Antibiotics were one of the great discoveries of the 20th century, but the latest research confirms that taking them does not come without a significant cost. Besides the well-known side effects associated with antibiotics (digestive problems, diarrhea etc), they may also have a detrimental long term effect on your immune system.
This is why you should always make sure that your doctor is prescribing antibiotics for a good reason. Taking antibiotics can lead to a weakened immune system and Candida overgrowth. Sometimes, a period of rest and a healthy diet will work just as well.
The problem is that most antibiotics are broad spectrum, meaning that they kill all of the bacteria in your body. You might think that this sounds like a good thing, but in truth many of those bacteria are vital to your long term health.
While antibiotics will certainly kill various pathogens and disease-causing bacteria, they will also destroy the ‘good bacteria’ in your gut that form an indispensable part of your immune system. According to research conducted at the University of Pennsylvania, these bacteria form one of your first lines of defense against disease. You should try to keep them if you can!
Even worse, antibiotics kill the very microorganisms that are preventing a Candida overgrowth. Ordinarily, Candida Albicans has to fight with other bacteria for space and nutrients in your gut. When you destroy those other bacteria, the Candida yeast cells have all the nutrients they need to multiply and expand their colonies quickly. Indeed, antibiotics are probably the most common cause of a Candida overgrowth.
So ask your doctor whether that prescription of antibiotics is really necessary. Often a period of rest at home and some vitamin C will help you to recover just as fast, without taking a wrecking ball to your immune system. The long term benefits are more than worth it.
There are some natural alternatives to prescription antibiotics too. Oregano oil has shown a lot of promise in trials on animals, and at least one laboratory study has shown it to be as effective as regular antibiotics.
However, sometimes you really do have to take antibiotics (for example as a result of serious illness or surgery), and there is a way that you can reduce the effect that they have on your gut flora. A 2012 analysis showed that taking probiotics during a course of antibiotics actually reduces the side effects.
In other words, if your antibiotics are causing digestive problems or diarrhea, a course of good probiotics can reduce those symptoms. Why is this? The probiotics actively replenish your gut flora even as the antibiotics are destroying it. By doing this they maintain the balance in your gut and allow those ‘good bacteria’ to perform their usual functions, like digesting food for example.
Once you have completed your course of antibiotics, continue to take probiotics for as long as possible. In my Ultimate Candida Diet treatment program I describe in detail five different criteria for choosing a good probiotic. You might be surprised to learn that some of the most popular probiotics used for Candida are actually not suitable at all.
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6 Comments
When suffering from a UTI, taking 1/2 tsp of d-Mannose powder (mixed in water) every 2-3 waking hours is a sure cure. The d-Mannose washes the bacteria from the wall of the bladder and doesn’t bother the good bacteria. It works every time.
If laboratory studies are showing natural antibiotics to be as effective as prescription antibiotics wouldn’t they too have the abilitly to kill the ‘good bacteria’ as well as pathogens and disease-causing bacteria??? Although I do appreciate how the chemicals used in prescription antibiotics are very toxic to our bodies.
Not to mention the fact that our bodies build up a resistence to antibiotics. My cousin is a physician and he said they are over prescribed and one should only take them when one has a serious infection. He said that is were abuse them in our early years when we are older and we really need them when are bodies are weaker, they might not work as effective because of the resistence our bodies have developed due to the overuse.
The body does not become resistant… it is the bacteria that does. You can never take an antibiotic your whole life but still get MRSA, for example.
Fecal transplants are shown to be 98% effective immediately.
Over the Christmas holidays I had a sinus infection. I was prescribed antibiotics and not knowing any better, took them as told. When I went back to my naturopth dr, she told me about how they kill off the ‘good bacteria’ I had been restoring by taking probiotics everyday. I will definately look into using oregano oil and other things if I get sick again.