This might seem like a really weird question, so I hope no-one minds me asking this?!

I have been given a course of antibiotics to take for a couple of weeks to clear something up.

When I am round at people's houses or out for lunch, and I'm offered a glass of wine or something alcoholic, I obviously have to turn it down . Of course my friends ask me why, so I just say that I'm on antibiotics. This has prompted everyone I know to come out with things along the line of "oh my god, thats awful" or "why are you taking them/who gave them to you - they are so bad for you" and "you shouldn't take them you know ..."

Am out out of the loop here?! Why shouldn't I be taking antibiotics when they have been prescribed to me by a medical profossional, to treat a condition?! There are some medicines that I won't take because I have experienced side-effects, and some that I wouldn't accept in the future for moral reasons, but what is so wrong with antibiotics that my taking them has elicited such vehement responses from people I trust, and who care about me?

I'd be very grateful if anyone knows anything about this! Or reasons from anyone who thinks taking antibiotics is bad for you. Thanks, C x

OK, well thanks for that, but now I'm worrying ...

(hope you're better though)

Hi Cadence

If you have been prescribed antibiotics then it will be to treat a bacterial condition that will not clear up without antibiotics. If it is something viral then all the antiobiotics in the world wont help it.

I don't understand why you are getting this response, unless it is because people have heard that taking too many antibiotics makes you immune to them.

I would continue with your antibiotics as your doctor prescribed, believe me, doctors these days don't give these out lightly but usually as a last resort after everything else has been tried.

ET

I've seen these poster's around. They are actually aimed at people who go to the doctor's asking for antibiotics to 'cure' colds or flu - which are viruses not bactierial infections, and therefore not suitable for antibiotic treatment. Where antibiotics are used for colds or flu this should be due to a secondary bacterial infection such as bronchitis rather than to treat the flu/cold virus itself. Antibiotics do sometimes have side effects and some people can be more sensitive to these than others (plus some people are allergic to some antibiotics - but this can happen with pretty much any medication).


Hi Cadence - don't get too worried! I'm asthmatic and am very prone to getting respiratory infections which do require antibiotic treatment. I've never had any significant problems with taking antibiotics - although I've occasionally had allergic reactions to some other medicines.

There are some people who believe that antibiotics (and vaccinations, and etc. etc.) are "bad", because they are not "natural", and that if you are healthy your body should just fight infections off. I've no idea if your friends think like this, but taken to its logical conclusion this would send us back to a pre-1940s world of TB hospitals, and people dying of infections.

What is bad is taking antibiotics for things which are not infections (like viruses), which is at best useless, and at worst leads to an increase in antibiotic-resistant infections. So it's quite correct that you shouldn't ask for antibiotics, but if the doctor has prescribed them for you, you should finish the course IMO. This is making the assumption that the doctor knows what he/she is doing of course, which is reasonable in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

Chris

If your Gp has given you them ,it must be for a good reason. Take a lot of no notice of these people. They are talking through their hats. Do finish the course.........or the infection may come back.
Bev

Time and again people do this, don't they? They've read, or perhaps only partially read, something in a publication with little in the way of clinical backup, mis-apply it to every conceivable situation and rush to tell you on no account to take what your qualified medical practitioner finds necessary. I can think of quite a few infections it'd be not just dangerous to the individual not to treat, but dangerous to the community as a whole: I'm not suggesting your bug falls into this category - it almost certainly doesn't, but it makes me fizz when lay people advise others against taking treatment they need. Especially when those same lay people insist that something brewed from purple weeds harvested at midnight and waved over a coloured crystal (or diluted until there can't statistically be even a molecule of any of it left, or whatever) is going to work better. Rest assured, there is plenty of pressure on docs to minimise prescribing, and they will only be giving you a course of medication if it's needed. They're certainly going to be better qualified to know than someone who's heard it off their neighbour's grannie's fish merchant...

The short answer is 'take them'. The longer answer is:

- if one is of the opinion that all antibiotic prescribing is appropriate, then the advice would be to take them;
- if one is of the opinion that doctors sometimes prescribe them to get one out of the door, then considering you have a two-week course, that's way above the few days that would be prescribed in such circumstances.

Hence, whatever one thinks about antibiotic prescribing on the NHS, it points towards them being necessary in your case. And, of course, to chip in with anecdotal evidence, as all the naysayers seem to love to do - I had a four-week course of ciprofloxacin last year for one condition, and a week-long combination of metronidazole and clarithromycin for another, and both conditions were treated effectively.

When I had an infected gall-bladder I'm convinced antbiotics saved my life! I'd been feeling ill for a while, and stupidly didn't go to the doctor until something convinced me it was really bad. I kept hoping it would clear up on its own. Then when I did go I had to take two kinds of antibiotic at the same time. One of them specifically said that I must not drink alcohol while taking them. Which brings me to my point: unless you are specifically told to avoid alcohol, you don't need to. It's only certain kinds of antibiotic that it's a problem with. If it's a problem your doctor will tell you when they were prescribed, and the information leaflet with them will spell it out too.

So keep taking them acording to the instructions, and don't stop just because you feel better. Finish them all. It's people who stop taking them when they start feeling better that are the breeding grounds for resistant strains of bacteria.

Trust your doctor. Hope you feel better soon!

Thanks for all your replies!

I was always intending to finish the course, I was just astounded at the reactions I received from people I knew to medication that I have never thought controvesial in the slightest!

I think they might have been surprised because I am generally one of those people who always prefers to treat things as naturally as possible (I have successfully relieved the symptoms of a major ongoing problem that I suffer from, by changing my diet to include certain herbs and things - much to my GP's shock and delight, as medication wasn't affecting it!), but I have always done this with the guidance of a doctor and when things get serious, I will take chemical drugs - because we live in 2009!

But it isn't a rare or controversial type of medication to take. I can understand if I was taking blood thinners, or if I had just taken my child to get an MMR jab - some peoples' reactions might be adverse. If I had started taking the pill - again, a lot of people don't agree with messing with the body's natural hormone balance. But antibiotics?

Anyway - you have all put my mind at rest so thank you. I don't know what they have read, but I certainly haven't seen it!

My doctor doesn't prescribe antibiotics lightly - it doesn't matter how serious a cold I have (or a cough or earache etc), I won't get them. On the other hand I went to him with a dose of tonsilitis (which is rare for me anyway) and he gave me a fortnight's course immediately with the instructions to finish the entire course even if I felt better. Apparently tonsilitis is one of those illnesses which if left can potentially cause other more serious complications......

My doctor doesn't prescribe antibiotics lightly - it doesn't matter how serious a cold I have (or a cough or earache etc), I won't get them. On the other hand I went to him with a dose of tonsilitis (which is rare for me anyway) and he gave me a fortnight's course immediately with the instructions to finish the entire course even if I felt better. Apparently tonsilitis is one of those illnesses which if left can potentially cause other more serious complications......

Had the emergency doc called out to me today and she PROMPTLY prescribed antibiotics for me for a severe chest infection.

Don't remember the last time I've felt so ill (had fever, sickness and diarrhoea with it too) - haven't been downstairs since Thursday...

*goes to take next antibiotic*

I hope you both get better very soon.

Thanks Baz.

Yesterday it took me 3 hours to have a wash and wash my hair, today it only took 2 so things are looking up *hollow laugh*. Couldn't type straight yesterday either and it's still a struggle.

Boo hoo. Poor Me.

Get well soon!!!

Poor Cyrilla! That sounds a really nasty bug. I hope you'll feel much better very soon.

Hello

there is some research going on at the moment about taking a "probiotoc", those yoghurt drinks, at the same time as an antibiotic, ideally this should be started before your course of antibiotics, but they do help with sorting out the bactera in the gut. Getting you better quicker.

Get better soon.

Get well soon Cyrilla.

If it is any consolation to UK posters France has the dubious reputation of being the country where people take the most anitibiotics. There have been television campaigns to discourage taking antibiotics inappropriately - as in viral infections.

People do get hold of half truths and cling on to them as if they were gospel. On the whole I think we are supposed to keep our antibiotic intake to a minimum (including the veterinary antibiotics which find their way into the meat we eat) so as to avoid the bacteria becoming resistant.

I think if a GP prescribes them it is best to follow their advice. They are also monitored on how much and what they prescribe (well they are here). But that's another thorny issue!

Top all who are on antibiotics at the moment - get well soon!

Whilst it is at the research stage, I'd not be jumping in to do even that. Your gut acid will deal with the bacteria pretty effectively, leaving very little to survive much beyond the small intestine - those yog drink things are mostly plastic packaging and a lot of money for not very much - if you really want to experiment on yourself with lactobacilli, some much cheaper and more palatable bio yog will be no different, and if you want you can flavour it up with some stewed fruit or some jam or honey.

That one has been covered in the discussion already - and this cannot be the case here. Of course it would also help doctors if patients would not pressure for antibiotics in situations which do not require them, as also discussed above...

and meantime, get well soon, folks .

Hope everyone gets well soon. There are some unpleasant bugs out there just now.

I'm all in favour of antibiotics in the right place and at the right time. I don't think I've ever suffered any major bad side effects from antibiotics and I'd not be alive in such a good state now if I hadn't been given them as a child.

Thanks to all for their good wishes . I've certainly not had anything this bad for over 25 years . Managed to get downstairs today for the first time since last Thursday but it completely wiped me out doing it.

Gah.

Aw thanks noodle

Sounds nasty

Get well soon C

It IS nasty. Very. Thanks Baz

BED, CYRILLA !!

NOW !!

So masterful

I always do what masterful men tell me to do...