Antibiotics
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What are Antibiotics?
Are Antibiotics good or bad?
When are antibiotics necessary?
What are the Side Effects of Antibiotics?
What are Antibiotics?
Antibiotics are drugs that are used to treat infections, particularly those caused by bacteria. They are very useful drugs and have saved the lives of many people with serious illnesses such as meningitis, pneumonia and septicaemia ('blood poisoning').
Not all infections can be treated with antibiotics. Many infections, such as simple colds and some stomach upsets causing diarrhoea, are caused by viruses, which can be destroyed only by the body's own defence mechanisms.
In many cases it may be difficult to determine if an infection is due to a bacteria or a virus. This is particularly so with infections of the upper respiratory tract. These infections, which cause sore throats, coughing, runny noses and ear aches, are very common. Most children, especially when they first start mixing with lots of other children, will get about 6 of these infections a year and adults working in an indoor airconditioned environment are also prone to them.
Are Antibiotics good or bad?
Many parents worry if their children need frequent prescriptions for antibiotics. Some are concerned that the child will develop immunity to the antibiotic, while others are anxious about side effects — fearing that the treatment may do more harm than good.
All antibiotics have some unwanted side effect that will need attention after the serious or life threatening infection has been dealt with. Many people have needed these drugs for weeks or months on end, because of chronic infections in the kidneys, middle ear, tonsils and other parts of the body. Used when needed, antibiotics are among the most valuable drugs we have but in many cases there is a natural treatment which can minimise or even completely eliminate the need to use Antibiotics most of the time. When are antibiotics necessary?
The Medical Approach
The decision to recommend an antibiotic in these circumstances will vary from doctor to doctor and from patient to patient. The length and severity of the illness and the presence of other complicating factors will influence the decision. Sometimes tests may be necessary to find which germ is causing the infection.
There is an enormous range of different antibiotics for doctors to choose from. Some are only effective against particular bacteria, while others, known as 'broad spectrum antibiotics', will kill a wide variety of different bacteria. The aim of treatment is always to try and match the right antibiotic to the germ most likely to be causing the infection.
It is important to complete the entire course of antibiotics. Even though the child may seem better after 2 or 3 days, the bacteria may not have been completely eliminated and a further infection may develop a week or 2 later. Do not give one child's antibiotics to another with similar symptoms. This will mean that 2 children will have had an inadequate course of treatment.
The Natural Approach
The treatment of infection naturally relies on boosting the body's defence mechanisms and is usually effective in the earlier stages of infection. Homotoxicology
"studies the influences of toxic substances in humans, where symptoms and disease are seen as a result of the appropriate biological resistance to these toxic substances (homotoxins). Homotoxicology views disease as a process within humans - and antihomotoxic preparations are therefore designed to deal with the distinct stages of an illness. "
Six-Phase Table
Excretion phase
In this phase the body's defensive system is intact and can excrete homotoxins in various ways such as through diarrhoea or rhinitis (a runny nose).
Inflammation phase
If excretion is not sufficient, the body has an inflammatory response (such as a fever) in an attempt to neutralise toxins.
Deposition phase
If homotoxins are not sufficiently excreted and continue to flow into the body, the toxic products are stored in the extracellular space. This phase often occurs without symptoms.
Impregnation phase
Once toxins have invaded the cell and the toxins themselves become part of the connective tissue and matrix. Increasingly severe symptoms are typical of this stage and indicate damage to organ cells.
Degeneration
Abundant toxins within the cells destroy large cellular groups within an organ, resulting in organ degeneration.
Differentiation
Illnesses in this phase are characterised by the creation of undifferentiated, non-specialised cell forms. Malignant diseases lie at the end of this phase.
What are the Side Effects of Antibiotics?
No drug can be guaranteed against producing side effects, and antibiotics are no exception. However side effects are rare and when they do occur they are usually mild. Diarrhoea is the most common. True allergy to antibiotics is uncommon and usually shows up as a rash.
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