Ok, so just got a cold from the gf. She went on antibiotics and is now fine, while I am probably going to suffer through it the old fashioned way.
Can I give it back to her when she gets off antibiotics?
Also, since I’m not a doc, do you develop an immunity to specific colds after you get over them? For instance, if I give it back to her and then get better, can she then give it back to me? If so, what’s the max that a cold has/can be bounced around in an immediate family (personal anecdotes acceptable)?
I’m pretty sure colds don’t respond to antibiotics (or much of anything else). Did a Dr. prescribe them?
ETA: Also, I believe once you’ve suffered through a particular cold virus once you’ll be immune to future infection, though only from that particular virus.
-Colds do not respond to antibiotics, as they’re viral
-You do develop immunity to specific cold viruses that you get, but:
-There are hundreds to thousands of different viruses that can give you a cold, and
-Mucosal-based immunity isn’t lifelong; it’s more on the order of a few months
She took antibiotics but her natural immune system defeated the virus, if it was a virus.
Rhino virus = common cold.
Antibiotics can help defeat a bacterial infection (such as strep throat). Antibiotics can not stop a virus.
Taking antibiotics when you don’t need to is likely to make you sicker or suffer side effects that are completely unnecessary, as anitbiotics go in and kill bacteria, be it beneficial bacteria (such as gut flora) or unwanted bacteria (such as an infection of strep). Further, if there were some nasty bacteria in her any way, she just wiped out 98% of the weakest, and has now left behind the 2% antbiotic resistant bacteria without competition, so now she will be primed for a later infection of a more antibiotic resistant strain of bacteria. Might be one hell of an infection later that she never needed to experience.
Just about what everyone else said about immunity after your body defeats a virus. Generally, your immune system has the invader virus identified/defeated now. Next time they show up, they’ll be defeated. Since viruses mutate like crazy, you won’t catch the exact same strain again this year, but there are dozens of other strains just waiting for you.
Is there a cure for the common cold? YES. Your immune system. Take care of it.
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Whatever your girlfriend is paying Dr. Irwin Corey there, it’s too much. He must figure she’s pretty dumb to think an antibiotic will help her cold.
Colds mutate pretty fast so theoretically, I think you could give her the mutated version back. We seem to build up some general immunity after a cold though. I have never had two colds close together. I know others who always seem to have a cold. What happens to you guys depends on which category you fall into I guess.
Whoa… unnecessary antibiotic use is certainly a problem, and was probably what happened with the OP’s girlfriend, but it’s almost entirely a problem on a larger epidemiological scale. A single course of needless antibiotics isn’t going to condemn someone to horrific intestinal disorders and deadly infections with superbugs. But… seriously, it’s not the end of the world.
Also, please don’t disregard the fact that it could be something other than a common cold. There are plenty of bacterial infections that will give you approximately the same symptoms as the cold.
I’m going out on a limb here, but I am pretty certain that an actual board certified physician who has interacted with the patient is much better suited to make diagnostics and provide medical advice than a bunch of internet posters, no matter how many scary columns they’ve read.
Just a thought… the doc may have used the word “cold” (or not have) as a means of “dumbing it down.” If he did bloodwork or something and detected, say (IANAD) mini-flu-of-the-nose, “take this and it will get better.”
Kind of like (in IT) when I’ve told folks that their “cute little machine’s heart just worked too hard, for too long… (weep).”
Also, the antibiotic wasn’t specified from what I saw; I’d hesitate to call the doctor an idiot without knowing the details. Although I lived with one (701 on the boards - GENIUS :smack: [/spite]). The doc may be stupid, or just trying to communicate with patients in a way they understand.
Thank you all for correcting my ignorance (cold induced, placebo, or otherwise).
Can’t confirm whether the gf saw an actual physician or nurse practitioner at a CVS minute clinic (though if they let both prescribe meds, they should both be decently qualified). Also, it is of course difficult to discount my own confirmation bias.
Individuals contribute to the larger problem. It doesn’t work the other way around. It’s the individual experience that creates the larger problem. There is no way around this.
Let’s say the female in questions gets a strep infection next year. She gets antibiotic “super strong type Y” because it’s strong enough to defeat what appears to be a very tough/strong strain of strep.
If she had never taken courses of antibiotic “somewhat strong X”, she might have never experienced the stronger infection, needed the stronger antibiotic or might have been able to avoid infection all along.
Even if my case is somewhat enhanced for effect, that is how the individual experience contributes to the larger problem. Individuals create stronger infections, by eliminating the weaker bacteria, at the individual level, and leaving behind resistant bacteria.
People get all sorts of digestive issues and other side effects from a course of antibiotics. Take a course of something like Cipro and find out.
Actually, I just (ok, it was in a newspaper, so you may take it with a grain of NaCl) that the last thing you want to do for a cold is boost your immune system. Apparently, the viral infection does little or no discernible damage; all the symptoms of the common cold are the result of overreaction by the immune system. Of course, if the immune system is already triggered it will prevent the infection without symptoms, but once the virus has gotten a foothold, it does little but cause misery.
