We almost all have taken an antibiotic at some point in our lives. Since the discovery of the penicillin by Dr. Alexander Fleming in 1928, antibiotics have saved many lives. We naturally tend to think that they are safe and cause no harm to our body. Unfortunately it is not so. The major, negative side effect of any antibiotic is, that along with killing the bacteria that is making us sick, it also kills the beneficial bacteria that resides in our digestion tract. A wide range of friendly bacteria live in our gut. Bacteria begin to populate the human digestive system right after birth and stay there through our life.This friendly bacteria helps us digest our food, produces necessary vitamins we need and keeps our immune system intact. 70% of our immune system that keeps us away from being sick is in our guts.

Antibiotics are considered the keystone of modern medicine, but their excessive use continues to generate unwanted side effects. Once the beneficial bacterial flora of our guts is killed along with the one we try to eliminate by taking the antibiotic our digestive tract is getting populated with fungus-candida that can cause thrush or diarrhea and unfriendly bacteria that will harm our digestion ultimately influencing our overall well being and compromise our defense/immune system.

What should we do then if we get a prescription for an antibiotic?

An Antibiotic must be taken with a probiotic.

A Probiotic is made of friendly bacteria we need back in our digestion tract. If we don’t replenish these bacteria after a course of antibiotic it can negatively affect our health for years to come.

How do we take a probiotic?

The answer is to take antibiotics and probiotics together, but not at the same time. A rule of thumb is to take your probiotic 2 hours before or 2 hours after taking your antibiotic. This gives sufficient time for the antibiotic to work while not killing off the beneficial bacteria.

Probiotics can be purchased in health stores, the internet or our clinic. Not all probiotics are evenly effective.

We recommend to come to our clinic so we can choose the best one for you.

BeNuClinic 416 255-3099