Anitibiotics and colds...

I

icklemoley

Cathlete
Can taking anitbiocitcs leave you open to catching more colds? I have taken so many this year, (just come off another lot, 17 days worth) really strongs ones and have another cold (this makes 5 this year) plus a light bout of flu i had about 2 months ago. I'm feeling really rough. Any ideas?
 
I don't think you can catch more colds by taking antibiotics BUT your immune system is already low and that could be why you are having more colds, flu, etc.

Try to get more rest, fluids and eating your chicken soup. I hope you feel better soon.

Kim
 
No, they will not render you more susceptible to colds and they won't lower your immune system. However, overuse of antibiotics could result in the establishment of antibiotic resistant bacteria in your body such that you could get a secondary infection with a bacteria that can't be treated by the antibiotic that they are resistant too. You could also spread these resistant bacteria to other people. In some instances, antibiotic resistant bacteria are more pathogenic than non-resistant bacteria. Also, antibiotics do nothing for the cold or flu, only bacteria and so they are valuable for fighting secondary infections by bacteria that can set up after you have a cold or the flu, such as a sinus infection. Also remember not to self treat with antibiotics. Bacteria are so diverse in their susceptibilities to antibiotics and there are so many resistant bacteria that you likely would be nothing beneficial for yourself and only increase the chances of establishing a resistant species within yourself. Doctors are becoming more recalcitrant to prescribe antibiotics because of the severe resistance problem that is occuring and prescribing of antibiotics where not absolutely warranted feeds into this problem. Also, Kimmie didn't mean that antibiotics lower immunity, she was suggesting that perhaps your immunity or resistance is low for some reason. :)
 
Cathy pretty much said what I was going to say.
It's very important to remember that antibiotics are designed to fight bacteria. I get a kick out of catching co-workers in lies about why they were out on a sick day. You often hear about the stomach flu that the doctor treated with antibiotics. As soon as I hear that, I know they are BS-ing. LOL!
I believe the common cold is caused by a rhinovirus. Some viruses exist as "phages" that, if I remember my biology correctly, take over the bacteria to which they attach. The bacteria then breaks and the virus goes on to the next bacterial cell.
Anyway, I am digressing into my biology days, which were something like 14 years ago.....
T. :)
 
Yep. Rhino and coronaviruses and adenoviruses are the primary cold viruses. Interesting thing about phages...since they are viruses specific for bacteria and do not infect eucaryotes...some researchers are studying the feasibility of using phages to get rid of certain bacterial infections,instead of antibiotics..
 
I was not taking anitbiotics for the cold. Something else (another thread!). I just wondered if they inturn, plus my mental state might have contributed to my lowered immunity, hence so many colds.
 
Trevor, your co-workers might not be bs--ing. Doctors still prescribe antibiotics when they shouldn't. The public puts pressure on MD's to give them a prescription. They want a "pill".

Lori
 
Good point. Although the next question is how, if they were sick in the first place with a stomach virus and took antibiotics wrongfully prescribed from a doctor, they all of a sudden got 100% better after a day off. LOL!!
 
Hi Wayne, yes your resistance could drop for a number of reasons including a recent illness, stress etc. I have gone through periods when I was stressed out, working too hard and found myself catching one thing after another. It could also be bad luck...tis the season for colds, flu etc and you you just might be in the wrong place at the wrong time and picking stuff up. Hope you feel well soon and don't stress too much about this.
 
Yes and this is one reason I think public advertising of perscription drugs should be banned, cause it doesn't just happen with antibiotics.
However, there is much governmental and now professional pressure and guidelines to prevent prescribing antibiotics unless warranted.
 
I don't think anyone mentioned this, yet, but I think it is important:

Antibiotics do absolutely nothing to get rid of a virus/viral infection. A virus has to run its course. Antibiotics STRENGTHEN viruses. So, if you've got a cold, the flu, a stomach virus, etc....if you take an antibiotic, you are only making the virus stronger for the next person who gets it or the next time around that you get it.

The public may put pressure on MD's to prescribe a pill, but MD's paid a lot of money to get the education to know better!

Also, please please please take the entire prescription when you take an antibiotic. I used to work with a girl who complained about getting sinus infections all the time. The doctor would prescribe antibiotics, she'd get better, then stop taking the antibiotics before she'd taken it all. Then, within a few weeks, she would start getting sick again with a sinus infection. This went on for 6 months, and one day she was talking to me about it, and told me about not taking all her antibiotics and I had to explain to her how antibiotics work and why it is imperative to take the full prescription. With what she was doing, she wasn't knocking out the infection completely, just enough so that she'd feel better, so it would come back stronger every time she didn't finish her antibiotics. With antibiotics, you don't get into a full dose until 2-3 days into the prescription...then your into a full daily dose, and when the prescription runs out, medicine lingers in your body for a couple of days before it gets all "used up". So, upon taking your first pill, you are not getting a full dose.

My dad's a biochemist, so I get to learn all these neat little things. ;)
 
Antibiotics DO NOT strengthen viruses or viral infections. They do dot inhibit them nor do they enhance the infection. You are right in that it is important to take the entire prescription and not just stop if you are starting to feel better...but it was brought up that antibiotics are antibacterial and not antiviral.
 
Not reading this thread I will tell you antibiotics are only good with bacterial infections not viral. They will not work with cold viruses etc.. How can you have a light bout with the flu?? You will definitely know when you have the flu. I have had it three times in my lifetime. It takes weeks to get over and you are so miserable. I remember doing daycare and all of these people claiming the flu. How can you have the flu that many times in one year? I would not think that taking antibiotics would have anything to do with you being more susceptable to cold. Take lots of antioxidants and zinc. That will help your immune system.
Diane Sue
 
I avoid antibiotics like the plague. I only take them when I absolutely have to which is rare, thank goodness. I don't think I've taken one in five years or more.

If you are continuing to get sick so often, I think you need to examine your immune system more closely. Are you eating well? Are you exercising? Are you taking all the precautions recommended for not getting sick? Are you taking vitamins?

The more antibiotics you take, the more your body gets used to them and becomes desensitized to them. And like Diane Sue said, if it's a viral infection, antibiotics won't help anyway.
 
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