Transitioning off Anti-Biotics
- Adam
- Oct 11, 2017
- 2 min read
Wouldnt it be great to have such a strong immune system that prescription anti-biotics were just never part of your health story? I enjoyed many years where that was how it was for me, I was a complete stranger to doctors surgeries. In the past couple of years I have had a few courses of prescription antibiotics and I wonder whether this may have set up the conditions where my immune system wasn't quite as strong as I would like it to be. Most recently, if you read some earlier posts on this blog, you will know I was in hospital on intravenous domestos for days on end and then had quite a long course of oral antibiotics to get through as well. My spidey sense (or intuitive inner healer if you prefer) made me pay attention to the way I transitioned off the prescription antibiotics.
The risk as I perceive it is that strong antibiotics not only do a welcome job of suppressing bacterial infection, they also do a less welcome job of killing off good and healthy intestinal flora. When you stop antibiotics abruptly with no thought about transition, then circumstances are set up for bacteria like C Difficile to over run your digestive system, and this would be a very very bad thing indeed.
What to do, what to do?
Get an education on the matter.... pops up again as an obvious action to take?
There are a lot of naturopathic steps you can take to mitigate the situation.....
In my case I started on high quality pro-biotics the minute I was discharged from hospital and intend to keep this up for maybe as long as a year.
I add some Kimchee a fermented food to some of my meals. SauerKraut and Kefir would also be good choices.
I am taking raw garlic a few times each day.
I take one Oregano Oil capsule each day.
Pay attention to your intake of leafy greens and brassicas. The fibrous carbohydrates in these vegetable feed the good bacteria in your gut. I'm handling this side of things with a green drink Nutribullet. Recipe to follow....
Turns out there is a dizzying array of natural anti-biotics that can have anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal effects whilst simultaneously not harming your intestinal flora. I have mentioned a few but I will link to another blog post that goes through a bewildering list of them.
In the end I reflect that like so many areas pertaining to health it comes down to a philosophy of self-responsibility to understand ones particular health circumstances, to get an education on the relevant facts and then to take purposeful action in the right general direction of our own health. We can do this with the support of medical professionals, naturopaths and healers, friends and family of course, but in the end though there is a ton of stuff we can do ourselves. In the spirit of 100 days to healthy why wouldn't we just get on with that?...Now! :-)
