Restore Gut Health After Antibiotics

Traditional Vs Functional Medicine

I was certainly upset that I had a perforated appendix and even more upset with myself for waiting so long to take care of it. One of the benefits of being a board-certified Emergency Medicine is that I understand and am so thankful for what that type of care offers. Many folks consider Traditional Medicine bad and Functional Medicine good and I would tell you that I completely disagree.

Having a respect and understanding of both is best and I believe that a doctor with a healthy understanding and appreciation of both provides the most comprehensive care to their patients. There is an absolute time and place for traditional medicine therapies, and in my case, emergency surgery and antibiotics were required. Thank goodness I had access to them.

I like to describe things in word pictures and sometimes I think traditional medicine therapies are like a fire hose to a house on fire we need it to put the life-threatening fire out. Functional Medicine is like dealing with the smoldering coals underneath. It doesnt put fires out but rather helps address what might lead to a fire or prevent clean up. This is where antibiotics come into play.

Focus On Plants And Easily

Right after you have stopped taking your antibiotics and the intestinal issues have started surfacing, you need to give your gut a rest. The best way to accomplish that would be through a light, yet wholesome diet. Focus on plant-based foods like legumes, lentils, vegetables, oatmeal and fruit. Consuming such fiber-rich foods will keep you fuller for longer and improve the functioning of good gut bacteria.

Consume Prebiotic Foods To Help Restore Gut Flora After Taking Antibiotics

Many foods naturally have prebiotics that can help to promote good gastrointestinal health. Here are just a few prebiotic foods you can consume while taking antibiotics:

Garlic. Garlic has many health benefits inducing having antibacterial properties. Studies have shown that garlic also benefits the guts microflora because of its prebiotic content. Garlic can help increase the number of bifidobacteria and can help prevent some gastrointestinal disorders.

Don’t Miss: Stomach Pain Only At Night

Maximize The Benefits Of Prebiotics

Another method to restore your gut flora after antibiotics is to ensure you feed your micro-organisms properly by eating foods, the gut bugs are fond of. This is when you eat foods with the highest levels of prebiotics.

Prebiotics provide food for the bacteria in our large intestines since they arent digested further into our small intestinal tracts. Foods that are prebiotics are generally packed with fiber and polyphenols. Therefore, eat many fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, and whole grains.

It is also possible to try prebiotic supplements such as inulin, a plant sugar discovered to decrease the diversity-destroying effects of ampicillin in bacterial strains. You may also read about the 60 Best Foods for Gut Health and Digestion: The Best Guide You Ever Need!

Take A Prebiotic Supplement

A probiotic means living beneficial bacteria inside your gut. While a prebiotic is the food the probiotic bacteria needs.

Probiotics are essentially dietary fibers and plant polyphenols. They perform 2 major functions:

• Helping the friendly bacteria to grow and beat the pathogenic bacteria.
• Helping the friendly bacteria to produce nutrients and breakdown complex molecules. This helps us with digestion and absorption.
• Helping the restoration of healthy gut bacteria after antibiotics.

You can obtain probiotics by:

• Eating prebiotic foods n.
• Taking a prebiotic supplement.

Examples of prebiotic foods:

1- Chicory Root: a great source of probiotics, As 47% of its fibers comes from a prebiotic called inulin.

2- Garlic: contains a probiotic, inulin, and fructooligosaccharide .

3- Onions, leeks.

• Use a probiotic and a prebiotic supplement Today and for one month
• Our recommended: Seed daily synbiotic. The most reputable probiotic in the market nowadays.

• whole-wheat bread, pasta, or crackers.

NOTE: if youre planning to go completely whole grain, you have to take folic acid and a B vitamin. As whole grains are not fortified as refined grains .

Recommended Reading: Kidney And Liver Failure In Dogs

Research From Diverse Fields Demonstrates The Negative Effects Of Gut Dysbiosis And Inadequate Friendly Flora On A Variety Of Health Outcomes

For example, resident bacteria of the normal flora are involved in intestinal mucosal inflammation and patients with inflammatory bowel disease have higher amounts of bacteria attached to their intestinal mucosa than do healthy people. Patients with Crohns disease and ulcerative colitis are found to have reduced concentrations of fecal Lactobacillus and Bifdobacteria, which protect against pathogenic bacteria, increase mineral absorption and induce the production of growth factor in the gut.

An unbalanced microbiota in the gut is also a contributing factor in autoimmunity. Infection with certain microbial pathogens can trigger autoimmune reactions in joints and other organs. The destruction of healthy gut flora can make the mucosal lining more susceptible to leakage, which some researchers believe is a precondition for developing autoimmunity. It is well-established that the balance of gut bacteria plays a key role in the formation of a proper immune response. A lack of healthy gut bacteria is associated with allergies, IBD, and general autoimmune reactions when this immune modulation goes awry.

Ways To Restore Your Gut After Antibiotics

Home> Blog> 4 Ways to Restore Your Gut After Antibiotics

6 minute read.

Maintaining proper balance of healthy gut flora the complex community of microorganisms that live in the digestive tracts is a crucial, yet widely overlooked component of human health. While the inception of antibiotics has lengthened lifespans, our excessive and often unnecessary use of these medications account for adverse, long-term health consequences. Antibiotic literally translates as against life, and their objective is to eliminate the bad bacteria that is responsible for your illness. However, antibiotics are not selective as to which bacteria they annihilate, and as a result they also kill the good bacteria. This is important because these beneficial bacteria support your immune system, protect you from disease and infection, help you digest and process food, aid in nutrient absorption and eliminate waste. We now know that at least 70% of our immune system resides within our gut. Unfortunately, after a course of antibiotics the natural balance between beneficial and pathogenic bacteria is compromised. So what can you do to repair and restore this imbalance following a course of antibiotics? Consider the following recommendations:

Read Also: Best Gut Supplement For Horses

Consume Fermented Foods While Taking Antibiotics

Many fermented foods contain probiotics and can help to restore normal gut flora that has been disrupted by antibiotics. Here are a few of the best probiotic-foods.

Yogurt. You can eat raw yogurt when taking antibiotics because it contains strains of healthy bacteria. One study found that people who consume yogurt have more Bifidobacterium in their gut. Other studies have shown that raw yogurt containing Lactobacillus casei can positively influence gastrointestinal health. Yogurt is also one of the best foods for treating yeast infection.

Some studies seem to indicate that calcium-enriched foods may inhibit the absorption of certain medications. However, this has not been proved with calcium-rich dairy products when taking moxifloxacin.

Kefir. This is a fermented milk drink that contains many types of good gut bacteria. Several studies have shown that kefir has antimicrobial, antitumor and anticarcinogenic activity. Consuming kefir can also boost your immune system and improve lactose digestion.

Kimchi. Another probiotic food you can take after antibiotics is kimchi. Kimchi is made by fermenting vegetables with probiotic lactic acid bacteria. Studies have shown that kimchi contains probiotic properties that have a positive effect on your gut health and immune system.

Add Gut Repairing Supplements To Your Routine

Collagen does more than just improve your hair, skin, and nails. It also plays a role in restoring gut health. This is because collagen makes up the villi of your small intestine. Your villi are like tiny little fingers that grab nutrients and move them into your bloodstream. They vastly increase the surface area of your gut, making it easier for your body to absorb nutrients. Taking a collagen supplement will help restore your gut lining, nurture your villi, and ward off leaky gut.

Supplementing with Leaky Gut Revive® is another great way to protect your gut. Leaky Gut Revive® combats the root cause of leaky gut by fortifying your gut and keeping your microflora in balance. Using it in conjunction with collagen will provide a one-two punch of protection against harm to your gut from antibiotics.

Recommended Reading: Incubation Period For Stomach Viruses

How Do Antibiotics Damage Your Gut Health

Antibiotics are prescribed to nearly half the UK population every year for common conditions and in hospitals to treat and prevent serious infections. Here are the most common applications for antibiotics:

Unfortunately, antibiotics dont stop at bad bacteria and they dont treat viral infections, which are often nearly impossible to distinguish from bacterial ones. Instead, antibiotics kill good bacteria too, and thats bad because good bacteria are often helping your body fight the infection.

Many people also experience mild-to-severe antibiotic side effects, especially if their immune health is already compromised, like hospital patients. More seriously, antibiotics can leave room for extremely harmful bacteria such as E.coli, C.diff and Salmonella infections that may be so severe that hospitalization is required.

How Long Does It Take To Rebuild Gut Flora After Antibiotics Exactly

Youre on board, taking care of your microbiome and all its bacteria friends, and ready to get your gut up and moving properly again. How will it take?

There is no magic number here. The regrowth of eliminated bacteria all depends:

Sometimes weeks, sometimes months, and sometimes longer. Here’s our #1 piece of advice: pay attention to what you put into your body and take care of your gut whether youre taking antibiotics or not.

Recommended Reading: Pancreatic Cancer Spread To Lungs Life Expectancy

Stool Banking: A Future Protocol For Antibiotic Use

It has been suggested that banking ones own stool before the use of heavy antibiotics may be a way to help minimize the detrimental effects of antibiotics on the microbiome. By banking ones own stool and implanting it post antibiotics, the natural population of microbes in the gut will recover more effectively and quicker.

How Can I Restore Gut Health After Using Antibiotics

Start with what youre eating. Good bacteria thrive on fiber and nutrients in plant foods.

One helpful food you can eat after an illness is bone broth. Remember when you were sick, and you craved old fashion chicken noodle soup?

Its not the chicken or the noodles that help you feel better. It is the broth, which is packed with amino acids, like glutamine, and rich in essential minerals. Studies have proven that the amino acid glutamine plays a major role in repairing the epithelial lining of the gut.

You May Like: Gut Connect 365 Where To Buy

Does Coffee Ruin Gut Health

The answer is, unfortunately, yes. Coffees acidity may have a negative impact on the lining of your stomach and intestines. If you consume a lot of coffee for a long time, it can aggravate any current health problems you may have Dr. Gastroenterologist Dr. Gastroenterologist Dr. Gastroenterologist Dr. Gastroenterologist Dr. Ga

Is Intestinal Cleansing After Antibiotics Always Necessary Restore Stomach Flora After Antibiotics

The intestine and its complex processes are far from being fully understood. Hardly anyone will deny that a balanced intestinal flora is is essential for the health of the entire human body. Intestinal repair through probiotic use is not harmful. Therefore, if you feel that your stomach needs support, you should provide it.

Don’t Miss: What Does It Mean When Your Liver Is Enlarged

Your Guts Thriving Ecosystem

Your gut microbiome is its own ecosystem, a biological community of interacting organisms that live in harmony with one another. I like to think of the gut microbiome as a rainforest with many different species living together. When one species gets out of balance in the rainforest, everything gets out of control. When the balance gets disrupted, the good or beneficial plants begin to die and the bad ones start to take over.

Your gut microbiome works the same way. Its home to 100 trillion microorganisms, including at least 400 different species of bacteria. These microbes in your gut play crucial roles in digestion, immunity, metabolism, and mood. Ideally, all these microbes live in a balanced state. However, when the balance is thrown off, and the bad bacteria begins to over take the good bacteria it can keep all of your systems from working optimally.

Too few or too many microorganisms can cause an array of issues in your gut such as leaky gut, SIBO, or Candida overgrowth, which are precursors to autoimmune disease among other troubling issues and uncomfortable symptoms. Ill talk more about these later.

Whats more, 60% to 80% of your immune system is located in your gut, along with 90% of the neurotransmitters that help regulate your mood. Even just one cycle of antibiotics can throw off the microbiome balance in your gut. Dont worry. The empowering part is that all of this is in YOUR control. Lets talk about how antibiotics can disrupt your guts ecosystem.

The Composition Of Gut Bacteria Almost Recovers After Antibiotics

Date:

University of Copenhagen The Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Summary:

The use of antibiotics has long been linked to deprivation of gut bacteria. Now, a new study shows that the composition and function of gut bacteria can recover after antibiotic treatment in healthy people. But after six months, the gut still lack nine common beneficial bacterial species.

The trillions of bacteria in the human gut affect our health in multiple ways including effects on immune functions and metabolism. A rich and diverse gut microbiota is considered to promote health providing the human host with many competences to prevent chronic diseases. In contrast, poor diversity of the gut ecosystem is a characteristic feature of chronic diseases including obesity, diabetes, asthma and gut inflammatory disorders.

Due the general bacterial-killing nature of antibiotics, it has been speculated that repetitive use of antibiotics deprives people of a rich gut bacterial environment and through this lead to adverse health effects.

Now, an international team of researchers led from the University of Copenhagen and Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen report when 3 antibiotics were given to young healthy men for 4 days it caused an almost complete eradication of gut bacteria, followed by a gradual recovery of most bacterial species over a period of six months.

Is the missing beneficial gut microbes in the Western world due to over usage of antibiotics?

Story Source:

Don’t Miss: Essential Oils For Leaky Gut

Should You Take Probiotics After Antibiotics

Yes, after taking antibiotics, most of the good bacteria are killed. That said, it is time to repopulate your intestines with healthy bacteria.

So, taking a probiotic after an antibiotic can help improve digestive function and boost the immune system.

How long it takes to help reestablish the gut microbiome varies for each person. The quality of your nutrition, exercise, and other lifestyle habits can all affect the quality of your microbiome.

Can I Take Probiotics At The Same Time As My Antibiotics Or Will It Just Cancel Out

When on antibiotics, the NIH recommends taking probiotics twice a day, two hours away from the prescription to avoid killing the supplemented probiotics.

This recommendation seems to be based on common sense of digestion timing rather than specific research that I can source. Whether theres been any official research on whether the antibiotics just wipe out all the probiotics the next time you take them and therefore you should take a break from probiotics during your actual abx regiment I am not sure.

But my own common sense says that were only talking about a 5-10 day period, and thats not very much probiotics to waste if its going to be wasted anyway. If it doesnt bother your stomach, Id keep taking them right through the prescription.

A reader shared that taking them at the exact same time caused her extreme digestive distress so do follow the 2-hour guidelines and listen to your body. Again, its only 5-10 days, so skipping probiotics during that time isnt going to set you back so far that you cant recover.

You May Like: What Is The Best Natural Antibiotic For An Abscessed Tooth

Recommended Reading: Dogs Stomach Is Hard And Shaking

So Who Should Have Them

Prebiotic foods are good for everyone, contain a range of nutrients and help promote a healthy bacterial gut environment.

The benefits of probiotics for a range of health conditions are unclear theyre likely to be small, and depend on what is being taken and the underlying health issues.

But people at high risk of diarrhoea after antibiotics may benefit from consuming probiotic as well as prebiotic foods daily.

There is also emerging evidence that combining specific probiotics and prebiotics can increase the beneficial effects of both. Both the pro- and prebiotics could be added to the one food, termed a synbiotic, or they could be from separate sources but eaten together.

When it comes to antibiotics, the bottom line is only take them when prescribed for bacterial infections. Take them according to instructions from the manufacturer, your pharmacist and your doctor.

Gut Feeling Crummy After Antibiotics Repopulate Your Good Bacteria With These Key Gut

Spring might be on its way, but flu season isn’t over quite yet. The coughs, the colds, the sore throats, and run-down feeling–what on earth can we do to get rid of these yucky symptoms?

To help, many people might be rushing to get into their doctor’s office, looking for a cure for their symptoms. Weve got to get rid of the bug before the warm weather, perfect for outdoor activities, is here. Lets see what the doc can do!

Also Check: Can You Survive From Pancreatic Cancer