I don’t think any doctor would recommend or prescribe foods or supplements. I’m talking here of food: yogurt and kefir, and a supplement: probiotics.
Try it. You’ll FEELGOOD.
I do advise some patients to take yoghurt or acidophilus while on antibiotics, if they have a history of bowel disturbances or yeast infections while as a side-effect of antibacterial therapy. YMMV. Nice pearl, barbi
I haven’t yet seen a study that shows consuming yogurt while taking antibiotics to have any benefits. Has anyone else? I saw a study once on women eating yogurt to prevent yeast infections while taking antibiotics and it didn’t work.
Well, not the greatest journals, endpoints, or measures but…
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This article in Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics showed some benefit.
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And, by the same group, this article in Digestion also showed benefit.
But I must be honest and point out that a better study in Mayo Clinic Procedings was negative.
Yikes! I hadn’t seen that Mayo article before. Until more definitive data comes in, I’ll still probably recommend yoghurt, on the theory that it’s more likely to help than hurt. Thank you for the cites, Steve.
“.I’ve told my daughter to make darn sure that she NEEDS penicillin if it’s prescribed to her, as our family has a lot of folks who are allergic to it.”
My family, too, some of them refuse to take any antibiotics. But there are more than 100 alternatives to penicillin today, at least thats the impression I got from webmd.com whew.
Anyway, earlier this year I was coughing for a few weeks & then I was coughing up green stuff (blood & green snot when I was surfing, gross, eh?). I asked my doctor without going to see him, for mu usual anitibiotics. This I took for ten days, got a little better but was still coughing, So I went to my other doctor, who gave me a free, one perday- 5 day supply of a more broad antibiotic (I won’t say what it was)- which worked. whew.
And your point is? That Zithromax worked while the E-mycin (or whatever) didn’t? So what?
And you’re undermining your case, here. Your above post:
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proves that you don’t have to see a doctor to get antibiotics.
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proves that you understand very little about bronchial infections. Coughing up blood is a serious symptom.
Not to attempt to defend the point of Handy’s last post because it had no cogent point, he’s back on cruise control, but re his observation about blood, in my experience a severe cold or other bronchial/throat related infections can often yield blood (not huge amounts) + infected phlegm if your throat is raw enough. If you have a sore throat as part of a cold and your throat is irritated enough some blood in the expectoration is not unusual.
No, it’s not unusual. But IMHO, it requires a visit to the doctor–not just a phone call. Coughing up blood can be minor (as you point out), but it can be an indication of a very very serious problem–tuberculosis, lung cancer, etc. I think I’d want someone to at least take a look down my throat if I has coughing up blood.
IMHO coughing up blood generally merits a visit to a doctor, unless the doctor is quite familiar with the patient’s history, and has good knowledge of what the diagnosis most likely is. Most complaints of coughing up blood I have seen have come from bleeding back from the nasopharynx, from a chronically congested nose, and/or overuse of OTC nasal sprays. Also from sore throats. But just a few weeks ago, a patient came in complaining of coughing up blood, and the chest x-ray revealed lung cancer.
QtM
“1. proves that you don’t have to see a doctor to get antibiotics.”
Well, yes & no. First of all way back I have said that I get brinchitis almost yearly. Thus & it should be no surprise, the doctor #1 knows what he has already prescribed & has prescribed it already successfully.
When you are deaf & you are going to the doctor #2 (be happy you aren’t deaf & going to the doctor), communication with the nurses (they always have a new one(s) & I have to explain to them deafness-& most of them are pretty dumb in that area-while being quite sick) & with the doc-- is major slim. I have to write it all out then I have to write out to the doc that he has to write out to me & the doc (Docs in a Box-you never know what doc youll get) has to write out what they have already written out before-- Do you have a cough? Yes. How long? 6 weeks? Okay Cy, let me check your chest…hmmmmmm Okay, looks like the same as before, so here is an RX.
Green Bean, no offense, but did you ever consider the fact that when you are deaf & talking to the doctor/nurses/phone calls, isn’t so easy & you have to do it when you are sick too! You should come along sometime & watch this happen, you’ll find it quite less than amusing.
As for coughing up blood, as I said clearly the green stuff came up with it so it was more or less simply dislodged with some tissue more or less & I went to the doctor #2 that day.
Until more data comes in, I’ll quit trying to eat the damn stuff. I try. I really, really try. But it doesn’t seem to do much good, and I HATE it. It tastes like exactly what it is, spoiled milk. I’ll just keep on using my fiber therapy to help with the diarrhea.
It’s not spoiled milk. The bacteria are different, and that makes all the difference. I love it. Try kefir. I like that even better. But if you just can’t stomach the stuff, probiotic pills are in the health food stores. All the good bacteria and no taste.
Sorry, handy. No comprende. Could you rephrase or something?
I think it’s really just a matter of individual taste. I’ve tried all sorts of yogurt and kefir, but I just can’t stand the taste. Even when I’m feeling fairly well, it induces nausea. And with the new information I just received (from KarlGauss, earlier in this thread), I’m not about to try probiotic pills unless and until they’re shown to really help. Right now, the evidence is, at best, inconclusive. Remember, even if you get results…this is an ailment that WILL generally improve with time, so you don’t know if it’s the yogurt/kefir/probiotic pills or simply the tincture of time, without running a lot of tests on it.
Yeah, but they can’t hurt and may help.
Yogurt has bacteria with culture. 
Guess it’s a matter of taste, but the best yogurt is Brown Cow IMO. This can only be found locally at the health food store here, EarthFare.
I can drink a whole quart of kefir in one sitting. Yummie.
Brown Cow, is that the stuff with the cream on top? Yes, it’s very nice but the fat content is too high for me.
You know what we need? There are a few ‘Ask the Gay Guy’ subjects on the board & what we need is one called ‘Ask the Doctor’!
Surely you could start that for us, Mr. Mercotan & maybe Lynn would give you a carte blanche to post whatever medical advice you want?
I have a better idea. Let’s have a thread called “Ask the drive-by poster to pull any kind of random, pointless, off topic comment out of his rear end and slap it up”. Who could we get to start that thread? I wonder hmmm…
[[You know what we need? There are a few ‘Ask the Gay Guy’ subjects on the board & what we need is one called ‘Ask the Doctor’!
Surely you could start that for us, Mr. Mercotan & maybe Lynn would give you a carte blanche to post whatever medical advice you want?]] Handy
Asking a gay guy about his personal experiences/views is very, very different from asking for medical advice. I doubt Dr. Mercotan would want to be put in this position (giving “advice” to unseen patients) and I would prefer that we not set something up expressly for this purpose. We are not a medical site and can get in touchy situations with this. Thanks.
Jill
JillGat you got that right. I prefer to join in when I think I have something useful to say, and avoid posting to the other threads where I don’t.
QtM