Posted on 09/01/2013 2:06:31 PM PDT by Dysart
A number of intestinal pathogens can cause problems after antibiotic administration, said Justin Sonnenburg, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology and the senior author of the study, to be published online Sept. 1 in Nature. Graduate students Katharine Ng and Jessica Ferreyra shared lead authorship.
"Antibiotics open the door for these pathogens to take hold. But how, exactly, that occurs hasn't been well understood," Sonnenburg said. In the first 24 hours after administration of oral antibiotics, a spike in carbohydrate availability takes place in the gut, the study says. This transient nutrient surplus, combined with the reduction of friendly gut-dwelling bacteria due to antibiotics, permits at least two potentially deadly pathogens to get a toehold in that otherwise more forbidding environment.
In the past decade or so, much has been learned about the complex microbial ecosystem that resides in every healthy mammal's large intestine, including ours. The thousands of distinct bacterial strains that normally inhabit this challenging but nutrient-rich niche have adapted to it so well that we have difficulty living without them. They manufacture vitamins, provide critical training to our immune systems and even guide the development of our own tissues. Antibiotics decimate this gut-microbe ecosystem, which begins bouncing back within a few days but may take a month or more to regain its former numbers. And the ecosystem appears to suffer the permanent loss of some of its constituent bacterial strains.
It is thought that our commensal, or friendly, bacteria serve as a kind of lawn that, in commandeering the rich fertilizer that courses through our gut, outcompetes the less-well-behaved pathogenic "weeds." It has also been suggested that our commensal bugs secrete pathogen-killing factors. Another theory holds that the disruption of our inner microbial ecosystem somehow impairs our immune responsiveness.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Do NOT stop your antibiotic. Better to take more probiotics for a couple of weeks, like Activia yogurt or acidophilus capsules from the healthfood store.
Yeah, you’re probably right. I should ensure those pesky bacteria have been pummeled into oblivion for another 6 months at any rate.
Look into taking the ‘pearls’ probiotics. They actually survive stomach acid mostly intact. They’re a bit more expensive but actually, in my experience, work. The ones with the most critters are probably the best IMHO.
Also, if you’re on antibiotics for a long period of time look into some ‘florastor’. It’s a particular critter that’s been shown to knock C diff back somewhat. And it doesn’t colonize your gi tract. Once you stop taking it it’s pretty much gone within a week or ten days. Returning your gi tract to its rightful owners.
Thanks. I see Walmart stocks Pearls.
These are the pearls our internist had me take:
I get my Florastor at walgreens or krogers.
My mom’s doc had her taking that after a long bout of cipro. One of her little old lady friends actually had a bad c diff infection and had to have that ‘cure’ that we won’t talk about just here right now. (gak)
http://www.walgreens.com/search/results.jsp?Ntt=culturelle
is another good one. We take that one too. Kids included after they’ve had antibiotics.
Hubby drinks ‘Good Belly’ if he’s on antibiotics too. IIRC it has the same critter as culturelle.
YMMV.
We keep taking the probiotics after we’ve stopped the antibiotics. Just to be sure. Mom’s friend’s experience has us running skeeered with that. LOL.
Yes, this doesn’t necessarily mean stopping an antibiotic.
It means fortifying the gut with probiotics.
Originally, when penicillin was first used, they prescribed probiotics along with the antibiotic, because they knew even in the 40s that antibiotics destroyed good bacteria in the gut. So they took probioics to help replenish the good bacteria that were being destroyed along with the bad bacteria.
Now it did come into standard medical practice that they no longer prescribed probiotics along with antibiotics, and thus led into people having problems with gut issues and infection issues because they never ‘reset’ their internals with a proper balance of good bacteria. There is not a lot of money to be made prescribing yogurt or probiotics because they aren’t drugs.
it’s good to take them after, as most diets are not sufficient to replenish probiotics, and if they are high sugar and carb diets, they are more likely to promote bad bacteria in the gut, rather than good bacteria that keep the bad bacteria at low and managed levels.
Yeah, let us not get into that treatment. Sometimes I think I read entirely too much.
Florastor has Saccharomyces boulardii lyo in it. Anything with Saccharomyces boulardii lyo is a great benefit for those afflicted with C Dif.
Thanks, guys. I have to take antibiotics quite frequently, and have had some really bad episodes afterwards. Will be buying some pearls!
The test: take a whiff of your glass after it as been sitting in the dishwasher for a couple of hours. :)
We usually rotate through some probiotic or other all the time, depending on finances.
We’re both stressed out, don’t sleep enough and probably don’t really eat all that great either.
I give the kids the kids culturelle too, every 2 or 3 months, more often if they’ve been on antibiotics. One of them had had to take miralax every once in a while, hasn’t had to do that since we’ve started taking the probiotics periodically.
Yes, Kefir is strangely appealing especially since under scrutiny it’s almost noxious. Quite the riddle. Anyway, I like to mix Strawberry and Blueberry flavored Kefir resulting in a most festive elixir.
Kefir works really well for an upset stomach, too. Odd that it is milky in nature and probably not desirable. But it works very well.
I am in the 5th day of taking Augumentan for an unvaccinated dog bite (attack)while delivering pizzas. Went to Dr. who felt that since she had puppies that the attack was not related to rabies. Am still very skittish around dogs. I carry a mini baseball bat to deter them but I never suspected this middle sized dog. She got me from behind. I never saw it coming.
Am taking my probiotic in the middle of the day and look forward to this all being over.
That's horrible. Dogs shouldn't be delivering pizzas. I bet their tips are good, though, what with the novelty factor and all.
I kid. But seriously, how about the size of that pill-- big enough to choke a horse, eh?
Kefir is great, but what really counts is what reaches your intestines intact —stomach pH is about 1.4, so after swimming around in there for 30 min how much really survives..?
Enteric coated probiotics boost the figure considerably, of course.
Then what you COULD do, of course, is to take a completely different, errr...DIRECTION by taking completely ordinary probiotic capsules, AND THEN....
????
Get it...?
Make a super preBiotic tea from chicory root (herbco.com you can get it super cheap, wholesale with very little packaging and marketing). Then drink that along with your probiotic.
Your results will be hugely improved.
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