What is Macrobid and when is it used?

Macrobid is a patented name for the medical formulation with a pronounced antimicrobial action. It is based on the substance with an unpatented name Nitrofurantoin that is a derivative of nitrofurans, a class of synthetic antibacterial drugs. When you are told to buy Macrobid, you can as well get the other medication, i.e. sold under another trade name, based on Nitrofurantoin. Such medicines are called generics and are cheaper than the branded known medicines. For instance, we sell a medication made by the Indian generic making company Ipca Laboratories that is known and recognized for its qualitative drugs all over the world.

The indications for Macrobid use are:
Bacterial infections of the urinary tract such as:
- Pyelitis,
- Pyelonephritis,
- Cystitis,
- Urethritis.

Besides, it can be also appointed to prevent infection development during urological operations and examination procedures including cystoscopy and catheterization.

Susceptibility interpretive criteria for Nitrofurantoin

Acceptable quality control ranges for Nitrofurantoin

Prohibitions for the use of Macrobid

You should not buy generic Macrobid if you have:
- Increased sensitivity to the main or auxiliary substances contained in the pills;
- Increased sensitivity to other drugs from the class of nitrofurans;
- Pulmonary fibrosis;
- Pyelonephritis in concomitant parenchymal inflammation of the kidneys or paranephalic abscess;
- Anuria (urine not entering the bladder);
- Oliguria (abnormally small amounts of urine);
- Acute porphyria;
- Kidney failure (creatinine clearance less than 60 ml per minute or on hemodialysis);
- Liver cirrhosis;
- Chronic hepatitis;
- Congestive heart failure;
- Insufficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase;
- Neuritis and polyneuropathy.

Use of Macrobid for the therapy of pregnant and breastfeeding women is also contraindicated.

Macrobid dosing

Unless your doctor prescribes otherwise, you can follow this instruction:
The pills are taken orally immediately after a meal with sufficient amount of water.
- Acute infections in adults and kids over 12 are treated with 100 mg taken twice a day for seven days;
- Severe chronic relapsing infections are treated by 100 mg four times a day for seven days. The highest admissible single dosage for adults is 300 mg, the daily dosage – 600 mg.
If you missed a dosage, the treatment must be continued as before in the previously used dosages.
For the prevention of infections during surgical interventions, the dosage is 100 mg twice a day at the day of the procedure and for three more days.

Overdose of Macrobid

The symptoms of an overdose are nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, and others. The treatment implies the cessation of the formulation use, intake of a lot of water, use of enterosorbents, antihistamines, B-vitamins. In case an acute overdose happened, gastric lavage is made. The medication’s amount in the body can be also lowered by the hemodialysis.

Macrobid adverse effects

People who have already used the formulation before rarely develop any adverse effects if they hadn’t developed them before. But if you buy Nitrofurantoin and use it for the first time, you can start suffering from certain negative effects such as:
- Nausea loss of appetite, pain in the abdomen, diarrhea, pancreas dysfunction. These digestive system adverse effects can be lowered if the pills are taken with food and washed down with a sufficient amount of water.
- Headache, drowsiness, lightheadedness, depression, euphoria, confusion, psychotic episodes, agitation, increased intracranial pressure. In rare cases, severe and even irreversible symptoms can occur such as numbness and burning sensation in the legs, muscle weakness. These symptoms are associated with the use of the drug in high dosages for an extended time or in patients with kidney failure.
- Autoimmune reactions associated with chronic changes in the liver and lungs including lupus-like syndrome. The symptoms of such reactions are fever, skin rash, and blood composition disorders identified through the blood tests.
- Airway system adverse effects include fever, coughing, pain in the chest, wheezing, asthma attacks in people with asthma. In the occurrence of any airway adverse effects, the therapy must be immediately discontinued.
- Liver dysfunction, skin yellowing, bile stasis.
- Hyperemia, circulatory collapse.
- Skin rash, urticaria, skin itching angioedema, anaphylaxis, inflammation of the salivary glands, eczema, exfoliative dermatitis, erythema multiforme.
- Megaloblastic anemia, leukopenia, granulocytopenia or agranulocytosis, thrombocytopenia, aplastic anemia, hemolytic anemia in patients with deficiency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase.
- Gout, myalgia, joint pain.
- Pseudomembranous colitis, fungal superinfection.
- Transient vision impairment.

Macrobid interactions

When you buy generic Nitrofurantoin check that you don’t combine it with the incompatible substances:
- The use of the medication is contraindicated with any formulations that cause kidney dysfunction.
- Antacids and sorbents diminish the absorption of the formulation so their use with nitrofurans is not recommended.
- Inhibitors of carbonic anhydrase diminish the antibacterial activity of the formulation.
- Macrobid diminishes the reabsorption of estrogens so it can lower the contraceptive effect of oral birth control pills.
- Macrobid inactivates the oral vaccine against typhus.
- Macrobid lowers the antibacterial effect of the medications from the class of quinolones so their combined use is contraindicated.
- The risk of oppression of hematopoiesis (blood making) is increased in the combined use of the medication with ristomycin, levomycetin, and sulfonamides.
- In kidney failure, it is not recommended to use the medication with aminoglycosides.
- The effect of the medication is lowered alkaline urine, so it must not be combined with medicines that raise the pH of urine.
- The risk of enhanced adverse effects is elevated in the use of the drug with alcohol.

The favorable interactions are:
The simultaneous use with antibiotics such as penicillins or cephalosporins, the antibacterial effect is substantially enhanced. The formulation is well combined also with tetracyclines and erythromycin.

Macrobid precautions

Before you order Macrobid, you should know that its use requires the following of certain precautionary measures to avoid severe negative effects.
Separate medication tests report that its use is associated with acute porphyria in patients predisposed or having this condition so it is contraindicated to be used in them.
The formulation must be cautiously used in patients with any kidney dysfunction. In the decreased washing out of Nitrofurantoin with the urine, its antibacterial concentration in the urine can be lowered and the concentration in the blood plasma increased. In the creatinine clearance less than 60 ml per minute its use is contraindicated.
The use of different antibacterial formulations including Macrobid can cause the onset of Pseudomembranous colitis as a result of suppression of the healthy flora in the intestines. In case of mild colitis, it is sufficient to stop the therapy with the drug but if the disease is severe, the treatment of colitis must be made.
Macrobid must be cautiously used by people with anemia, diabetes mellitus, an electrolyte imbalance, a deficiency of B vitamins and folic acid, lung diseases, liver failure, and a predisposition to the development of peripheral neuropathies. In any symptoms of peripheral neuropathy such as muscle weakness in the limbs, loss of sensitivity in the limbs, sensation of burning in the palms and/or feet, etc, the treatment must be stopped immediately.
During the long-term therapy with the medication, the function of the lungs, especially in senior patients, must be monitored. The use of the formulation must be immediately stopped in any signs of lung function impairment.
The long-term therapy with the formulation also requires the control over the peripheral blood and liver function.
If you have any chronic diseases or take any medications on a regular basis, discuss the possibility of Nitrofurantoin use with your healthcare provider before initiating the therapy.

Where can you buy Macrobid?

The cheapest way to get the medication for the whole treatment course is to order generic Macrobid from our med store as we sell the highest quality generic medications that are priced substantially cheaper than their branded counterparts.

Macrobid shipping

We ship Macrobid and all other medications that we offer you to buy to the UK, U.S., Australia, Canada, and all other countries of the world. The delivery time is from 7 days (express) to 25 days (standard).

Free prescription
Our doctor prescribes online for free, and there is no doctor’s consultation fee.

Discrete packaging
All orders arrive in discrete unmarked parcels. We leave the shipment description blank.

For more answers see the FAQ section