Prediction: antibiotics will one day be seen in the same way as Thalidomide – a drug prescribed with no idea of the horrific long-term consequences.
Why such an alarmist prediction? Although antibiotics save lives every day they are also now linked to some of the biggest health challenges of our age such as diabetes, obesity and cancer.
Perhaps even more frightening, antibiotics also set the stage for a ‘sick brain’ because of their connection with leaky gut and inflammation. This leads to conditions like Autism Spectrum Disorder, depression, Parkinson’s and Alzheimers.
There is no question that antibiotics have been a game-changing godsend. There are probably some of you reading this who wouldn’t be alive today if it weren’t for antibiotics.
The problem is that we’re taking way too many of them, and we’re not stopping to consider the growing evidence of the long-term damage they cause.
To be clear, I’m specifically talking about pharmaceutical antibiotics here. There are also natural antibiotics that are highly effective and cause none of the same problems.
Antibiotics Lead to Inflammation
Three things are now becoming clear from scientific studies:
1. Our microbiome is vital to our health. Among other things it regulates our immune system, stopping it from ‘overheating’ with too much inflammation.
2. When it comes to killing bacteria, antibiotics not only take out the bad guys, they also take out the good guys. This makes our microbiome ‘sick’, meaning that there are not enough different kinds of of good bacteria, and bad bacteria have the upper hand. In turn this leads to leaky gut and inflammation around the body.
3. Inflammation has been identified as a root cause of health problems as diverse as Crohn’s Disease, diabetes, obesity, depression and cancer.
Imagine Your Body As A Factory
Imagine your body as a factory with lots of different floors and departments. You are the boss sitting in your corner office with a cool view over the city.
Your workers are beavering away happily and the factory is ticking over as it should do.
One day you turn up and half your workers have disappeared. You don’t notice immediately because the building still looks the same. But gradually you notice that something is wrong. Tasks aren’t getting done like before.
Supplies are still coming in but they’re not being processed properly. Soon they’re piling up, making the place messy and causing you to trip over.
Your manufacturing and sales departments seemed to have stopped talking to each other. Stuff is being produced to sell but it just hangs around without being sold. Soon you’re carrying way too much stock and can’t get rid of it.
Your marketing and PR departments are acting all weird, getting confused over who your competitors are. One day they even suggest that the real enemies are other departments inside the factory.
As the boss you like to keep a close watch on every department and they send you regular memos to keep you updated. But gradually you realise that the memos don’t really make sense. Something’s off.
Eventually you too start making erratic decisions. For some reason you just can’t focus like you used to.
Soon the factory is at risk of total bankruptcy and collapse.
This is how it is in our own body: we take antibiotics and at first everything appears the same as before, all systems normal. But gradually more and more problems emerge:
- Your digestion doesn’t work smoothly and foods that you used to enjoy suddenly irritate you.
- Your immune system gets confused, overreacting to peanuts or pollen, and autoimmune conditions follow, like multiple sclerosis or psoriasis.
- You’re carrying excess body weight, you exercise and follow standard dietary advice but you can’t seem to to lose it.
- You have brain fog and your mood is off, or you suddenly have anxiety attacks that you’d never had before. In children we see it as autism or ADHD. When we’re older it shows up as Alzheimers or Parkinson’s
Also check out: How Do I Know If My Gut Is Unhealthy
Our Microbiome Is The ‘Forgotten Organ’
Antibiotics wreak shock-and-awe devastation on our gut and friendly bacteria.
These friendly bacteria have been called our ‘forgotten organ’ because they are so closely connected to how our body functions that they can be considered a part of us. Should we really treat a part of ourselves with such casual disregard?
In our gut-health coaching program we commonly see people with combinations of these problems, including bowel issues, inability to lose weight, skin conditions and autoimmunity together with anxiety, migraines or depression.
Most of them have a medical history that involves large quantities of antibiotics. As their conditions worsened they have often been prescribed more and more antibiotics, which is like pouring oil on a raging fire.
Yes, all these health conditions I’ve mentioned come about for a combination of different reasons. However antibiotic use is a major contributory factor in all of them.
Keep in mind that antibiotics should only be used when medically NECESSARY, on a case by case basis and as advised by your medical professional.
Also keep in mind that there are natural antibiotics that are often overlooked but which are very effective and have none of the highly damaging side effects of pharmaceutical ones.
Probiotics are also an important tool in the gut-healing toolkit and will help to mitigate some of the damage caused by antibiotics, especially when used in conjunction with all the other gut-healing strategies we talk about here.
36 thoughts on “The Shocking Ways Antibiotics Can Destroy Our Health”
Great post – however, not surprising at all. I’m very happy that here in Germany, doctors are really careful when prescribing drugs, especially antibiotics. In other countries they treat it far more casually – it’s very dangerous.
Thanks so much for sharing this useful info here, learnt much more & will be more alert in consuming my antibiotics moving forward. Cheers Siennylovesdrawing
We usually try to avoid antibiotics as we know its drawback but sometimes it becomes necessary to have them.
It is great informative post.
Every time I come to this site, I learn more and more about the things I put in my body. I never knew that antibiotics could do that to our bodies. I have to be careful!
I don’t do drugs and also antibiotics, great posts, and info that you share, and let’s hope that we don’t need this for the rest of our lives because it does have a serious impact on your gut health
We do take too many antibiotics, When I was practicing, people would get angry if you didn’t prescribe antibiotics for everything! They are very important for our health but we need to use them for care for many reasons. Thank you for reminding us about their impact on gut health and other parts of the body.
this is great info for those who don’t know the long-term effects of antibiotics. I remember hearing about the harm of antibiotics long ago. Love how you wrote about it in an easy to understand way ; )
I truly believe in antibiotics, but only when absolutely necessary. Our society uses them way too much. You know what they say about “too much of a good thing”…we have to make sure they don’t become ineffective with superbugs. But I didn’t know all these effects in our bodies either.
It is so ironic that a pill that can help cure certain illnesses can manifest negatively on our body. This post serves a good information.
Fortunately there are those who have the courage to talk about things against the tide to tell the truth in a historical period in which we would all like to be vaccinated with experimental sera and constantly sick!
Thank you for this helpful information. I try to minimize the use of antibiotics, both for myself and my family. I know they can be quite strong.
This reading just solidify my belief that antibiotics are not good for our health. Well, to some extent , yes but prolonged use may lead to disastrous health problem
As a pharmacist I see so many people who think that antibiotics cure everything. They’re obviously useful but only in certain circumstances!
I have no idea on this. But I think in moderation, We can get away with bad effect in our body. and using home and natural remedies can help us to without damaging our body.
I just got out of the hospital about a week ago and my whole system is back to square one because of an antibiotic , I’m sure of it. What do I do now?
I think anything that is too much is bad in your health. At home, we prefer to take nature antibiotics that we get from healthy and natural foods.
I didn’t know about this! Thanks for sharing this information!
I remember when I was in Nursing school. We have Pharmacology as a subject. Our professor always emphasized that we should be careful in giving antibiotics. I’m grateful that we need prescription before we can avail them because people tend to self-medicate.
This is so true. These are some of the reasons why I don’t take medication.
I had no idea about this! I will keep this post in mind for sure.
You are so right about this. So much so that I have switched to a better diet and herb based medicine.
Wow, never knew this. As quick as doctors are willing to prescribe antibiotics you’d think it was safe for us
Very informative.! Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to read your next one. . .
I guess antibiotics are built for some good reasons ofcourse, but as they say, everything that is too much is really bad, same way in medical purposes.
We always need to be mindful of what we put in our bodies every day. Antibiotics can be good but they can be harmful.
That’s why I always tell my sister never to self medicate.
very informative. What I usually do is I really do follow my doctor’s advice, and I already stopped the most dangerous thing I was doing before: self-medication…
hi
the facts that you have bought out in respect of antibiotics are so thought-provoking indeed. I demand many of us are actually into taking them constantly for short term gains. This post has been an eye-opener.
They can cause bacteria to become increasingly resistant to treatment, for example, and destroy healthy flora in the gut. Now, a new study from Case Western Reserve University shows that antibiotics can damage immune cells and worsen oral infections.
I agree with this that antibiotics can destroy our health. We should always stay healthy to have a healthy immune system.
Wow a better replacement to antibiotics should be introduced then.
More awareness should also be created on the side effects of Antibiotics.
Good information
I think like with any medication antibiotics are wonderful but should be used with extreme caution.Thanks for laying out some of the science behind it all.
I do avoid antibiotics, I ended up getting a terrible yeast infection one time from them. Ugh, after reading this I’d rather stay away all together!
I’ve heard some very frightening opinions and stories about antibiotics and this adds up to them. We should really be extra careful with these drugs.
Thanks for the informative message.
This is so enlightening and makes sense. I know it’s not best to take antibiotics but didn’t realize the vast side effects. So crazy in an effort to get well we sometimes do more damage than good.
Omg this is the truth! I hate taking meds but had to take an antibiotic a few months ago for a sinus infection, which led to a c. diff infection!! Worst thing I’ve ever been through in my life. I’m still recovering and have had to change my eating drastically as my system heals. I’ve lost some weight but not the way I planned to!