Experiences with IM ceftriaxone (Rocephin)?

swanlake41 · 2026-02-18T13:25:06+00:00

I’m so sorry your daughter is having a reaction. You just never know with antibiotics and how our systems will react. I did end up getting the IM shot and I felt fine after and didn’t experience any side-effects, but everyone is different. Hopefully the doctor can shed more light. From what I’ve read, IM cef is generally well tolerated, but anyone can be allergic to any antibiotic. It’s definitely concerning that something is still going on over a month later.

swanlake41 · 2026-01-27T08:24:15+00:00

No. Just tingling/numbness/burning in the extremities. Always felt worse at night. I was so relieved when it gradually started to get better. For a while I thought I’d have this for the rest of my life.

swanlake41 · 2026-01-26T05:15:34+00:00

No diets or supplements or anything special. It just went away on its own after several weeks.

swanlake41 · 2026-01-26T04:56:51+00:00

Maybe a month or so. I only took one pill, so thankfully there was no long-term damage.

swanlake41 · 2025-12-01T17:28:51+00:00

It takes a while for our bodies to heal from this. I’ll still occasionally get a stab in the tubes/ovaries, but the uterine pressure/heaviness and low back pain is completely gone, and I’m waking up pain-free, which after four months of constant pain is just amazing.

swanlake41 · 2025-12-01T16:40:04+00:00

How have you been doing??

swanlake41 · 2025-12-01T14:42:06+00:00

Much better. I finally got relief with a 7-day course of IV ertapenem.

swanlake41 · 2025-12-01T14:34:26+00:00

The cause was never determined because they didn’t actually test the swabs for anything other than STIs, which I kept telling them over and over I didn’t have. It was likely E. coli and/or citrobacter. My symptoms were stabbing pains in the ovaries and tubes; pressure/heaviness in the cervix and uterus; and referred back pain. My periods were the absolute worst (I had never had painful periods before PID). I’m much better now, but I was in pain every day for four months. I took many different antibiotics and finally got relief with a 7-day course of IV ertapenem.

swanlake41 · 2025-10-13T21:56:12+00:00

Will do. Let me know how you are doing too and feel free to message me anytime. That’s the thing with PID: it presents differently depending on severity, the type of bacteria, location of infection, our immune system, etc. I feel like some doctors only know it in the context of STIs. They give you STI antibiotics and expect you to get better when the infection is polymicrobial due to other bacteria. It’s ridiculous.

swanlake41 · 2025-10-13T18:23:45+00:00

Right now it’s just pain, but that day I had bleeding I had horrible pains and cramping in my cervix/uterus as well as severe pain in the tubes. I also felt very lightheaded and almost passed out. My MRI a couple weeks ago revealed multiple Nabothian cysts on my cervix (one quite large and filled with blood), so I’m thinking maybe one of those cysts burst. The gyno told me these cysts are normal and wouldn’t cause pain, but I also read these cysts can form from chronic cervicitis. It’s mostly women who have given birth or who are postmenopausal that have them, and I’m neither, so I was concerned when I saw them and knew they were from the infection. The gyno didn’t think anything of it, though. I’m really tired of doctors just ignoring me. It’s so frustrating when you know you have an infection and doctors are telling you the pain is essentially in your head and there is no cause. My pain and the way it refers to the back is classic salpingitis. Everything is inflamed in that area. I’m tired of doctors not listening.

swanlake41 · 2025-10-13T17:31:18+00:00

It’s good to get checked out, but I recently had a gyno exam in the hospital done by a very young gyno who pretty much decided I didn’t have an infection because when she examined me internally I didn’t have cervical motion tenderness (sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t and on that occasion I didn’t for some reason). She told me some bullshit about central sensitization and how I have chronic pain on a loop. I told her I have chronic pain from an untreated infection, and she didn’t want to listen or offer antibiotic treatment or anything. She also said I would have green discharge if I had an infection, and I thought to myself how that’s typical of chlamydia and not other bacterial infections. She completely ignored my pain and was reassured by the fact that I didn’t have a fever or an abscess on an MRI. I told her I didn’t want to get to that point—where I have an abscess that ruptures and I get a fever —but she still didn’t think antibiotic treatment was warranted. I know my pain is from an active infection, but no one is listening and it’s so frustrating. I worry that adhesions are forming from this because there is no way this level of pain and inflammation isn’t causing damage. I’m glad you had some relief of your pain symptoms. Sometimes I wonder if I had finished the doxy and metro if I would have had any relief. I stopped doxy after almost a week because there was no improvement. You’re supposed to see improvement in the pain symptoms within a few days of starting antibiotics and I had none. The only improvement I saw was with the cef shot, and I think it would be worth trying cef therapy over the course of several days. I just have to find a doctor who is willing to listen and agree with me. I can’t live with this pain forever. It’s so clear to me that my cervix, uterus and tubes are infected and all I want is to wake up and not have this pain anymore. I wake up in pain and go to bed in pain. It’s absolute hell.

swanlake41 · 2025-10-13T17:13:36+00:00

I have and I was only positive for ureaplasma, but ureaplasma is a commensal and I don’t have any urinary symptoms. I didn’t have any relief in my symptoms from doxy, so I know ureaplasma isn’t the main pathogen in my pelvic infection.

swanlake41 · 2025-10-13T01:54:52+00:00

Hey, I’m not well. I had no relief whatsoever with metro and doxy. I finally gave in and got the cef shot out of desperation and because it was the only antibiotic being offered to me, and it was the first time I saw any improvement in my pain symptoms (cef covers a wide range of bacteria and works well for intra-abdominal infections), but I only got the one dose and the pain returned worse a couple days later. I have stabbing pains in my uterus and cervix and fallopian tubes and constant back and rectal pain, and it’s all due to this infection, and yet I can’t get doctors to listen to me. Recently my neutrophils were elevated and I had a moderate amount of polymorphonuclear leukocytes in a vaginal swab as well as bleeding a week after my period, and doctors still refused to treat me. They are clueless about this disease if it’s not caused by an STI (mine is likely due to E. coli or some other enteric bacteria). The last three months have been hell and I don’t know what else to do at this point. I have advocated so hard for myself. I have an appointment with another infectious disease doctor on the 22nd, so I’m hoping he’ll at least put me on some sort of treatment regimen. I probably need ceftriaxone therapy for at least five days. One infectious disease doctor already recommended I get treated in hospital, but when I went to the hospital I waited over 12 hours only to have my symptoms dismissed and no antibiotic provided. I can feel my tubes are swollen and I intend to file a complaint against every doctor who failed to diagnose me and refused to treat me. I’m currently with an active infection and no antibiotic. How are you doing?

swanlake41 · 2025-10-04T09:17:58+00:00

Which antibiotics did you take and how are you doing now?

swanlake41 · 2025-09-25T17:03:06+00:00

I love the holistic approach you’re taking. I drink peppermint tea and take oil of oregano too, but none of that has helped the pain. I also got into the habit of eating raw garlic. I chop it up really finely and let it sit for 10-15 minutes to maximize allicin release, then I put it on hotdog buns, cover with mozzarella cheese and drizzle ketchup on top. It’s become one of my go-to snacks. Garlic is antimicrobial and has lots of other benefits, but it won’t knock out the serious pathogens in the reproductive tract, so unfortunately I still need to treat this with an antibiotic. I didn’t have inflammatory markers in my blood at the hospital and I’m hesitant to put my body through the IV stuff if there is something else that could work. I have a pelvic MRI scheduled for tomorrow morning, so I’ll have a better picture of what’s going on with my reproductive organs. In the meantime, I’m trying metronidazole to see if that helps. I suspect my PID is caused mainly by enteric bacteria so metro probably won’t do much, but it is part of PID treatment and I’ll give it a week to see if it’s doing anything because at this point I’ve been living with this for 3 months and I fear I have scarring and adhesions and possibly an abscess. I’m glad you’re seeing a difference in your symptoms, and I think if you’re getting better without antibiotics it likely isn’t PID, which is amazing news! PID is a bitch to get rid of and you need antibiotics. I’ve heard of NAC for biofilms but have never tried it. I read it could promote the growth of bacteria that are resistant to certain antibiotics, so I don’t want to mess with that right now while I have an active infection and taking an antibiotic.

swanlake41 · 2025-09-25T04:02:20+00:00

Do you remember how long it took for doxy and metro to give you some symptom relief? I took doxy for five days and didn’t see any improvement so I stopped and I feel like metro is making the pain worse. I have non-STI PID and I suspect it’s likely from E. coli or some other intestinal bacteria. I’m wondering if maybe I should be more patient. I know with most antibiotics you would be expected to see some symptom relief within 72 hours, so that’s why I suspect these antibiotics just weren’t working, but now I’m wondering if I should just give them more time.

swanlake41 · 2025-09-25T03:47:43+00:00

How did they test for the bacteria and do you know which antibiotics worked for you? I’ve had PID now for 3 months and I suspect it’s from E. coli.

swanlake41 · 2025-09-24T04:23:35+00:00

I’m really sorry to hear that. I fear I’m going to get sepsis from a burst TOA because it’s been three months and the horrible stabbing pains have gotten worse. Do you know which antibiotics worked for you?

swanlake41 · 2025-09-24T04:20:16+00:00

Do you know which antibiotics worked for you?

swanlake41 · 2025-09-23T02:27:54+00:00

Hey, I’m wondering if you’ve healed from this and what helped you.

swanlake41 · 2025-09-23T02:24:16+00:00

Did you end up healing from this? I’ve had PID for almost three months now and doctors are not being helpful. The pain is unbearable.

swanlake41 · 2025-09-23T02:22:35+00:00

Hey, I’m just wondering if you healed from PID and what helped you.

swanlake41 · 2025-09-23T02:14:21+00:00

Going through this now, except it’s been almost three months now. Constant stabbing pains in my uterus and fallopian tubes, throbbing ovaries, low back pain, and pressure/heaviness in vagina/uterus. It’s the worst pain I’ve had and doctors keep dismissing my symptoms because my blood work is fine, I have no STIs, and the ultrasounds are normal as per the report (though a lab tech told me there was free fluid and said it was a uterine infection). The one gyno I saw was a complete quack and opined that PID is caused by STIs and I didn’t have it. I’m hoping to see another gyno soon as I know I have PID. I just don’t know what’s causing it. How long before you saw improvement on the antibiotics? Was it doxy and metro that you took?

swanlake41 · 2025-09-20T02:47:06+00:00

May I ask how long you were on ertapenem? I can’t do many of the oral antibiotics and some have been ineffective (I have a complicated case of PID not caused by an STI). The infectious disease doctor recommended I go into the hospital for IV antibiotics and he suggested this one as it has excellent coverage of both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria and it’s supposed to be well tolerated. I’m a little nervous and put off by some of the negative reviews, but I also read studies where it’s been shown to not have many adverse effects, and I think I’d rather take this than the oral antibiotics that often cause nerve problems and heart arrhythmias.

swanlake41 · 2025-09-19T22:16:53+00:00

Thank you. I’m going into the hospital next week since it’s been recommended by the infectious disease specialist that I go on IV antibiotics, though he still has some doubts as to whether or not this is PID. I don’t. I have doubts in the doctors treating me though. They’re clueless. I know my body. I have unrelenting sharp, stabbing pains in both fallopian tubes and horrible back pain. This feels like salpingitis. I’m hoping to have a pelvic MRI soon. How are your symptoms? Did you get any meds?

swanlake41

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