What happens when you take antibiotics?
Antibiotics are used when the body is attacked by harmful bacteria, not viruses. They support the body in fighting off these harmful bacteria by killing the bacterial pathogens.
ATTENTION: Antibiotics do not help against viruses and should not be taken under any circumstances! A general distinction is made between broad-spectrum antibiotics and narrow-spectrum antibiotics. The broad-spectrum antibiotics work against several bacterial pathogens at the same time and are often prescribed when it is not entirely clear which infection is involved. Narrow-band antibiotics, on the other hand, are only effective against a small number of specific pathogens. Therefore, taking broad-spectrum antibiotics can unfortunately also kill beneficial bacteria. There are also two different modes of action of antibiotics - one kills the "bad" bacteria directly, the other only prevents them from multiplying further. Many people notice unpleasant side effects such as flatulence, diarrhea or nausea while taking antibiotics. So antibiotics hit the stomach and also the intestines! You can find out why this is so here.
What happens to your intestinal flora?
Unfortunately, antibiotics not only attack “bad”, i.e. disease-causing, but also useful intestinal bacteria that are essential for human health. This can lead to the intestinal flora getting out of balance after ingestion. This means that taking antibiotics can lead to what is known as dysbacteria - a pathological bacterial imbalance. If the bacteria in your intestine are imbalanced, this can lead to general intestinal problems, the development of autoimmune diseases, a weakened immune system, various food intolerances, obesity and, rarely, even mental disorders.
So while taking antibiotics, the diversity of bacteria in our intestinal flora decreases. It is not yet entirely clear what long-term effects this can have on our health. In general, however, it is assumed that a lower bacterial diversity negatively affects our general health in various forms.Especially for women, taking them usually has a direct negative effect on the vaginal flora, which is why women are much more susceptible to vaginal thrush during and shortly after taking antibiotics. Because antibiotics not only work in the intestines, they also attack the useful lactic acid bacteria in the vaginal flora at the same time and can even kill them in some cases. Unfortunately, antibiotics usually result in a vicious health cycle. The weakening of the immune system increases susceptibility to other infections and fungal infections. In most cases, these secondary diseases then have to be treated with medication.In principle, it is very important to take a differentiated approach to taking antibiotics, to talk to your doctor about the prescription and, if necessary, to look for alternatives together with him.
How do I rebuild my gut flora?
Normally, your intestinal flora regenerates itself, but this can take some time. However, various circumstances can lead to certain bacterial strains that are necessary for us permanently disappearing from our intestinal flora. Studies have shown that it can take more than six months for the gut flora to recover after taking antibiotics. So that your intestinal flora and the bacterial strains that live on it can carry out all the valuable functions in our body again, you should pay a little more attention to them after taking antibiotics - of course we hope that your infection has disappeared in the meantime!
If there is no way around antibiotics, taking probiotics can also help to get the intestinal flora back in shape. Good intestinal bacteria are taken in here, which then settle in the intestinal mucosa, multiply and can bring the intestinal flora back into balance.This means: In order to bring your intestinal flora back into balance, you should increase your bacterial diversity again and also take probiotic bacterial cultures. You can support the whole thing by taking probiotics as well as prebiotics. These serve as food for the helpers in your intestines and cause the good bacteria inside you to get an extra boost of energy and hey presto your intestinal flora can recover perfectly. The intake of synbiotics in particular has a very positive effect on your intestinal flora, because these consist of a combination of prebiotics and probiotics - so you get the little helpers for your intestines and your food at once! Take a look at our Dailybacs!
Proven household items that support the development of your intestinal flora
In order to also ensure more well-being after antibiotics, we have put together a few well-tried tricks for you at home:
- EAT: Try to eat lots of pro and prebiotic foods for 1-2 weeks. You can see which foods these are mainly here: https://mybacs.com/blogs/mybacs/was-es-mit-probiotika-auf-sich-hat
- DRINK: As banal as it sounds - drink a lot of water!
- BITTERS: Bitter substances have an antibacterial effect, promote blood circulation in the gastrointestinal tract and, above all, relieve nausea. Try a tea that contains a lot of bitter substances (artichokes, dandelion, nettle, ginger or wormwood).
- MOVE: Movement & relaxation - yes, your intestinal flora also reacts directly to physical movement and mental relaxation.
GOOD TO KNOW:
Most foods contain only approx. 1/100 of the pro- & prebiotic bacteria. This also applies to so-called KBE = colony-forming units - foods usually contain approx. 5-6 million CFUs. The Dailybacs, with their 60 billion KBE's, are therefore more highly dosed and therefore work much faster and better! With our Dailybacs you can bring your intestinal flora back into shape in no time at all and at the same time you also support your immune system. Well then, good recovery!
Sources:
- https://www.patienten-information.de/kurzinformationen/antibiotikabehandlung#
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27028893
