- Reference Number: HEY1429/2024
- Departments: Respiratory Medicine
- Last Updated: 31 May 2024
Introduction
This leaflet provides information about intravenous aminoglycoside antibiotics, which have been prescribed to treat your exacerbation.
What are aminoglycoside antibiotics?
Aminoglycoside antibiotics are a group of antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections. These include gentamicin, amikacin, tobramycin, neomycin and streptomycin. In patients with Bronchiectasis the main prescribed aminoglycoside is tobramycin. This is given to treat lung infections caused by bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
How is Tobramycin given?
Tobramycin is given as part of a 2 week course of intravenous antibiotics given either at home or in hospital. This can be because you are experiencing an exacerbation of your symptoms or part of your regular planned treatment. The drug will be given through an intravenous infusion and the dose will depend on your age, weight and how well your kidneys are working.
Blood tests are required throughout the course of treatment to ensure that your dose is high enough to kill the bacteria, but not too high to cause side effects. These tests will be organised by your nursing team.
What are the side effects of aminoglycosides?
All medicines can cause side effects. Common side effects of Tobramycin are nausea & vomiting.
More serious side effects of Tobramycin include damage to your kidneys & ears.
Ear damage
Ear damage can present as dizziness, balance problems, a ringing in your ears (known as tinnitus) or hearing loss. If you experience any of these symptoms please inform the nursing team as soon as possible.
Kidney damage
We will take blood tests to monitor your kidney function during the course of treatment. The risk of experiencing these side effects increases with longer durations of treatment, higher levels of the drug in your blood and use of some other medications. It is therefore important that you have regular blood tests during your course of treatment.
Is there anything I can do?
Please tell us if:
- you have any allergies to medicines;
- you are pregnant/breastfeeding or intending to;
- you are taking inhaled/nebulised antibiotics such as Bramitob, TOBI and Gentamicin;
- you have any other medical problems, especially:
- Kidney problems
- Hearing/balance problems
- Myasthenia gravis
- Parkinson’s disease
- you are taking any herbal/homeopathic medicines such as St. Johns Wort;
- you experience any side effects.
Will the Tobramycin interact with my other medication?
The Bronchiectasis team will look at all of your medication and check whether there will be any interactions with the tobramycin antibiotics. It is very important that we are aware of all medication you are taking. This includes herbal medicines and other medicines which you might buy over the counter.
We strongly recommend you DO NOT take non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), such as ibuprofen, aspirin or diclofenac (Volterol) when receiving intravenous tobramycin. This is because the risk of kidney damage is greater when taking NSAID’s alongside tobramycin. If you usually take NSAID’s and/or need some pain relief during your treatment, please speak to your nursing team, doctor or pharmacist.
Who can I speak to if I have any questions?
Your nurse led Bronchiectasis team will be happy to answer any questions you may have about your treatment.
Please contact us on tel: 01482 622495
General Advice and Consent
Most of your questions should have been answered by this leaflet, but remember that this is only a starting point for discussion with the healthcare team.
Consent to treatment
Before any doctor, nurse or therapist examines or treats you, they must seek your consent or permission. In order to make a decision, you need to have information from health professionals about the treatment or investigation which is being offered to you. You should always ask them more questions if you do not understand or if you want more information.
The information you receive should be about your condition, the alternatives available to you, and whether it carries risks as well as the benefits. What is important is that your consent is genuine or valid. That means:
- you must be able to give your consent
- you must be given enough information to enable you to make a decision
- you must be acting under your own free will and not under the strong influence of another person
Information about you
We collect and use your information to provide you with care and treatment. As part of your care, information about you will be shared between members of a healthcare team, some of whom you may not meet. Your information may also be used to help train staff, to check the quality of our care, to manage and plan the health service, and to help with research. Wherever possible we use anonymous data.
We may pass on relevant information to other health organisations that provide you with care. All information is treated as strictly confidential and is not given to anyone who does not need it. If you have any concerns please ask your doctor, or the person caring for you.
Under the General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018 we are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of any information we hold about you. For further information visit the following page: Confidential Information about You.
If you or your carer needs information about your health and wellbeing and about your care and treatment in a different format, such as large print, braille or audio, due to disability, impairment or sensory loss, please advise a member of staff and this can be arranged.
