Cutting Levaquin in Half

[hoho147]

I've been taking 500mg. of Levaquin for 4 days for a uti. Nasty side effects. I wanted to know if I can cut the pills in half. Would taking 250mg. be as effective? All the symptoms of my uti are gone. I was supposed to take the pills for 7 days and I stopped after 4 because of side effects.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the MedHelp forum!
Once you take any antibiotic, you have to take the full course at prescribed dose. Leaving it midway, cutting the dose will only result in drug resistance. UTI may be under control now but will flare up later. Take care!

[justamom344]

You cannot cut it in half, do you know if they did a culture on you, most of the time there is several different antibiotic they can try. Ask your doctor to do another UA on you see if the UTI is better, and always let your doctor know if you have an adverse affect to any meds. hope this helps.

[t4me]

Hey there...you cannot cut the dose in half....i would call your doctor and see if he/she can change your meds or if it's ok to stop..Levaquin can be given in 250, 500 & 750 mg doses...I was on Levaquin earlier this year for uti and had horrible side effects, so i just stopped taking the meds...I had horrible heart pounding, swollen knees and it felt as if someone had beaten the crap out of me with a baseball bat...2 days after stopping it, the swelling went down and the heart palpitations stopped, but it took weeks for the aching to stop...if your side effects were as severe as mine, you should always tell your health care providers that you had a reaction to Levaquin...it is a scary antibiotic and i know i will never take it again...hope you are all better...God bless!

[caregiver222]

No, you cannot cut the dose.

Your physician should be contacted to immediately prescribe an alternate antibiotic.

The fact symptoms are gone does not mean the bacterial infection is gone. Stopping before the prescribed number of days guarantees an antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria.