In many ways antibiotics have done much good for our society. They solved the tuberculosis problem as well as many other infections. At that time there was no other way of treating these types of infections. Antibiotics have saved many lives over the years. They have come a long way in terms of what they can treat and how specific they can be for certain types of bacteria. Antibiotics still have a place in our medical system if used appropriately. However, the overuse leads to numerous chronic gut issues such as candida albicans (intestinal yeast overgrowth).
I want you to understand the dark side of antibiotics, because this can shed some light on when and when not to use them. The problem with the overuse of antibiotics is that Candida Albicans has become epidemic in our society and is probably just as epidemic in other societies that use antibiotics so freely. Antibiotics were never meant to be used for convenience, such as having a cold, earache, sore throat or sinus infection.
The body’s immune system has the ability to overcome most acute colds, especially if you support your immune system w/ vitamin C and other nutrients like humic acid. These other conditions are best treated in ways that do not compromise the immune system down the road. First, antibiotics suppress our immune function by not allowing your immune system to do its job. Secondly, repeated use of antibiotics disrupts the intestinal flora and its delicate balance. Most people don’t understand the consequences of an intestinal yeast infection. After you have taken antibiotics more than three times in your life, there is usually a permanent change of good bug to bad bug ratio in your intestinal tract. Why is this so important? Because once this balance is disturbed, your digestive and immune systems are possibly altered forever. The intestinal ecosystem’s checks and balances have shifted. Candida albicans is one of the bad bugs that takes over and overshadows the healthy gut microbiome which has been destroyed by the antibiotics. Clostridium difficile, E-coli and other normal intestinal bacterium can also become virulent pathogens as they can get out of balance as well. When the intestinal balance is altered, it greatly lowers immune function. It does so because Candida is an invasive pathogen that can infest the whole body. An article in the September 2005 issue of Discover magazine entitled, “Are Antibiotics Killing Us?” gave excellent facts to explain this growing problem. Microbiologist Abigail Salyers at the University of Illinois states her research shows that decades of antibiotic use have bred a frightening degree of drug resistance into our intestinal flora. She said that having a highly antibiotic-resistant bacterial population makes a person “a ticking time bomb.” In the same article Infectious-disease Specialist Curtis Donskey, of Case Western University, said, “Unfortunately far too many physicians are still thinking of antibiotics as benign. We’re just now beginning to understand how our normal microflora does such a good job of preventing colonization by disease causing microbes. We’re just starting to realize the medical consequences of disturbing that with antibiotics.” He also said that a nasty strain of clostridium difficile has killed hundreds of hospital patients in Canada over the past two years and this same strain is moving into hospitals in the United States (Snyder, November 2005). An article in The Olympian newspaper dated December 31, 2005, entitled, “Mystery Intestinal Bug Striking More Patients,” stated, “The increased use of antibiotics and heartburn drugs are to blame for the rise of bacterial infections.” The article also said that Clostridium difficile appears to be spreading rapidly around the country causing unusually severe and sometimes fatal illness. Clifford McDonald of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta said in the article, “We’re very concerned. We know it is happening, but we are not sure why or where it is going” (Stein, December 31, 2005). Any lingering pathogen will lower immune function depending upon what type of impact it is having on the immune system.
Some of the research I have done indicates that Candida actually helps to fuel other pathogens, or possibly increase their virulence. Because it lowers immune function, it will be much easier to allow other pathogens to invade the system. Huge problems happen when there are multiple pathogens in the system, especially when they are being fueled by the Candida albicans. Also, antibiotics cause bacteria,parasites and other pathogens to alter their cell wall structure in order to become more resistive. An article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, dated August 26, 2005, reported a study by scientists showing that bacteria can build a biofilm resistive wall around themselves in response to the presence of antibiotics. This was identified with the bacterium Pseudomonas that causes difficult-to-treat lung infections in people with cystic fibrosis. The study was done by the University of Washington and Rutgers University. Other researchers also have proven that the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus has similar biofilm building capabilities. The other key factor is how bacteria are altering their cell walls to be much more resistant and aggressive with the use of antibiotic therapy. Lastly, this altered intestinal environment sets the stage for leaky gut syndrome (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, August 25, 2005).
When a patient gets a cold and immediately goes to the doctor to ask for antibiotics and the doctor denies the request, many patients feel that he or she is not a good doctor. Patients do not realize that they may be undermining their long-term health by taking antibiotics. It is a short-term fix at best that sets the stage for long-term problems. No one is policing the antibiotic industry, because antibiotics do not cause death directly. They however can set in motion the building blocks for a slow degradation of overall health. They create so much long-term illness that often cannot be pinpointed back to the origination of taking the antibiotics. In my personal experience, it took me five or more years for my candida symptoms to get full blown following a two-year stint on tetracycline for acne. Had I not done my own research, I would have never suspected that taking tetracycline years earlier would have caused the horrible symptoms I was experiencing. Almost every patient who I have seen in my practice that has been on repeated doses of antibiotics generally seems to have a multitude of physical and mental issues at some point. In my experience, antibiotics should be used when there is a threat of death and, possibly, for certain needed surgeries. Dentists are requiring patients to take antibiotics to prevent bacterial infection, even in minor dental procedures. Children that are put on antibiotics early on for earaches actually have a higher incidence of recurrent ear infections than those who did nothing. This has been recently proven by several large-scale studies. Some of these studies also indicate that these same children also had much higher occurrences of allergies and asthma. The studies urged all pediatricians to be more prudent in their use of antibiotics. These studies were reported in mainstream newspapers, television news broadcasts and medical journals. This is again due to the antibiotics ability to mutate the specific bacterium that causes the earache and also the increased chance of getting Candida albicans (intestinal yeast overgrowth) from repeated doses, which lowers overall immune function permanently. Alternatives are available that can act as natural antibiotics. The key is not to degrade the immune system, but to help build it. A strong immune system and healthy intestinal bacterial balance will then be able to ward off future predators, or at least help you to recover more quickly, so you do not have to rely on antibiotics. Ultimately, it is up to the patient to understand the potential long-term consequences of taking antibiotics. Information has been coming out for more than two decades, which hopefully has caught the eye of some allopathic physicians so that they understand that prudence in antibiotic use is what is most beneficial for their patients’ long-term health. The first book on this subject, The Yeast Connection, by William Crook, M.D., in the 1980s became a best seller. His follow-up was entitled The Yeast Connection and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Since then, hundreds of articles and books have been written on this important subject. Patients come into my office and tell me how many times they have taken antibiotics. Many are still completely unaware of this ongoing danger, because no one has informed them about the repercussions of using antibiotics. Candida albicans can be tested for to determine its pathogenic influence and numbers that have colonized within your intestinal system using specific stool lab testing
Going forward 15 or so years has seen little changes in how often antibiotics are administered as a first defense. The rise in auto-immune disease, especially long-term intestinal illness labeled as Colitis, Irritable Bowel, Chron’s Disease and declining mental health in our society showing up as depression, anxiety, dementia and attention deficit disorder have become a common occurrence. Many of these disease labels can be traced back to the repeated use of antibiotics that lead to candida albicans overgrowth and leaky gut syndrome which got the ball rolling in a downward health direction. There are powerful products that can support the body in recovering from the effects of antibiotics such as Microbiome labs mega mucosa, mega prebiotic, mega sporebiotic and Cellcores CT-biotic.