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When antibiotics kill the wrong bacteria, harmful bugs thrive.

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BrklynLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 04:14 PM
Original message
When antibiotics kill the wrong bacteria, harmful bugs thrive.
http://en.calameo.com/read/000127853d2594f725b83?page=28

Discover Magazine December 2010

Sorry..cannot seem to copy any of the article..but you can read it all online.
Indicates danger from overuse of Antibiotics.
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DesertFlower Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 04:18 PM
Response to Original message
1. back in '74 i worked in a hospital.
Edited on Fri Nov-12-10 04:20 PM by DesertFlower
the head nurse told me that overuse of antibiotics was going to cause a problem.

in '77 i worked for mobil oil. i had a cough so i went up to medical. the doctor wanted to give me antibiotics. i refused. all i wanted was some cough syrup. so at lunchtime i went out and bought some. my supervisor got mad at me because i didn't take the doctors advice. bottom line a few spoonfuls of cough syrup cleared up the cough.

doctors are not always right.
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Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 04:31 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. Patients usually clamor for the antibiotics and the doc was just trying
to head you off at the pass, which really is poor medicine.

Antibiotics should be reserved unless clear signs of a bacterial infection are present. They are not benign drugs.

The real time bomb is the generation of kids in early adulthood who got antibiotics for every single ear infection when they were little.

They're undoubtedly colonized with every resistant bug under the sun.
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Bonhomme Richard Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 04:44 PM
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3. I got C.Diff and I tell you it wasn't fun. n/t
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BrklynLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 04:53 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Wow! the description was scary as hell....and according to the article, you were very lucky to
survive.
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ellenfl Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 04:55 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. i just suffered through a really bad reaction to an antibiotic.
Edited on Fri Nov-12-10 04:56 PM by ellenfl
i have so rarely taken antibiotics that i had no idea how bad a reaction could be. apparently i had stevens-johnson syndrome brought on by avelox. stevens-johnson can be VERY dangerous so i was lucky to only get a mild reaction. i switched to z-pak, then augmentin and then told the doc to give me tetracycline, which i knew i had tolerated before. the cure was worse than the affliction. i'm always so careful about taking tried and true drugs, if any at all, that i did not expect any reaction. learned my lesson though.

i'm going back to rejecting scrips. too many not being regulated anymore. how many deaths are acceptable in service to the bottom line? the greed is mind boggling.

ellen fl
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DesertFlower Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 05:48 PM
Response to Reply #5
8. i'm allergic to tetracycline.
my cholesterol is high -- not real high. my doc wants me to take i statin. i refused. he also asked me if i wanted a chest x-ray. i said "no i had one last year". it's not like he heard anything going on when he listened.
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DesertFlower Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 04:56 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. my friend was in the hospital
undergoing chemo. after the second round she developed 4 infections. one of them was C-diff. she also had pneumonia and i don't remember what the other 2 were. they had to put her in ICU where she almost died. she was hooked up to a respirator, feeding tube, etc. they didn't think she was going to make it, but she did.
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Bonhomme Richard Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 09:16 PM
Response to Reply #3
10. I was all cramped up and sick as hell when I read an article...
in the NYT about c.diff and it was all my symptoms. I told the keyboardist in my band who happens to be my Doctor. I don't think he believed me but a week later I was still sick and he had me take a stool sample to the hospital. Needless to say it came back positive and he felt really bad. Anyway I got over it but I am not sure if I will get it again if I take antibiotics. My guess is that I got it at the nursing home my deceased mother in law was staying in before she died. Turns out I had to have an operation a couple of months later (not related) and the surgeon decided to risk me getting C.Diff again by giving me antibiotics rather than risk an infection in the area he operated. I did get it again but a milder case.
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Baalath Donating Member (90 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 05:04 PM
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7. Antibiotics are jewels
We need to treat them like that treasure they are or we will lose them.

We should guard our antibiotics carefully. I wish the surgeon general institued a plan to educate the public and doctors on the horrendous side effects of over prescribing antibiotics. I could see it done to the level of making them tracked like the narcotic classes of drugs are.

Breast cancer and antibiotics? definately maybe.
Antibiotics in our water supply. definately.
Antibiotics losing effectiveness. definately.

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BrklynLiberal Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Nov-12-10 07:52 PM
Response to Reply #7
9. It may already be too late to correct the problems that have arisen from the over use
of antibiotics....and that does not even cover the use of them in feed for the animals we eat...
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