How to Prevent Diarrhea When You Take an Antibiotic
Posted Sep 14 2008 4:42pm
Good biotics and bad biotics. "Anti"biotics kill both. That is bad for you.
Antibiotics can be life savers. Often they are over used however. I play golf with a doctor. He often is on call when he plays. Numerous times I have heard him tell a patient on the phone that he has a virus. He then prescribes an antibiotic. I have asked him, "Why do you prescribe an antibiotic when it will have no effect on a virus." His answer, "If I don't give them a prescription of something they will call another doctor until they do get a prescription."
It seems doctors feel that antibiotics are benign and can be used as placebos for patients who WANT something when they are sick. But antibiotics are not benign. They can radically alter the very important intestinal flora which can have a very negative impact on your health. Here is a study where patients who were taking an antibiotic were also given a probiotic. In this randomized, double blind study it was found that "the probiotic treatment reduced the odds of diarrhea by 75%."
Here is why. Antibiotics kill all types of "biotics". The intestines contain both beneficial and harmful bacteria. The beneficial bacteria perform a number of very important functions in the intestines. They help breakdown (digest) the foods you eat. They manufacture a few vitamins and they help to keep in check (through competition) bad bacteria as well as fungus.
Fungus, like Candida Albicans, is totally unaffected by antibiotics. When the good bacteria is killed off by antibiotics, organisms like Candida have the opportunity to flourish since their competitor is no longer there to control their growth. Candida often can cause diarrhea, sometimes for very long periods of time. In an effort to control the diarrhea, often doctors will wrongly prescribe even more, and often stronger antibiotics. This compounds the problem! Sometimes people can get a raging fungal infection that can have systemic effects. To learn more about a Candida infection see here.
Probiotics are a great way to replace the good bacteria when you HAVE to take an antibiotic. Most of the time it can prevent the typical diarrhea that happens when you take an antibiotic. I know doctors that regularly tell their patients to take a probiotic or eat yogurt when taking an antibiotic. Some docs even go so far as prescribing an anti fungal med to counter the possibility of a fungal infection. This is very uncommon however. Yogurt often does contain some live beneficial bacteria but usually the amounts are pretty low and you get a lot of calories that way as well as typically the yogurt contains a lot of sugar.
I struggled with an overgrowth of Candida for many years before I discovered the power of probiotics. I learned I got the best results from supplementing with large amounts of beneficial bugs. When I had the opportunity to help formulate my own probiotic, I demanded extremely large numbers (25 billion) of a small number of known human strains (6) without any FOS (fructooligosaccharides). I found that FOS, which allegedly feeds the good bacteria caused large amounts of gas in me and others who took probiotics with FOS. It is hype and should NOT be in a probiotic. Most companies only put between 1 and 10 Billion bugs in their probiotic and most use many strains. And some strains are not strains found in human. I felt it was better to get LOTS of a small number of known effective strains. The reviews we get on out probiotic are really great. They work. And you don't have to take a large number of capsules to get an effective dose. You should take them while you are taking the antibiotic and for a few weeks after wards. Many people, including me, take them all the time since we are regularly exposed to antibiotics in our food supply.
Good biotics and bad biotics. "Anti"biotics kill both. That is bad for you.
Antibiotics can be life savers. Often they are over used however. I play golf with a doctor. He often is on call when he plays. Numerous times I have heard him tell a patient on the phone that he has a virus. He then prescribes an antibiotic. I have asked him, "Why do you prescribe an antibiotic when it will have no effect on a virus." His answer, "If I don't give them a prescription of something they will call another doctor until they do get a prescription."
It seems doctors feel that antibiotics are benign and can be used as placebos for patients who WANT something when they are sick. But antibiotics are not benign. They can radically alter the very important intestinal flora which can have a very negative impact on your health. Here is a study where patients who were taking an antibiotic were also given a probiotic. In this randomized, double blind study it was found that "the probiotic treatment reduced the odds of diarrhea by 75%."
Here is why. Antibiotics kill all types of "biotics". The intestines contain both beneficial and harmful bacteria. The beneficial bacteria perform a number of very important functions in the intestines. They help breakdown (digest) the foods you eat. They manufacture a few vitamins and they help to keep in check (through competition) bad bacteria as well as fungus.
Fungus, like Candida Albicans, is totally unaffected by antibiotics. When the good bacteria is killed off by antibiotics, organisms like Candida have the opportunity to flourish since their competitor is no longer there to control their growth. Candida often can cause diarrhea, sometimes for very long periods of time. In an effort to control the diarrhea, often doctors will wrongly prescribe even more, and often stronger antibiotics. This compounds the problem! Sometimes people can get a raging fungal infection that can have systemic effects. To learn more about a Candida infection see here.
Probiotics are a great way to replace the good bacteria when you HAVE to take an antibiotic. Most of the time it can prevent the typical diarrhea that happens when you take an antibiotic. I know doctors that regularly tell their patients to take a probiotic or eat yogurt when taking an antibiotic. Some docs even go so far as prescribing an anti fungal med to counter the possibility of a fungal infection. This is very uncommon however. Yogurt often does contain some live beneficial bacteria but usually the amounts are pretty low and you get a lot of calories that way as well as typically the yogurt contains a lot of sugar.
I struggled with an overgrowth of Candida for many years before I discovered the power of probiotics. I learned I got the best results from supplementing with large amounts of beneficial bugs. When I had the opportunity to help formulate my own probiotic, I demanded extremely large numbers (25 billion) of a small number of known human strains (6) without any FOS (fructooligosaccharides). I found that FOS, which allegedly feeds the good bacteria caused large amounts of gas in me and others who took probiotics with FOS. It is hype and should NOT be in a probiotic. Most companies only put between 1 and 10 Billion bugs in their probiotic and most use many strains. And some strains are not strains found in human. I felt it was better to get LOTS of a small number of known effective strains. The reviews we get on out probiotic are really great. They work. And you don't have to take a large number of capsules to get an effective dose. You should take them while you are taking the antibiotic and for a few weeks after wards. Many people, including me, take them all the time since we are regularly exposed to antibiotics in our food supply.