Antibiotics Impact in the Gut

How Antibiotics Wreak Havoc on Your Gut

As we deal with what seems to be never ending illness and the coughing, sniffling, and sneezing continues, you might find yourself visiting your doctor to get a prescription for antibiotics, or even reaching for last year’s leftovers. You certainly wouldn’t be alone; right now antibiotics are one of the most commonly prescribed drugs in the United States. They can be useful, however, sometimes antibiotics impact in the gut can be negative.

According to a 2014 report published in BMC Medicine, broad-spectrum antibiotic prescription use has doubled from 2000 to 2010. The report goes on to say that nearly 50 percent of antibiotics prescribed for home use are unnecessary. Antibiotics are being commonly prescribed for conditions that aren’t even associated with a bacterial infection. Examples include the common cold and flu, which are caused by viruses. On top of that, the animals we eat, unless certified organic, are typically given courses of antibiotics as well. This is done to prevent disease in their crowded and dirty living conditions and to stimulate their growth.

So what’s the harm in overexposing ourselves to antibiotics, aren’t we “better safe than sorry”? The answer is no, taking unnecessary antibiotics can actually do more harm than good. While antibiotics have saved millions of lives over the years, the excessive use and over-prescribing of these medications are wreaking havoc on your health because of their impact on your gut. In this post, I’ll explain how antibiotics disrupt your gut microbiome and how that disruption affects your overall health. This is part 1 of a 3 part series dealing with the gut.

Your Gut’s Thriving Ecosystem

Your gut is its own ecosystem, providing a home to 100 trillion microorganisms, including 400 different species of bacteria. These microbes in your gut play crucial roles in digestion, immunity, metabolism, and mental health. Sixty to eighty percent of your immune system is located in your gut. Ninety percent of your neurotransmitters – the chemical messengers that help regulate mood – are produced in your gut. The gut is often nicknamed the second brain because of how significantly it can affect your mood and mental state. Maintaining the proper balance of bacteria and other microorganisms in your gut is crucial, not just to your digestion, but to your overall health and wellbeing.

How Antibiotics Mess with Your Gut

Antibiotics work by blocking vital processes in bacteria that either kill the bacteria or stop them from multiplying. Unfortunately, antibiotics cannot differentiate between the foreign bacteria that can cause an infection and the beneficial bacteria that live in your gut. Instead, antibiotics come through like a tornado, destroying everything in their path.

When antibiotics kill the beneficial bacteria that belong in your gut, it disrupts the delicate ecosystem. This creates a state of dysbiosis or bacterial imbalance. When the number of good bacteria in your gut decrease, it leaves you susceptible to the overgrowth of other organisms. This includes other bacteria and yeast, frequently referred to as Candida, since Candida Albicans is a common strain of yeast. Bacteria and yeast are opportunistic, which means that when given the chance, they will grow and multiply. Yeast grows very quickly when given its favorite food source, sugar. When yeast or other foreign bacteria starts to multiply, it can damage the lining of your intestinal walls. When the intestinal lining is damaged, it allows substances to leak through, thus creating increased intestinal permeability or “leaky gut.”

Leaky Gut and Autoimmune Disease

Anatomically, everything that’s in your small intestine is still considered to be outside of your body. Your digestive tract is one tube that connects outside the body to outside the body. It’s not until substances absorb through the intestinal lining that they enter the blood stream. A healthy small intestine keeps foreign invaders, toxins, and undigested food material out, while a small intestine that has become “leaky” allows microbes, toxins, partially digested food, and other particles to pass through.

When foreign substances make it into your bloodstream, your immune system flags them as invaders and begins to attack. Over time, this causes your immune system, liver, and lymphatic system to become overwhelmed and overworked. When the immune system can no longer keep up with this demand, your immune response goes haywire, and you can develop autoimmune disease. This is why treating the gut is so foundational for so many conditions.

Conclusion

Antibiotics have a role in medicine. They have done so much good for a multitude of people. However, there is no denying that antibiotics impact the gut. This creates a cascading effect that can lead to other conditions or problems. These conditions and problems often extend far beyond the initial treatment with antibiotics. It is not always possible to avoid antibiotic use. That being said, there are ways to recover and repair the gut after antibiotics. If you have gut symptoms or a history of antibiotic use, call our office for a consultation to discuss your options.