Both of these groups of drugs are beta-lactams. Beta-lactams exert their bactericidal effect by inhibiting certain enzymes required for bacterial cell wall synthesis. When bacterial cell well is not properly synthesized, the result is the frequent death of these bacteria.
Why is Cephalexin more effective?
Bacteria tend to develop quick resistance against these beta-lactam drugs. They do so by secreting an enzyme known as beta-lactamase. This enzyme retards the activity of drugs similar to Cephalexin. However, experiments on a large number of patients have shown that very low resistance is developed against Cephalexin. This attributes to the high efficiency of Cephalexin in treating the sinus infection.
Is Cephalexin Good for Sinus Infection?
The higher efficiency of Cephalexin against bacteria causing sinus infection puts its credibility out of the question. However, it has to be made sure that Cephalexin does not cause significant adverse effects. Following are the side effects generally seen in frequent use of penicillins and cephalosporins:
- GIT issues such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea
- Dizziness
- Lethargy
- Headaches
- Abdominal discomfort
- Joint pain and inflammation
- Vaginal itching or discharge
- Rash
Cephalexin has been chosen as the prescription drug for treating the sinus infections because none or rare of these side-effects is seen on the use of the drug.
An investigation was directed to assess the efficacy of cephalexin treatment in 104 patients with infectious sinusitis (source). Sixty-nine patients met all criteria for assessment. The greater part of patients got cephalexin, 1 gm/day in four isolated dosages for ten days, including the 48-hour period after the patient had ended up asymptomatic.
Patients returned for observation about one week and two weeks subsequent to starting treatment. The results showed that 57 of them, making up about 83% were found to be satisfactory. Results demonstrated that cephalexin was powerful in treating sinusitis and that negative reactions were uncommon.
Bacteriology results demonstrated that huge numbers of the pathogens generally responsible for infectious sinusitis were resistant to most antibiotics prescribed. These same pathogens, in any case, were submissive to cephalexin.
Thus, Cephalexin is clinically tested to be one of the most effective drugs for the treatment of sinus infection. It is to be noted that the drug has shown to be most effective in the treatment of the maxillary sinusitis.
Cephalexin (Keflex) vs Amoxicillin for Sinusitis
Keflex or commonly known as (Cephalexin 500mg) which is not a part of the penicillin family is without a doubt a stronger antibiotic. Amoxicillin was the most generally recommended for intense sinusitis.
Shockingly, bacterial resistance to amoxicillin has developed very significantly. So now, Cephalexin is prescribed to use for treating grown-ups with sinusitis contaminations that have gotten to be impervious to penicillin. Picking one from these two is genuine troublesome on the grounds because it generally relies on upon which sort of infection you're suffering with.
Keflex (Cephalexin) for Sinus Infection during Pregnancy
In some cases, an anti-infection is important to treat your sinus infection. Make certain to tell your specialist that you are pregnant, and he will endorse you an antibiotic that is alright for your creating child. A few antibiotics are protected while pregnancy including cephalexin, amoxicillin, ampicillin, clindamycin and penicillin. Antibiotics like tetracycline, doxycycline and minocycline are risky for a pregnant lady. These can make harm to the child's teeth or to the mothers liver.
Dosage of Cephalexin for Sinus Infection
The dosage of cephalexin recommended will rely on upon the sort and seriousness of contamination and whether the individual taking it is a child or a grown-up.
Here are general rules for cephalexin dosage:
- The normal grown-up dosage ranges from 1 to 4 grams a day, given in partitioned dosages.
- Typical grown-up dosage of cephalexin are 250 mg at regular intervals, or 500 mg like clockwork.
- The normal dosage for a youngster is 25 to 50 milligrams (mg) per kilogram of weight, given in isolated dosages.
- Keflex containers come in 250, 333, 500, and 750 mg alternatives.
Dosage might be multiplied for more extreme contaminations. Contingent upon the kind of disease, treatment may last from 7 to 14 days. In the event that expansive dosages of cephalexin are required, another kind of cephalosporin that can be given by infusion or an intravenous imbuement might be utilized.
Precaution
Before treatment with Cephalexin is administered, cautious inquiry ought to be made to figure out if the patient has had past hypersensitivity responses to Cephalexin, Penicillins, Cephalosporins or similar medications.
Prescribing Cephalexin without a demonstrated or unequivocally perceived bacterial infection or a prophylactic sign is not likely to benefit the patient and ultimately increases the risk of developing drug-resistant microscopic organisms.
Patients monitored painstakingly to detect any side effects or strange exhibition of drug reactions. In the event that an unfavorable response to Cephalexin is seen, the medication ought to be stopped and the patient treated with the usual agents like epinephrine, antihistamines etc.
I have severe recurring sinusitis. At present it is a thick green tinged yellow muck in my nose and I’m also coughing up the stuff as it collects in my throat. (Lungs are clear). This sinus toe of infection has previously led to severe nose bleeds. I don’t want that to happen again. I have no septum in the nose. I use a mixture of salt and bicarbonate of soda to rinse /irrigate the nose. I feel I need to take ranceph/cephalexin at the moment as nothing is clearing this. I have tried otc meds for sinus but it’s not clearing.
Should read sinus type… not toe
I got a sinus infection after getting the flu in Dec 2015. I was sick for two weeks, started feeling better, then got worse. I believe I got pneumonia after the flu. My sense of smell was gone and in it’s place was a constant odor, 24/7, which can be described as an infected sweaty gym sock. It was awful. Went to the doc who prescribed Augmentin, which I understand is the “go to” drug of choice. After 10 days, it did absolutely nothing except throw my digestive tract in chaos. I suffered for many more months with this awful smell that I could not escape. Finally my wife suggested that I try Keflex. I got a prescription and within three days the odor was finally gone. I was so happy, The only problem is that I cannot smell much, and only have about 10% of my sense of smell. I think the flu virus may have damaged my smell receptors. I am currently doing smell training and hope it helps return my sense of smell. I want to wake up and smell the coffee again.