The Good, Bad and Ugly of Antibiotics

There are many advances in our health care we can be thankful for today. Prior to the 1900's poor sanitary conditions including inadequate sewage waste systems as well as contaminated food and water were assessed to be the main causes of death aside from natural causes. Once we began to understand more about the invisible world full of bacteria, things like indoor plumbing and the sterilization of medical instruments were introduced. With the passage of time, we have become more and more conscience about our personal hygiene. The results are a significant decrease in infectious diseases.

Yet, while there has been a significant decrease in deaths due to infectious diseases, the introduction of penicillin in the 1940's, a new type of problem cropped up. The causes of death went from infectious diseases to chronic disease conditions. People are not dying from poor hygiene, they are dying from the decrease and elimination of something else.

And this is where our discussion turns to the endangered internal species as a result of antibiotics. The sad truth of the matter is this - what kills the disease carrying bacteria, also kills our amazing probiotic bacteria friends.

While antibiotics have helped us eliminate so many diseases, the constant abuse of these medications, which includes prescribing them when people have colds and flues, which are virus related, not bacterial. Virus related illnesses are those that cannot be treated or cured with the use of antibiotics So, while sick with something non-bacterial you are killing off your bodies means of keeping it's immune system in top condition, which only leads to being more susceptible to other illnesses.

With the misuse of antibiotics comes the introduction of the antibiotic resistant bacteria. This has created a cycle that keeps getting worse. Drug companies continue to manufacture and develop stronger antibiotics and the abuses such as mentioned above continue to happen. It is a never ending cycle that is become quite frightening when you learn about the consequences.

So, where does this leave us? What is the solution?

It is not a secret that both bad and good bacteria are destroyed when taking these medications. So, why is it that along with our prescriptions for antibiotics, we are not then prescribed with probiotics to replace what has been lost through antibiotics?

Although antibiotics have really reeked havoc on good bacterial growth, we have added to their damage by our more modern lifestyles. Fast food, soda, diet products, processed foods and the total lack of eating well-balanced meals are also to blame. We are living in a world of convenience which is running at a very fast pace. This causes a great deal of stress, lack of proper amounts of sleep, emotional distress and so forth. Our bodies are simply bombarded day in and day out. Our intestinal health promoting bacteria are exhausted. And we have only ourselves to blame.

So, how do we fix this problem? The answer is simple.

Helping our intestinal tract is just a matter of introducing the probiotics our bodies have lost and continue to lose daily. It's as easy as eating good unprocessed foods, organic fruits and vegetables if we can afford and acquire them. We can also add them by way of probiotic powders, probiotic liquids and probiotic supplements. In the next article I'll be talking about some of the more common foods that we can buy to encourage our healthy probiotic bacteria to grow and outnumber the bad bacteria.

There are many advances in our health care we can be thankful for today. Prior to the 1900's the top related causes of death were due largely to contaminated food and water as well as an unfit housing and sewage disposal system. Once we began to understand more about the invisible world full of bacteria, things like indoor plumbing and the sterilization of medical instruments were established.

Information about the Author:

For more articles by Kimberly Shannon on probiotic supplements and how they help our immune system, visit getbreastcancersupport.com

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