When Can I Take Probiotics After Antibiotics

Can I Take Probiotics At The Same Time As Antibiotics

You can absolutely take probiotics on the same day as you take antibiotics, but you should not take them at the same exact time of day.

Taking probiotics and antibiotics very close together can result in the antibiotics killing the good bacteria in the probiotics, which defeats the purpose of taking these healthy bacteria.

Some people wait until their course of antibiotics is done, and then begin probiotics when they realize that they are having symptoms like diarrhea. While taking probiotics after your antibiotics are done can certainly help build back up good bacteria, it is even better to get ahead of the problem.

When you or your child takes probiotics during the course of antibiotics, you can get a headstart on maintaining and replenishing those essential healthy gut bacteria.

How Do Probiotics Work

The main job of probiotics, or good bacteria, is to maintain a healthy balance in your body. Think of it as keeping your body in neutral. When you are sick, bad bacteria enters your body and increases in number. This knocks your body out of balance. Good bacteria works to fight off the bad bacteria and restore the balance within your body, making you feel better.

Good bacteria keeps you healthy by supporting your immune function and controlling inflammation. Certain types of good bacteria can also:

• Help your body digest food.
• Keep bad bacteria from getting out of control and making you sick.
• Create vitamins.
• Help support the cells that line your gut to prevent bad bacteria that you may have consumed from entering your blood.
• Breakdown and absorb medications.

This balancing act is naturally happening in your body all of the time. You dont actually need to take probiotic supplements to make it happen. Good bacteria is just a natural part of your body. Eating a well-balanced diet rich in fiber every day helps to keep the number of good bacteria at proper levels.

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Benefits Of Probiotics After Surgery

Some reasons your surgeon might recommend taking probiotics after having surgery are because it can reduce post-operative sepsis, accelerate wound healing, boost your immunity, lower the risk of infections, and even sometimes help prevent bouts of diarrhea caused by antibiotics.

Though there are benefits to taking probiotics after surgery, they can cause potential problems, especially if you ingest too much.

Some of the most commonly reported side effects from taking too many probiotics include:

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Probiotics For Mental Health Conditions

• This is cutting edge research, but indications are that certain probiotics may be useful in managing depression and anxiety.8,9
• Bacteria found in our digestive system can help our gut talk to our brain. Many of the chemicals needed to regulate mood are produced in our gut.

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Options For Probiotic Intake

There are two ways you can add more good bacteria into your body with probiotics:

If you regularly experience symptoms of nausea or bloating after eating meals, you can keep some digestive problems at bay by avoiding certain foods that are known to cause or exacerbate tummy troubles.

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Dont Save Antibiotics For Later

Though it can be tempting to keep them, its important to dispose of any leftover antibiotics after youve completed your full course.

Once antibiotics have expired, they may lose their ability to fight infections. Taking expired antibiotics that dont work well could actually cause your infection to get worse. It could also be harder to treat your infection in the future because of antibiotic resistance.

Its also important to remember that different antibiotics treat different infections. When you self-diagnose an infection, you run the risk of misdiagnosing yourself and taking the wrong antibiotics. Taking the wrong antibiotics wont help your infection. Instead, it can make your infection worse and unnecessarily increase your risk of unpleasant side effects.

The Type Of Antibiotic

If you go to your doctor with an infection, youre very likely to come away with a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Thats because unless your doctor takes a sample and sends it to a lab to be cultured, they dont know what type of bacteria is causing your infection. Prescribing a broad-spectrum antibiotic makes it more likely to work on your infection, but your gut bacteria will take a harder blow.

When researchers gave mice either a broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic, or a combination of three antibiotics , both antibiotic treatments caused significant changes in the gut microbial community.

The mice given the broad-spectrum antibiotic didnt recover their normal diversity, but the other mice given the amoxicillin-containing combination mostlybut not completelyreturned to pre-treatment levels .

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How Long Does It Take To Repopulate The Gut With Good Bacteria

Theres no simple answer to this question because it depends on the state of your microbiome, the quality of your diet, any medication you take, your level of exercise and more. However, the gut microbiome is very adaptable and responds to positive lifestyle choices.

So if you eat a diet with lots of fiber-rich whole foods and add some probiotic foods or supplements, you can speed up your gut biome restoration. Plus, getting regular exercise, especially cardio, is associated with higher diversity in your gut.

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Why Should You Take Probiotics With Antibiotics

Antibiotics are important for treating bacterial infections, but theyre not gut-friendly. Fortunately, you can take steps to preserve and restore your microbiome for whole body health during and after a course of antibiotics.

Research shows that probiotics and antibiotics taken together can reduce the risk of side effects, like diarrhoea. They even help to restore some of the healthy gut microbes lost through antibiotic therapy. Strains of Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces can help mitigate antibiotic side effects.

TIP Find out how your gut microbiome responds to prebiotics and probiotics with the Atlas Microbiome Test.

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Probiotic Pearls Acidophilus Nutritional Supplement

The Probiotic Pearls Acidophilus Nutritional Supplement is a great daily probiotic that helps to promote your digestive balance and colon health. This supplement also aims to support your bodys immune defense.

An added bonus is how this probiotic supplement gives you a ton of flexibility and is convenient since it doesnt need to be refrigerated and can be taken with or without food!

One of the greatest features of this particular probiotic supplement is that uses what the manufacturer calls True Delivery Technology. This supposedly allows the probiotic to be protected enough to successfully deliver the probiotic bacteria to your digestive tract. These capsules are designed to withstand the harsh stomach acids and ensure that the probiotics you are taking make it all the way to where they are needed most. This is an amazing feature as there are many other gelatin capsules that simply cannot stand against the acidity of your stomach acids. Most capsules are disintegrated and digested long before they even may it to the latter stages of the digestive system.

Timing The Dosing Of Your Probiotics

When I have a client on an antibiotic regimen, I typically suggest that to minimize the killing of the probiotic species, to take the antibiotics and the probiotics at least five hours apart. I have found that clinically to work well*. Unfortunately, there is very little research on this unique issue.

However, research does illustrate that starting probiotics at the start of an antibiotic regimen vs. waiting until later does minimize potential adverse side effects from the antibiotic regimen*. The time of day is not typically a big issue, but youll want to keep in mind what times your antibiotic will be dosed as that will dictate the times you can optimally take your probiotic!

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Why I Take Antibiotics With Probiotics

Antibiotics kill our probiotic bacteria. So knowing the benefits of probiotics, I avoid antibiotics whenever possible.

But, you should probably take antibiotics to avoid death or kill serious infections. And if you take probiotics together with antibiotics, youll reduce the damage that antibiotics do to our native probiotics.

Improving Gut Health After Antibiotics

There is increasing clinical evidence that taking probiotics during and after antibiotic use can decrease the risk of invasion by opportunistic pathogens and development of antibiotic-associated diarrhea1820. However, further research is still needed in this area and it is likely that different strains of probiotics have different levels of efficacy.

Although it is likely probiotics can protect against the invasion of opportunistic pathogens, a recent small study observed that probiotics may also inhibit the return of the native gut microbiota21. The study found it took longer for the native gut microbiota to return in individuals who consumed probiotics for 28 days following antibiotic use compared to individuals who did not take probiotics. Therefore, it appears there are both positive and negative factors to consider when deciding to take probiotics to help the gut microbiome recover from antibiotics.

A good general strategy to improve gut health is to make sure you feed your gut microbiome foods that will allow your beneficial resident microbiota to grow back. This means eating a wide variety of foods that are high in fibre and plant polyphenols such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains22.

This microbiome test is not intended to be used to diagnose or treat medical conditions. A full disclaimer is available here.

References

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Do Probiotics Reduce Side Effects Of Antibiotics

Probiotics and antibiotics used together have been shown to minimize the likelihood of adverse effects like diarrhoea. They also aid in the restoration of healthy gut microorganisms that have been lost due to antibiotic medication. Lactobacillus and Saccharomyces strains may help reduce antibiotic adverse effects.

Should You Take Probiotics

The good bacteria may help healthy people but arent formally recommended.

Probiotics are good bacteria touted to help maintain digestive health and boost the immune system. You can take them in a dietary supplement or get them from food sources, such as yogurt. But should you? They can be helpful in some cases, but we still need more studies to tell us if and when they are safe and effective for older adults.

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Probiotics Work With Antifungals To Control Yeast

Researchers have found that combining probiotics and antifungals is a powerful way to restore beneficial bacteria and reduce harmful fungi in the gut.

In a study published in Digestive and Liver Disease, antifungals were shown to control the overgrowth of yeast and fungi by breaking down biofilms. At the same time, probiotics helped to restore and maintain the balance of gut flora in those with inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohns.

Interestingly, the researchers also found that members of the same family who have IBD also tend to have both yeast overgrowth and bacterial imbalances in their gut microbiome. These organisms appeared to join forces to make robust biofilms that made intestinal inflammation even worse.

Another benefit of taking probiotics alongside antifungals is that they will help support your normal digestive processes. When on the Candida Diet, you may suffer some ill effects of yeast die-off, which can include bloating, gas, indigestion and other issues. This is due to the Candida yeast releasing unpleasant toxins as it is broken down by the antifungals.

A quality probiotic supplement can prevent these digestive symptoms, reducing bloating and diarrhea. These beneficial bacteria help to break down the food as it moves through your intestines, allowing your body to absorb nutrients more efficiently, while also easing discomfort.

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Do I Need To Take Probiotics With Antibiotics

Desiree NielsenOn November 16, 2018

You get sick. You see the doctor. You get a prescription for antibiotics. Then youre all fixed up, right?

Not necessarily.

You see, antibiotics work bykilling bacteria but they dont discriminate between friend and foe. As antibiotics do their work, they eliminate beneficial bacteria along with the pathogenic ones, which can leave you at risk.

Good Gut Bacteria

The trillions of bacteria in your gut are, in essence, one of your natural antibiotic defenses. Beneficial bacteria help to fight off pathogenic bugs in the gut in a few ways. They produce short-chain fatty acids that lower the pH of the gut, making it less hospitable to bad bugs. Beneficial bacteria also produce natural antimicrobials like bacteriocins and hydrogen peroxide that help kill off any potentially harmful germs, making it difficult for them to multiply.

Your gut bacteria are also critical for maintaining a balanced immune response.1 If their numbers are diminished, you could experience shifts in bacteria known as dysbiosis that leaves you susceptible to future infection, altered immunity, digestive concerns or even insulin resistance and weight gain.1-3

Antibiotics Side Effects

Take Probiotics with Antibiotics

Convinced of antibiotics adverse effects on your gut, you may say to yourself, Ill start taking Bio-K+ as soon as I finish my medication. Except

Once the antibiotics have done their work, it may already be too late.

References

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Issues To Be Aware Of

If you’re considering trying probiotics, there are a few issues you need to be aware of.

Probiotics are generally classed as food rather than medicine, which means they don’t go through the rigorous testing medicines do.

Because of the way probiotics are regulated, we can’t always be sure that:

• the product actually contains the bacteria stated on the food label
• the product contains enough bacteria to have an effect
• the bacteria are able to survive long enough to reach your gut

There are many different types of probiotics that may have different effects on the body, and little is known about which types are best.

You may find a particular type of probiotic helps with one problem. But this doesn’t mean it’ll help other problems, or that other types of probiotic will work just as well.

And there’s likely to be a huge difference between the pharmaceutical-grade probiotics that show promise in clinical trials and the yoghurts and supplements sold in shops.

Page last reviewed: 27 November 2018 Next review due: 27 November 2021

Which Strains Of Probiotics Should Be Taken While On Antibiotics

Antibiotics destroy all bacteria, the good and the bad, in our gut microbiome. Therefore, after a course of antibiotics, the main goal is to replenish the good bacteria and restore the diversity in your gut microbiome. You can do so by taking a multispecies and multistrain probiotic supplement.

Institut AllergoSan, the Competence Center in Microbiome Research, located in Austria has developed a probiotic that is specifically designed to restore a healthy gut microbiome after completing a course of medication.

OMNi-BiOTiC® AB 10 is a medically relevant probiotic that consists of ten specifically selected bacterial strains that have demonstrated to maintain the diversity of a healthy microbiome, support healthy bowel movements and boost the bodys immune response.

It has also shown in clinical studies to protect your body against aggressive pathogens, including Clostridium Difficile, which among other pathogens, has a stronger chance of flourishing in the body after the gut microbiome has been damaged because of an antibiotic treatment. Clostridium Difficile and other harmful pathogens are key drivers in antibiotic-associated diarrhea.

A study conducted by Goldenberg et al., published by the Cochrance Systematic Review in December 2017, found that OMNi-BiOTiC® probiotics reduced the risk of Clostridium Difficile-associated diarrhea by 60% in patients who have recently completed a course of antibiotics.

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Knowing The Answer Can Protect Your Gut

You may have wondered whether or not you should take probiotics after antibiotics. Perhaps youve read about this strategy or maybe your doctor recommended it. Either way, do you really know everything about the supplements youre taking? Should you even take them in supplement form, or is food better? Read on to learn more about probiotics and antibiotics.

Best Probiotics For Constipation

When choosing a probiotic for constipation its important that it contains clinically researched strains that help alleviate the condition.

When I say help, I mean they should at least

• Increase the frequency of bowel movements
• Shorten the transit times

Without doubt the two most effective probiotic species are Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus.

However, its the strain that makes the difference and not all strains are created equal.

Certain strains are better at dealing with the symptoms of chronic constipation than others..

And the best probiotic supplements for constipation should contain at least one of these strains.

Below is a list of clinically researched bacterial strains that are shown to have a beneficial effect on constipation.

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What Are The Risks Of Ingesting Probiotics

• Side effects. Probiotics seem to have few side effects. Some may cause intestinal gas and bloating. However, this is likely to get better over time. If your probiotics are causing these side effects, try decreasing the dose or using it every other day.
• Interactions. If you have any medical problems or take any medicines regularly, talk to your health care provider before you start using probiotics. They could interact with medicines such as antibiotics or immunosuppressive drugs.
• Risks. If you have intestinal disease or damage, HIV, cancer, a weakened immune system, or excessive bacteria in your intestines, dont use probiotics without checking first with your health care provider.

Lactobacillus and bifidobacteria are two of the most common types of probiotics on the market.