I do my best to live a healthy, balanced lifestyle. While certainly not ever perfect, one main goal of living this way is to feel and do my very best every single day. A second goal is to avoid the health depleting effects of pharmaceuticals like antibiotics as a healthy immune system offers excellent protection from the need to medicate most illnesses.
Some folks might ask why avoid both over the counter as well as prescription meds? The reason is that these substances are unnatural to the body and can cause long term alterations and complications in how the body functions. A recent media story on new FDA warnings on
acetaminophen (Tylenol) comes to mind. Used incorrectly, acetaminophen can cause permanent liver damage! I actually know someone who damaged her liver so badly using acetaminophen incorrectly (taking too much) that she required a liver transplant! Avoiding simple painkillers by eating traditionally is a huge step toward wellness. Frequent headaches that require over the counter meds is a big flashing sign that lifestyle changes are needed.
Another common medication that folks don’t seem to realize causes long term issues is antibiotics. Let me use a personal example to illustrate the damage a single round of antibiotics can do to your body. For over 8 years, I have managed to avoid taking antibiotics for any reason by maintaining a strong immune system through traditional eating and avoiding most processed foods. This includes a daily dose of high vitamin cod liver oil as manufactured in historical Roman times (that is, unheated and very slowly fermented so as to preserve the delicate omega fats and nutritional co-factors) as well as purchasing local, whole foods and preparing meals for myself and my family using traditional preparation methods to maximize digestibility and nutrition. This track record ended in March 2009 when I developed a raging infection in my left knee apparently caused by the bursting of a small cyst that I didn’t even know I had and that had probably been there for decades.
For several days, I ran a high fever ranging from 102-105F (no, I never brought it down .. not a big deal if you are healthy .. I will blog about the long term health benefits of a nice high fever another time). While the high fever did not cause me much in the way of ill effects due to my health status, I soon realized that I wasn’t going to get better any time soon without assistance. So, being the daughter and sister of MDs, I contacted my Father and Brother for analysis of the situation. My Brother, who is an Internist, determined that I needed to go immediately on a week-long round of an antibiotic that was particularly good at combatting infections such as I was experiencing.
It was amazing how quickly my infection resolved on that antibiotic! Having clean blood and good digestion from a healthy lifestyle supercharges the ability of the antibiotic to fight an infection, no doubt about it. Meds work really well when the body is unmedicated the majority of the time and the gut is well balanced for maximum absorption. Meds tend to not work as well in an unhealthy body for the same reason.
No free lunch going on an antibiotic
While the meds cleared up my infection quickly, I knew there would be some damage to my gut as the antibiotics kill off all bacteria in the body .. both good and bad. With the good bacterial population decimated in my gut, I immediately went on a therapeutic strength probiotic to rebuild the good bacterial colonies in my gut before candida could take hold as well as other pathogenic strains of bacteria that would cause long term health problems. Pathogenic strains of bacteria that tend to take hold after antibiotics (the pill decimates good bacteria in the gut too, by the way) can cause anemia that will not respond to iron supplementation as well as obesity! Yes, obesity seems to be caused at least in some situations by imbalanced bacteria in the gut. There is NO free lunch when you take antibiotics, folks. Take them only in the direst of circumstances. (1)
My probiotic of choice to rebuild the gut after antibiotics or just due to gut imbalance is called BioKult.
Don’t take just any probiotic as most are useless at rebuilding beneficial gut bacteria. Only therapeutic (really strong) probiotics do any good whatsoever, in my experience. In addition, if you are taking a probiotic and still eating primarily processed foods and/or sugar on a daily basis, the probiotic will do you no good. Don’t waste your money on a probiotic until you have made the commitment to healthy and traditional eating. Beneficial gut bacteria have no chance of taking back control of the gut environment when the food consumed is poorly chosen.
Despite going on this strong probiotic, I suffered from a number of annoying health setbacks after this one round of antibiotics in over 8 years. For one, I noticed that I needed to use deodorant for the first time in over 8 years. Why? When the good bacteria in your gut is not dominating, your body will have lots of toxins to expel (an imbalanced gut produces loads of toxins) and the skin is the biggest organ of elimination. The antibiotic had killed off the good bacteria in my gut and now there was imbalance resulting in a toxin overload in my system. Another thing I noticed was that my teeth began to demineralize, apparently stemming from my gut’s reduced ability to absorb food and the beginnings of nutritional deficiency. I developed multiple areas on my teeth that were incredibly sensitive to cold. So much so that if I smiled and the air conditioner in the car was blowing in my direction, my teeth felt extremely sensitive from the cold air! I knew that this was the beginning of cavity formation and that I needed to take more action than just taking a probiotic to rebalance my gut. I needed lots of minerals and more vitamin A/D/K to remineralize my teeth. I began drinking lots more fresh vegetable juice (on an empty stomach, 30 minutes before eating for maximum mineral absorption) and also doubled my daily dose of fermented cod liver oil. These two steps provided the building blocks to clean out my system of toxins and repair my teeth.
The good news is that within a few weeks, between the therapeutic dose probiotic, vegetable juicing, and a double daily dose of fermented cod liver oil, my teeth remineralized (the sensitivity disappeared) and my gut rebalanced to the point where I was able to throw my deodorant away. Can you imagine the damaging health effects folks suffer when they use antibiotics all the time and do nothing to repair the damage? Very devastating indeed. Do not ever take a round of antibiotics lightly!
Hi, Sarah.
I’m 11 weeks pregnant and have either bronchitis or pertussis. (I believe pertussis. I had it a few years ago and feel exactly the same as I did then.) When I had it the 1st time, I stayed off antibiotics. This illness ruined my life for about 5 months, causing severe asthmatic-type attacks, incontinence, sleeplessness, and daily vomiting with the coughing episodes. Now I am having the same symptoms for about a week now. Doc is urging me to take a 5-day Z-pack, as an illness like the last one could prove dangerous for unborn baby. I am against antibiotics for all the reasons you are, but I feel truly torn. What is your opinion? I just saw the doc today; the antibiotic is waiting for me at the pharmacy, but I don’t know what is best in this situation.
Hi,
I have stopped using conventional medicine soon after my son was born, only 2 years ago. He was in daycare for a short time at 10 months old. While he was there he got an ear infection that the PED. treated with very strong antibiotics, it gave him a rash but seemed to work. Two weeks later it was back, even more antibiotics with another rash. At this point I had lost any trust in traditional medicine. We tried mullien and garlic oil for his ears, worked wonders and the infection never returned. Now I use herbal medicine for everything. I make all my own remidies. There are some wonder books to help out with recipes. Rosemary Gladstars books are everthing to me. Also, Gentle Healthing for Baby and Child, and Herbal Antibiotics.
We have a son on the GAPS diet but he has a milk allergy…so the BioKult won’t really be a good choice for him. Is there anything that would work as well?
Thanks.
Sarah, I have been following your blog only for a short time, but I am enjoying going over your archives. This was a great article!! Amazing! I’m looking forward to reading about your high fever experience and the long term benefits of a good high fever. But I followed your link and read about bioKult probiotic. I was shocked to see that you are promoting a supplement that contains magnesium stearate. This is a hydrogenated vegetable oil, if I understand it correctly, that coats every particle and inhibits absorption by up to 65% and it’s sole purpose is to speed production time in the machinary by minimizing friction. Wondered if you were aware of this and what your explaination was for this.
Hi Rose, just open the capsule and empty the probiotic in your mouth and don’t swallow the capsule and you avoid this problem.
Sarah,
I have to let you know, I love you! I only just happened upon your blog a couple months ago and you are brilliant! Thank you for spreading the word and keep up the good work! I have been doing much vaccine research. And I was wondering of you had ever thought of doing a post on how to tell/convince people about them.
Kinda off topic there, and I completely agree with anti-biotech being only good in extreme cases. I wonder how kefir compares with Biokult, if one is better than the other or about the same. I know kefir has more than 15 strains of bacteria and beneficial yeast in it. Not to mention the B vitamins!
Hi Candace,
BioKult is the probiotic recommended by Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride MD which she formulated specifically as a therapeutic strength probiotic. It is very strong and you have to build up to the max dose very slowly over a number of weeks .. it is the only probiotic that I've tried that really did the job for me and my family which is why we use it. Green Pastures has just come out with a whole new variety of flavors for its fermented cod liver oil, so I am in the process of trying them out to see which we like best. I would call the company and have them send you trial packets of each flavor so you can see which one suits your family best.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Hi, Sarah! I have taken ThreeLac and FiveLac as my probiotic, and had not yet heard about BioKult until reading your blog. I have now read a little about BioKult; and the first thing that stood out to me was that BioKult contains 14 strains of good bacteria, compared to Three/FiveLacs three/five strains, respectively. Amazing! Are there any other outstanding facts that you think we should know about BioKult that made you choose it as your probiotic of choice for your family?
Also, what flavors of CLO does your family prefer? I have been taking a lemon mint flavored one by Garden of Life, so I'm interested in learning more about the Green Pastures oils.
Thanks!