SHOULD WE OR SHOULD WE NOT?
Taking antibiotics for VIRAL infections – colds, flu, chest colds, most sore throats (except strep), bronchitis, runny nose, and many sinus and ear infections…
- Won’t cure the infection.
- Won’t always make you feel better or fully recover from what you actually have faster.
- Won’t keep everyone else from getting sick.
- May initially relieve many symptoms but because the bacteria that protect your health die along with the ones that debilitate you, your insides become a mine-field for the next infection: no immune-building protection happens in a wiped-clean internal environment.
- May cause harmful, uncomfortable side effects like nausea or diarrhea. May lead to vaginal yeast infections in women. May reduce the effectiveness of the birth control pill. May be transmitted to the fetus during pregnancy.
- May increase the possibility of future antibiotic resistance.
To know for certain whether or not an antibiotic is your cure (if there is a question), a lab test (cough, nose or throat culture) is the ONLY way to go. It generally takes a day or two to grow bacteria in the lab. You can see why your physician may forego this testing and make a ‘best-guess’ based on symptoms and presentation. There is also a rapid antigen test (takes 20 minutes) that can be done while you wait in the doctor’s office but its downside is that it is only 50-70% accurate.
Coming next: what is GOOD about antibiotics…