My husband takes Advil like candy (and I’ll let you guess how much he listens to my warnings). I, on the other hand, don’t like to take any medicine. I was one of those ear infection kids, I don’t remember ever leaving the pediatrician without a script for bubble gummy amoxicillin. And I’ll admit, at the time I loved that stuff.  Now, as a nutritionist, I obsessively read studies and articles about the microbiome. Just yesterday the NY Times ran this article. Antibiotics, by wiping out your gut bacteria, can affect your mood, bowels, skin and weight. And high antibiotic use, early in life, is associated with an increased risk of being overweight or obese (it’s a study from a few years ago, I am happy to fish up the link), more antibiotic resistance, among other things. The more I’ve researched the side effects of various medications, the less I take- unless I have no choice.

A couple of weeks ago, my tooth started to hurt, I dealt with it, a little clove oil etc. And then it got worse. I went to the dentist and within minutes was sent down the block to the surgeon, for him to extract my cracked tooth. As he’s putting me out he tells me that I cannot exercise for a week AND have to take antibiotics, and finish them. “You don’t want this getting infected, trust me” he warned.

Because I’m not a total idiot, I took the antibiotics AND Advil. You can imagine how this combination, along with zero exercise AND being unable to chew left me feeling. However, there are a few things I did/am doing and thought it would be helpful to share.

Take probiotics while on antibiotics. Do not listen to the reasoning that the antibiotic attacks the good bacteria along with the bad. While that’s true,   the good bacteria in a probiotic supplement doesn’t need to colonize in order to be beneficial. Just don’t take antibiotics and probiotics at the same time of day.

Post antibiotics it’s time to flood your gut with goodness:

I suggest doubling your probiotic for 2 weeks. And consume fermented foods such as yogurt (dairy or nondairy) or cultured cottage cheese, raw apple cider vinegar, fermented veggies such as kraut or kimchi and lower sugar varieties of kombucha.

Collagen or bone broth are super healing for your gut, as well as a vitamin C tablet.

And various types of fiber in berries, green bananas, seeds and nuts.

Keep sugar and grains as low as possible while recovering.

I’ll come back and fill in with brands I love and pics but for now- gotta go exercise, now that I can.

 

 

 

 

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