Apr
29
2010
Antibiotics and Probiotics?
Posted by: Alan in Probiotics, tags: Antibiotics, Probiotics
Well, I just started taking antibiotics for strep throat and this is the FIRST TIME ever in my life to take antibiotics at 21 years of age. ( I was blessed with a great immune system I suppose) I am taking amoxicillin and since it is a moderately broad spectrum antibiotic, is it a good idea to take probiotics during the course of this medication or right after wards? If so, how much. I am eating yogurt everyday but it mostly has the acidophilus bacteria and the pills I was going to by has lactobacillus among others. Thanks for your help!
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April 29th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Eating the yogurt at any time will do sufficiently.
April 29th, 2010 at 8:36 pm
Your thinking way to much into this. It’s ok to take probiotics along with the antibiotics…it’s a little different then you think. The antibiotics will not attack all bacteria in your body, only the ones doing damage to your body..from a military standpoint, they anitbiotics go into the body and link up with antibodies already in the fight. they get briefed and start fighting along side the antibodies. There are thousands of “good” bacteria in your body…and eating yogurt introduces more. the antibiotics will not affect them, and the good bacteria shouldn’t affect the strength of the antibiotics…if for some reason they do..then you may have a few more problems you need to get checked out, like an allergy to yogurt.
the probiotics pills…also different, they are not meant to fight infection in the body, only to aide in natural functions.
April 29th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Absolutely you should start taking Probiotics even while your still taking the Amoxicillin. Probiotics have a special role when antibiotics have been prescribed. They reduce the chance of other infections settling in the gut after the antibiotic has upset your gut flora. Yogurt is good, especially if you make it yourself, but you’d be better off taking a high quality Probiotic supplement in addition to the yogurt so you can get a larger dose of active live probiotics. Garden of Life makes a good probiotic that really works. You should be able to find it at Whole Foods or a health food store but the price is outrageous. Vitacost.com has “Garden of life” probiotics at deep discounts. Take probiotics several hours after taking the anitbiotic. I suggest taking 3 probiotics a day.
April 29th, 2010 at 9:26 pm
You can take them both in one day, just space it as far apart as you can. In fact, it will be very helpful to your body that you keep taking your probiotics.
It’s great you’ve never had to have antibiotics. Wish there were someway you could get around it this time as they aren’t as good as we’re led to believe!
Get well.
April 29th, 2010 at 10:12 pm
You’re doing a great thing consuming probiotics. They should help prevent diarrhea/intestinal discomfort. The way amoxicillin works is that it blocks a cross wall linkage in bacteria. So, it does NOT kill living bacteria, it just prevents bacteria from multiplying. This can also have the same effect on some of the bacteria lining your GI tract, so it helps to repopulate it with probiotic bacteria. It should help you just by eating 1-2 normal servings of yogurt a day. Hope that helps you out, feel better soon!