How fast does “friendly” bacteria grow back after it has been killed by an antibiotic?
Posted on December 28th, 2008 in Antibiotics
Cherrigirl22 asked:
I took two antibiotics. I have been off the Amoxicillin 500mg that I took for seven days for at least three months. I was also put on Bactrim DS 800-160 TAB for seven days to kill E. Coli. I have been off that for a couple of weeks now. Did these two short-term antibiotics that I took kill all of my "friendly" bacteria? If they did not, how fast and how long does the "friendly" bacteria come back after it has been killed by and antibiotic? Oh yeah, I have been eating yogurt and kefir everyday.
I took two antibiotics. I have been off the Amoxicillin 500mg that I took for seven days for at least three months. I was also put on Bactrim DS 800-160 TAB for seven days to kill E. Coli. I have been off that for a couple of weeks now. Did these two short-term antibiotics that I took kill all of my "friendly" bacteria? If they did not, how fast and how long does the "friendly" bacteria come back after it has been killed by and antibiotic? Oh yeah, I have been eating yogurt and kefir everyday.
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Tags: Seven Days, Yogurt
This post has 4 comments
December 31st, 2008
Antibiotics will kill some of your body’s good bacteria, aka normal flora. That is why women get yeast infections. Your body will reproduce normal flora quickly. But you are doing the right thing continue eating yogurt. Always take antibiotics for the alloted time dont quit taking them because you feel better. You could get a very serious illness from doing so.
December 31st, 2008
Just to be on the safe side, I would also take a supplement called culturelle. It contains LactobacillusGG, the good bacteria, You can find it at drugstores though it is rather costly. I’ve been taking it for a few days because of stomach problems and I’m feeling much better. Sometimes just yogurt isnt enough. This pill would help with the e-coli problem if it isnt all the way cured. You can find this supp. on the internet also.
January 3rd, 2009
It doesn’t all get killed off. Bacteria will copy themselves very quickly too, so in just a day you can be close to your normal levels.
Also, certain antibiotics only target certain organs in the body, and certain types of bacteria. They will not necessarily interfere with other types. Amoxicillin and Bactrim are both pretty generic, and may interrupt the growth of your gut flora, but you will have plenty remaining to build up again.
January 3rd, 2009
Yogurt is a great source of friendly flora. You can also take Acidophelus capsules to increase belly bugs — available at most drug stores, CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Revco
good luck
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