5 reasons to avoid antibiotics
Antibiotics have changed the modern world. They saved many people from severe infectious diseases that could have killed them, and they certainly have their place in modern human medicine.
But they can also create many health problems, and in some cases they may be a major risk factor for developing chronic diseases.
The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention stated in a recent report that the use of antibiotics caused 142,500 people to seek emergency medical care in 2013.
That’s why you should, before you start taking antibiotics, think about whether it’s worth it. Evaluate the side effects and consult with your doctor what other treatment may be used instead of antibiotic therapy.
These are the five reasons why we should avoid using antibiotics.
Risk of serious side effects
When using some classes of antibiotics such as fluoroquinolones, most patients experience very pronounced side effects.
This class includes the following medications: ofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, pefloxacin, etc.
Men should be very careful when doctors prescribe them with such antibiotics, as their use is usually prescribed for prostate infections, such as prostatitis.
But the most unpleasant thing is that these antibiotics are not necessary, because 95% of the cases of infections of this gland, are not caused by bacteria.
Precisely for this reason, any intake of antibiotics is absolutely useless. In fact, their use can cause other health problems, as antibiotics destroy the beneficial bacteria in the body.
The adverse drug reactions can be so severe that the package insert of most antibiotics states that patients who take them experience tendon damage and chronic peripheral neuropathy.
The disease is characterized by numbness, stiffness, pain, weakness and changes in sensitivity. Antibiotics have been shown to increase muscle weakness in people suffering from the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis.
They can also cause tendon rupture, joint swelling, skin rashes, memory loss and even psychosis.
Other less common side effects include kidney damage, vision problems, retinal detachment, hearing loss, and heart rhythm disturbances.
Gradually, more and more bacteria are changing and becoming insensitive to antibiotics
Some bacteria are resistant to antibiotics, and their overuse has already led to the development of multi-resistant infectious microorganisms.
Perhaps most of us have heard of difficult to treat and dangerous methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus areus infections.
They create a favorable environment for fungal infections
Although more often yeast infections develop in women, when you take antibiotics, they not only destroy the pathogenic bacteria that the treatment also targets.
But they also kill the beneficial microorganisms that make up the intestinal flora. However, they are necessary to limit the reproduction of harmful bacteria in the mouth and intestines.
When taking antibiotics, this balance is disturbed. And the fungi in the gut begin to quickly colonize the space on the gut walls vacated by the good bacteria. This process also causes adverse symptoms to appear.
They cause diarrhea
When the beneficial bacteria in the gut are destroyed, and those that are not sensitive to antibiotics remain. Penicillin, erythromycin, and sulfonamides do not kill Clostridium difficile bacteria.
These microorganisms are important for breaking down proteins, but when they multiply in the absence of beneficial bacteria, they cause very severe foul-smelling diarrhea and dehydration, which is accompanied by a high fever. And in the majority of cases, hospitalization is required.
Taking antibiotics is very often not necessary
Millions of times every year around the world, especially in developed regions of the world such as the US and the EU, antibiotics are unnecessarily prescribed, which only damage health and subsequently weaken immunity.< /p>
And what is even more dangerous is that more and more bacteria are becoming insensitive to the most widely used antibiotics such as penicillins.
