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Killer 'Cures'?

Due to the 'Ask your doctor if this medication is right for you' advertising and the fact that doctors get commissions on medications from the pharmaceutical companies (yes, they do!), antibiotics are over dispensed and causing a far larger problem than a running nose or sneezing.

The problem lies in the dispensing...

I've written often about 'Super Bugs' before telling you how they're profuse in hospitals due largely to the irresponsible over-prescribing of... yep... antibiotics.

I hear what you're saying... 

I'm no doctor, just well versed, well read and opinionated. And I agree ,  antibiotics are one of the greatest life saving medications ever created, and  they remain a necessary medical tool today. 

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction...

That being said and true, the viruses and microbes are getting stronger by mutating into ever more resistant strains. Naturally, which causes larger or stronger doses of antibiotics administered to knock them down again.

See a pattern?

The stronger 'Super Bugs' are winning and antibiotics are becoming as useless as a squirt gun in a combat zone.

A recent Washington Post article reports that a new and especially detrimental bacterial infection, that used to be easily cured with antibiotics, is preying on a growing number of younger Americans and killing an unprecedented percentage of them. 

The infection is a strain of Clostridium Difficile that causes agonizing stomach pains, nausea, fatigue, and debilitating diarrhea. 

Health officials from the CDC and other agencies are worried, and at least two medical university experts sourced in the article are blaming antibiotics. 

The illness used to be found almost exclusively among elderly patients in hospitals and rehab facilities. The article also goes on to say that this new infection typically effects those taking a specific class of antibiotics before Clostridium Difficile (C. diff) takes control of their lives... or in some cases ends them.

According to the Post article, there is one other possible explanation for the explosion in C. diff cases.. Antacid drugs.

Experts think that by suppressing stomach acid, these drugs facilitate the proliferation of the bacteria. Data indicates that people taking Prilosec, Prevacid, or other proton-pump inhibitors are nearly 3 times more likely to develop killer C. diff as those who not using these pills. Those taking Pepcid, Zantac, and others of that type do a little better - they're only twice as likely to come down with the sickness as someone not using the medications.

One CDC expert cited for the Post article claims that the number of C. diff infections doubled from 2002 to 2003. And as many as 500,000 to several million cases are now expected each year in the U.S. alone.

This infection, which used to carry a low mortality rate, even among the aged, sickly, and hospital-bound now kills with relative frequency. In just one recent outbreak in Canada, for example, C. diff proved fatal in nearly 7% of reported cases, and was implicated in over 400 deaths!

If you need medication, that's one thing. If you're just being a namby-pamby that finds jumping in a pill bottle easier than taking responsibility for your own well being... you could be doing serious harm to yourself. 

Don't take antibiotics unless you absolutely need them. They only work for bacterial infections... duh. They do not help for viruses. Viruses have to run their course and there are plenty of over the counter meds and chicken soup to get you through most of them. Control indigestion with diet, and the application of a little exercise and common sense...not drugs.

Even in microbiology, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction... live smart .

The information provided here is meant to be a beginning to your own research and just food for thought, I take no responsibility for your application of the information. You may come up with totally different findings as the Net is a constantly and consistently changing place. Keep learning.

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