Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/08/02/medical-expert-says-youve-be.html
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So all he is really saying is that if you didn’t need it in the first place you should stop taking it.
The problem here is the willingness of doctors to hand out antibiotics unnecessarily. You need stricter rules like we have here in Norway.
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Since when is that the reason to keep taking all the antibiotics?
The reason is that if you stop taking them when you feel like it. Rather than when the course is done. You may not have cleared the entire infection, merely rendered it asymptomatic. So your illness or infection may come raging back. Its not such a big deal with a minor, day to day illness. But I knew a guy who lost a few toes that way.
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I have to say I am relieved right now. I thought the “wrong way” meant “wrong orifice”.
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Doctors disagree! Film at 11.
I’m not a medical doctor, so please correct me if I’m way off base, but my understanding was that antibiotic resistance is a function of the overall time bacterial pathogens are exposed to the drugs plus the odds created by the mutation rate of the pathogens. I’m sure there’s other significant factors like lateral DNA transfer and whether the new strain is able to spread from the host once it evolves. But here’s the thing, if a patient relapses because they didn’t finish their regimen because they thought they were feeling better and aren’t medically trained, and then their doctor has to proscribe another course - something that happened to my sister - then isn’t that exposing the pathogen to the drug for even longer than if they’d just finished the regimen?
Also, aren’t livestock over-medicated by ranch companies the main culprits in antibiotic resistance, or am I misremmebering the news stories?
I suppose I would still want myself or anyone I cared about to at least ask the doctor before terminating their regimen early.
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