Antibiotics - Good or Bad? When To Take Them, When To Refrain And What To Do After We've Taken Them!

These are the colds that seem to drag on forever gradually turning into an upper respiratory infection. We feel awful, lack energy and usually as a last resort find ourselves in room filled with other people coughing and spluttering, waiting to see the doctor. Unfortunately, the doctor's usual response will be to put you on a course of antibiotics.

Don't get me wrong. I am not against the proper use of antibiotics. They have the potential to be lifesavers when used properly, but they are not a cure-all. Antibiotics are usually used to treat infections caused by bacteria, such as tuberculosis, salmonella, and some forms of meningitis. However, they do not work against other organisms such as viruses or certain fungi. It's important to bear this in mind if you think you have some sort of infection, because viruses usually cause many common illnesses, particularly of the upper respiratory tract such as the common cold and sore throats.

A virus is a microscopic organism that lives as a parasite in plants, animals, and bacteria and consists of a nucleic acid core within a protein sheath. Most people who have a head cold, runny nose, cough, muscle ache, sore throat and even a fever have a virus. Viruses usually cause illness for 7-14 days and the symptoms can be treated with non-prescription drugs like herbal decongestants, cold formulas and cough syrups. Antibiotics do not work against viruses, only against bacteria.

Bacteria are single-celled, often parasitic microorganisms without a distinct nuclei or organized cell structure. There are good and bad bacteria. Many types of bacteria do not cause illness and live harmlessly on, and in, the human body. The bad bacteria cause serious illnesses such as pneumonia, meningitis, dysentery and blood poisoning.
These illnesses can be life threatening and can best be treated with antibiotics. If these bacteria become resistant, then it becomes very difficult, even impossible to treat them. Overuse of antibiotics can lead to bacteria becoming resistant to them so it's important to only take them when absolutely necessary.

HOW DO ANTIBIOTICS WORK?

The very first antibiotic, penicillin along with a family of related antibiotics (such as ampicillin, amoxicllin and benzylpenicillin) is still widely used to treat many common infections. Our healthy, strong immune systems, with their antibodies and special white blood cells, can usually kill harmful bacteria before they multiply enough to cause symptoms. And even when symptoms do occur, the body can often fight off the infection. Sometimes if the immune system is not strong it becomes overwhelmed by a bacterial infection and needs help to get rid of it. This is where antibiotics come in. Some antibiotics, such as the penicillin's, are 'bactericidal', meaning that they work by killing bacteria. They do this by interfering with the formation of the cell walls or cell contents of the bacteria. Other antibiotics are 'bacteriostatic', meaning that they work by stopping bacteria multiplying.

Unfortunately, the antibiotics do not differentiate between our good bacteria, especially in the gut, and destroy them all! This damage to the destruction of the "gut flora" can have very serious consequences. These beneficial bacteria perform crucial tasks, from boosting our immune system, aiding digestion, warding off allergies to assisting in the elimination of harmful toxins. These friendly bacteria include Lactobacillus acidophilus, Bifidus and Bulgaricus, supplements for which can be found in any health food store's refrigerated section. They protect us against pathogens such as Salmonella, yeast, cholera, and the bad E. coli. Once gone, these friendly bacteria are replaced by hostile bacteria such as Pseudomonas, Clostridium, and Klebsiella, and by Candida yeast, a powerful member of the fungi family.