Did you know that two out three people misuse their antibiotic medication? And as a result, what should have been a quickly cured infection lingers or may get worse.
Antibiotics among them penicillin, streptomycin, tetracycline, and erythromycin, are superb drugs able to wipe out many infections. But they must be taken properly to work.
It is important to follow the full course of antibiotic treatment ordered by your physician. Even if you start to feel better, dont stop taking the medicine. Cutting off the antibiotic too soon can bring an unnecessary risk of reinfection because all the disease-causing bacteria may not have been destroyed.
If your doctor prescribes an antibiotic dose every four hours, follow those instructions to the letter. Antibiotics have to be taken around the clock. Their effectiveness depends on keeping a certain amount of the drug in your system at all times, so missing a dose can reduce your chances for a speedy recovery.
The food you eat and when you eat it can have a major effect on a drugs ability to do its job. If youre taking a tetracycline, you should stay away from foods containing calcium. Milk and cheese can bind the drug in such a way that its ability to be absorbed by the body is inhibited and its effectiveness greatly reduced. Many antibiotics should be taken on an empty stomach, usually two hours after a meal. Otherwise, theyll probably be destroyed by gastric acid in the stomach. Tetracycline, which appears in nearly fifty drugs, should never be taken with an antacid.
