stop asking your doctor to give you antibiotics

[Pens1566]

Better yet, a more general idea of quit telling your doctor what's right for you is the way to go.

 

[Juddog]

If somebody I... know... as an acquaintance... gets UTIs every couple times she has sex... aren't antibiotics kind of the only option? (As opposed to becoming a nun.)

Or does her BF just need to stop shitting up her urethra?

There are symptoms similar to a UTI that can actually be something different; someone I know suffered from this and it actually was something called "Interstitial cystitis".

 

[zerocool84]

If somebody I... know... as an acquaintance... gets UTIs every couple times she has sex... aren't antibiotics kind of the only option? (As opposed to becoming a nun.)

Or does her BF just need to stop shitting up her urethra?

Umm yea both of them need to get their goods checked out.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I once ran into someone who honestly believed that if we stopped using antibiotics all of mankind would be immune to disease within 50 years. Like there was never disease before antibiotics... This however is a valid concern. I've personally never just been given antibiotics without good cause though.

 

[SunnyD]

Better yet, a more general idea of quit telling your doctor what's right for you is the way to go.

Better yet, ban all pharma commercials and ads.

"Ask your doctor if <insert drug trade name here> is right for you!"

 

[Red Squirrel]

I once ran into someone who honestly believed that if we stopped using antibiotics all of mankind would be immune to disease within 50 years. Like there was never disease before antibiotics... This however is a valid concern. I've personally never just been given antibiotics without good cause though.

Chances are people back in those days died or got sick of random unknown causes, they probably had a general term for it like "demons" and did not realize it was something treatable as they did not have the technology. Now that we have it, may as well use it. But yes, we need to be wary of not abusing it. Antibiotics tend to have some weird side effects too, depending on which ones.

I had some that made my pee smell funny and my tongue feel furry. Overdose on that stuff probably turns you into a cat or something. :awe:

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

I had some that made my pee smell funny and my tongue feel furry. Overdose on that stuff probably turns you into a cat or something. :awe:

I had one that made me temporarily lose my sense of smell, and one that made it so my body started destroying my platelets.

 

[bradley]

Just take a bunch of probiotics at the same time to even it out.

The literal meaning of antibiotic is anti-life. Probiotic means pro-life. hmm...

 

[bradley]

If somebody I... know... as an acquaintance... gets UTIs every couple times she has sex... aren't antibiotics kind of the only option? (As opposed to becoming a nun.)

Or does her BF just need to stop shitting up her urethra?

Honestly? I would become more proactive. Get some urine test strips. Great supplements for uti: mannose, grapefruit seed extract, olive leaf extract, probiotics and take note of any effect on markers of inflammation and infection: leukocytes and nitrites.

 

[PlasmaBomb]

Wat.

It may sound like crap, but diet and environment can have an effect on your genetics... maybe not in the way he is talking about, but check out epigenetic switching :thumbsup:

 

[Colt45]

They definitely need to lay off handing them out for sniffles.

I think another problem is the massive prophylactic dosing to livestock across the country. what a waste.

People are too stupid for their own good

 

[Pens1566]

Better yet, ban all pharma commercials and ads.

"Ask your doctor if <insert drug trade name here> is right for you!"

I've suggested that numerous times. There is really no point to them.

 

[phucheneh]

Sooooo...is this regarding any particular illness?

I mean for 'generalized infections' or whatever they would call them, I think I still want antibiotics. E.g. my snot is turning colors or I have a nasty discolored wound or something. The doctor just says 'well that's infected' and not 'I have deduced you have the rare A. Poopolocomotocus bacteria.'

 

[ichy]

Check my edit; in short, the second post from epmonthly is an opinion piece, and the first has some things that I disagree with. For example read the post by "Enya" in the comments section.

A main function of taking antibiotics during strep throat is to avoid complications. Yes the complications are rare but they do happen, and when they do, it can be extremely bad. In regard to people having a negative reaction to the antibiotics themselves, most people know whether they have an issue during allergen testing while they are growing up. I would rather remove the chance of a complication causing severe issues than chance a negative reaction to something I've already been tested for.

Furthermore I find the idea of taking ibuprofen instead of antibiotics, for a bacterial infection such as strep throat, to be ridiculous, given the fact that they treat different symptoms and can overlap. The key to true understanding is a balanced approach instead of a black or white "don't ever take this" versus "take this". The aafp article shows a more balanced approach.

Good points. I suppose it's simplistic to say you should never take antibiotics for strep but at the same time the common notion that they're some sort of necessary treatment is mostly incorrect as well. I do worry that too many doctors will continue to just hand out antibiotics for strep throat because it's easier and they're already slammed with too many patients as is.

 

[tcsenter]

Future approach (which is already in-use experimentally or in rare cases) is to harvest the antibodies of persons who already had the infection and recovered. Then maybe replicate them in some host, or create an immunologic response in some other compatible host (e.g. specially engineered horses or pigs or whatever) that produces the antibodies, then give the antibodies to persons who are in serious trouble from the infection, who could then later serve as a source of antibodies for someone else.

 

[Juddog]

Good points. I suppose it's simplistic to say you should never take antibiotics for strep but at the same time the common notion that they're some sort of necessary treatment is mostly incorrect as well. I do worry that too many doctors will continue to just hand out antibiotics for strep throat because it's easier and they're already slammed with too many patients as is.

I agree with the meat of your argument; antibiotics shouldn't be given out for viral infections, like some doctors have done, and they shouldn't be handed out for infections where it doesn't make much of a difference.

I also feel that the public has a pendulum mentality right now when it comes to medicine, and have been pushing that mentality towards the medical community, where they suddenly swing to one side from the other instead of taking all factors into consideration. This holds true for other pharms, such as painkillers; at one point doctors were giving them out like candy because you hurt your elbow, now doctors are paranoid about giving them out at all because suddenly anybody who wants one is looked at like a heroin addict.

 

[lxskllr]

We also have another problem, all the Triclosan and it's derivatives in all our soaps, plastics, socks, toothpaste, dish soap and anything else they can add that toxic shit to. Not only is that stuff poisoning us, but those bacteria that aren't killed are starting to become immune to chemical agents that normally kill bacteria and in general more hardy.

 

[SparkyJJO]

I haven't been to the doctor for years, and I haven't had any antibiotics for even longer. I can proudly say I'm not part of the problem

 

[marvdmartian]

Precisely. I cannot remember the last time I got antibiotics from my doctor, for anything.

This has especially been the case for the past 8 years, since I quit smoking, and quit getting upper respiratory infections on an annual basis. :hmm:

 

[Mixolydian]

I've never taken antibiotics in my life. I'm still alive, and quite healthy too...

 

[Nintendesert]

It's like we're doing selective breeding with bacteria now. That .01 keeps on breeding and getting stronger and stronger against the stuff we normally have used to kill it.

 

[Mark R]

We also have another problem, all the Triclosan and it's derivatives in all our soaps, plastics, socks, toothpaste, dish soap and anything else they can add that toxic shit to. Not only is that stuff poisoning us, but those bacteria that aren't killed are starting to become immune to chemical agents that normally kill bacteria and in general more hardy.

This probably isn't correct. There was one, very widely publicised study which claimed to have discovered Triclosan resistance in bacteria. It has since turned out that the study was flawed, and the authors of the study have done another study which was negative (as have all the other studies on triclosan).

The concern that resistance to biocides may appear is not unreasonable. Similarly, it is conceivable that genes that confer resistance to biocides may be linked to antibiotic resistance (so that multiply resistant "superbugs" can form). Nevertheless, biocides (like triclosan) are not antibiotics, so resistance formation is expected (if it occurs at all) to occur much more slowly and much less completely. That's not to say that there is no concern, but that we should not withdraw a genuinely valuable product because of unfounded fears.

 

[SirStev0]