What you should know if you are taking antibiotics

What you should know if you are taking antibiotics

Antibiotic treatments are not selective, they destroy all the bacteria that populate our organism, leaving us defenseless for a time against the action of new infectious organisms.

Taking probiotics during and after antibiotic treatment will help prevent infections such as vaginal candidiasis, diarrhea and even otitis, conjunctivitis, pharyngitis and gingivitis, associated with this period of weakness caused by the necessary treatment.

Antibiotics are a necessary resource in today’s medicine. However, we are often unaware of their mechanism of action, which leads us to use them erroneously.

When we take antibiotics, we destroy all the bacteria in our body, both good and bad, the drug makes no exceptions. This is very important, because the bacteria that populate our body determine the proper functioning of our immune system, our digestive system, the good condition of our skin and even the proper functioning of our brain.

We often wonder why, after having suffered a bacterial infection, we are surprised by a new infection, or even think that we have relapsed. This is not the case. The origin of the second infection is usually having taken broad-spectrum antibiotics to treat the first one.

Once the antibiotic has “wiped out” the bacteria (both bad and good) from the microbiota, it leaves a “gap” that opportunistic pathogens can exploit to infect the area.

Therefore, if you are taking antibiotics or have taken them in the last month, you will have destroyed much of your microbiota, so it will be necessary to restore it, and for this, it is advisable to take probiotics. In this way, we make sure to repopulate the microbiota with good bacteria.

CONDITIONS AFTER TAKING AN ANTIBIOTIC

Your intimate area, your first weak point.

Vaginal candidiasis: Your most vulnerable spot after antibiotic treatment is your intimate area, since one of the most opportunistic microorganisms is the Candida fungus. Because the drug alters the vaginal microbiota and leaves it “unprotected” (it eliminates the Lactobacillus that maintain the vaginal pH), the fungus invades the area, causing vaginal candidiasis.

According to a study published by ‘Community Pharmacists’, taking probiotics during antibiotic treatment decreases the risk of candidiasis.

Actifemme® Optima is a probiotic that helps restore and maintain the balance of the normal vaginal microbiota and prevent bacterial and fungal infections.

Actifemme® intimate alkaline is an intimate hygiene gel specifically for use during a candidiasis, as it is formulated with pH 8, that is alkaline, which prevents the proliferation of Candida. Ayuda a aliviar el picor, el escozor y las irritaciones cutáneas en caso de candidiasis.

Your stomach, the second weak point.

Diarrhea, vomiting or abdominal pain. These are precisely the most common side effects of taking antibiotics. According to a study published in the ‘Revista Española de Enfermedades Digestivas’, up to 20% of people treated with antibiotics suffer diarrhea after taking them.. This is also a consequence of new infections caused by this situation of vulnerability, after the original treatment.

Antibiotics can lead to diarrhea by two mechanisms: the first is their own direct toxic effect on the intestine, and the second is an alteration of the intestinal microbiota, reducing certain populations of intestinal bacteria with particular functions on sugar metabolism, or allowing resistant bacteria that produce diarrhea to multiply (such as Clostridium difficile).

For example, E. coli, a bacterium that usually lives in the intestine without causing damage, is considered “opportunistic” because some of its strains are capable of causing gastroenteritis, taking advantage of the fact that the antibiotic has “touched” the immune system to parasitize the stomach.

Among the antibiotics that most frequently cause selection of these bacteria are clindamycin, ampicillin, amoxicillin and cephalosporins (regardless of whether they are administered orally or intravenously). Less frequently it is attributed to other penicillins, quinolones, erythromycin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, chloramphenicol and tetracyclines.

The occurrence of diarrhea after taking these drugs is more frequent in patients who are elderly, malnourished, with other associated diseases or recent abdominal operations, and admitted to institutions (hospitals, geriatric centers, nursing homes, etc.).

It has been demonstrated, both in adults and children, that the use of specific probiotics and prebiotics, with clinical studies to support it, prevent the appearance of antibiotic-associated diarrhea and protect the intestine from the side effects of certain antibiotics.

VitaPLUS® Boulardii combines probiotics and prebiotics to prevent diarrhea associated with taking antibiotics, traveler’s diarrhea, acute gastroenteritis… Its formula combines a probiotic yeast called Saccharomyces boulardii, with lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and fructooligosaccharides. Contains the 2 most studied probiotic strains with the most evidence in international guidelines.

Other associated infections

It is not only your intimate area or your stomach that can suffer after antibiotic treatment. Because the immune system is left “off guard”, it is easy to suffer from all kinds of infections. Other of the most common after the ingestion of these drugs are otitis, conjunctivitis, pharyngitis and gingivitis.