Natural help for antibiotic side effects

I have mentioned before the problem with taking unnecessary antibiotics, but if you have to taken them then it can really help to take preventive measures to avoid some of the more common side effects. Though their job is to knock out infection-causing bugs, antibiotics often end up destroying good bacteria, triggering stomach troubles and yeast infections and often lead to low moods or depression in susceptible people.

The most important thing you can do while taking antibiotics is to reintroduce good bacteria into your body. In between doses, take good probiotic supplements like acidophilus and bifidus or a good probiotic yoghurt as that will help with antibiotic-related diarrhoea that can occur for those on antibiotic regimes in hospital. This last affects around 25% of those in hospital and a recent trial showed that simply drinking a probiotic such as Actimel reduced their risk of getting diarrhoea by 17%, and would certainly help anyone taking antibiotics at home.

Another problems associated with taking antibiotics is yeast overgrowth, and this can cause vaginal yeast infections and stomach upset. Help your body out by drastically reducing the amount of sugar you have in your diet in food, or in drinks, and increasing the amount of garlic and onions you eat as they help keep yeast in check. Antibiotics put a great strain on the liver, because every drug we take has to be broken down in the body and that’s the liver’s job. Support it by eating dark-green leafy vegetables like kale, broccoli, beets and artichokes to keep the bile flowing. To regenerate your liver cells, take milk thistle supplements.

If you are susceptible to low moods or depression, then antibiotics can be an problem as it is an associated side effect with some of the antibiotic drugs so please check that your doctor prescribes something that won’t trigger your low moods. For a natural help while on antibiotics, take a good B complex, a gram of vitamin C and St John’s Wort as ‘mood-enhancing’ package every day.