Antibiotics resistance, I have a question

[SavageHoutkop]

I've been offered antibiotics before by doctors 'in case'. You present with symptoms, it could be viral (i.e. antibiotics won't help), it could be bacterial (they will). No test to tell (quickly) so offered them in case it's bacterial.

 

[ufkacbln]

If I were a doctor, I would prescribe Woods rum. It whitens the teeth, strengthens the gums and makes childbirth a pleasure (according to an old sailor I used to know ).

I once had a long discussion with Vernon about this. And he concurred that we should be offering rum on the NHS.

Used to be the case in the Royal Navy

I can remember issuing a "beer ration" to patients

 

[Katherine]

Another part of the problem seems to be people not finishing their prescribed course as they 'feel better' and no longer see the need to take them. Any traces left behind can then become resistance to the antibiotic that was being taken.

That's exactly what I would say. We give medicines in school and parents are generally very lapsidaisical about making sure the bottle is finished, forgetting to take it home etc. We're always throwing away unfinished bottles from the fridge weeks after the child was ill.

 

[Katherine]

[QUOTE 4295164, member: 9609"]i have never taken antibiotics in my life (apart from what persists in meat etc) and I asked a friend who is a GP and she said I would fair much better with hospital superbugs than someone who regularly takes antibiotics. why would that be?[/QUOTE]
You must have built up a lot of resistance over time by being in contact with carriers in the general population.

 

[classic33]

.... Up to the point when you die.

Been there.

 

[PK99]

I am all for cutting back on antibiotics, only used them myself when desperately needed.

In the future, if I stick to my policy of using them sparingly, if ever, will I become more susceptible to infection? What I don't understand is will the usefulness of antibiotics in treating infection change for the population as a whole or for each individual? Will the infections become untreatable because an individual has continued to use them or because many other people continue to use them?

I understand they are also in the food chain and can only do so much to avoid.

It's the bugs that become resistant, not you.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

[QUOTE 4295164, member: 9609"]i have never taken antibiotics in my life (apart from what persists in meat etc) and I asked a friend who is a GP and she said I would fair much better with hospital superbugs than someone who regularly takes antibiotics. why would that be?[/QUOTE]
because she didn't know of what she spoke? Unless she was saying, never having needed 'em, you must have a very robust immune system.

I have only taken them for dental infections and when I had cellulitis. They mess with my guts.

 

[Katherine]

[QUOTE 4295177, member: 9609"]as in other drivers ? you may have a point though some of them don't look or smell very hygenic. have just watched one climb out of his cab, he must be 20+ stone, arse was hanging out of the back of his tracky bottoms, didn't know if it was a warning or an invite.[/QUOTE]
No, there are a lot of healthy people in the general population who are carriers of the superbugs. That's why people have to have blood tests before planned hospital admissions.

 

[Markymark]

It's the bugs that become resistant, not you.

Thank you. That's the answer to the op I was looking for.

 

[Tin Pot]

[QUOTE 4295164, member: 9609"]i have never taken antibiotics in my life (apart from what persists in meat etc) and I asked a friend who is a GP and she said I would fair much better with hospital superbugs than someone who regularly takes antibiotics. why would that be?[/QUOTE]

Regularly taking antibiotics is bad for you.

Antibiotics, kill live things, hence the name. It's like a shotgun, for mosquito bite - it'll take out the bite but take a bit of you with it. You can recover easily, the bite can't.

But take antibiotics all the time and your body starts to fall apart.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

......although the flora in our gut and other parts of the body (our microbiome) can be considered as being part of us.

Many of the superbugs are harmless so long as they stay put in their natural habitat in whatever part of our body that may be. It is when they gain entry to the wrong part of the body, sometimes when the body has already been weakened by a viral infection, that the fun starts, and then, what often kills us, is our own immune systems. A cytokine storm is the product of a robust and healthy immune system going into overdrive and causing the body to go into meltdown, and boom! Out go the lights.

 

[PK99]

Regularly taking antibiotics is bad for you.

.

Not always so.

I have Sjogren's Syndrome plus low pneumococcal antibodies. One gives me dry respiratory tubes the other limited defence when bugs reach my lungs.

For years i had a pattern of chest infections during of immediately after flying.

I now take prophylactic antibiotics before and after flying and always carry a full course with me when away from home.

Some of us need regular antibiotics to stay healthy/alive.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Regularly taking antibiotics is bad for you.

Antibiotics, kill live things, hence the name. It's like a shotgun, for mosquito bite - it'll take out the bite but take a bit of you with it. You can recover easily, the bite can't.

But take antibiotics all the time and your body starts to fall apart.

But if you eat meat aren't you likely to be consuming antibiotics all the time?

 

[Tin Pot]

But if you eat meat aren't you likely to be consuming antibiotics all the time?

That's more "and" than "but".

Yes,but not nearly to the same levels as those taking prescription antibiotics for long periods.

 

[sarahale]

It puzzles me that the news story has been that we ought to use them less, but they're only available on prescription, so surely it's the doctors who need educating.

I would agree with this. I was last winter prescribed antibiotics 8 times over a 6 month period for tonsillitis. When they didn't work my doctor simply kept increasing the dosage.

This has been the same since I was 7, repeated bouts of tonsillitis and antibiotics. Originally I would get it twice a year, but last September I had a 5 week bout of tonsillitis which they could not shift with any antibiotics and I ended up with a chest infection whilst taking them.

I eventually managed to shift it only to get sick again early November, and then I spent the whole winter feeling unwell and as soon as I would get better, a week later I would be ill again. I can't tell you how many times I asked to have them removed, but my doctor told me that I would outgrow these problems. (I'm 26)

I eventually paid privately in April this year to have them removed after my doctor refused yet again