Read This Before You Take Another Antibiotic

Last Friday I went to the doctor after my seemingly benign cold got way, way worse. I couldn’t take a breath without hacking up a lung. Even my eye sockets ached. Within seconds of seeing me, the doctor diagnosed me with bronchitis, which is what I had suspected, and I was prescribed a 10-day course of antibiotics, which I also expected. I thanked her and left, but when I got to the pharmacy to pick up the prescription, I couldn’t do it. Because here’s the thing: Bronchitis is almost always caused by a virus NOT bacteria, which means the antibiotic would do absolutely nothing to combat the illness (nor would it make me any less contagious). What it would do:

1. Wipe out all the good bacteria in my gut causing digestion issues and making me vulnerable to other, ickier bugs.

2. Make it so the next time I needed an antibiotic it would be less effective (every time we take an antibiotic—whether it’s necessary or not—the bacteria in our bodies has a chance to develop resistance and outsmart the medicine.)

3. Contribute to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria (AKA superbugs) in our community. Superbugs are smart, strong and easily passed around from person to person.

I knew all of this from writing a feature for Redbook called “Antibiotics Are Not Candy,” about how our society’s cavalier attitude toward these lifesaving drugs is hurtling us toward an era where things like UTIs may become impossible to treat and superbugs run rampant. I’ve had a superbug and it ain’t fun (I got MRSA from the New York City hospital where I gave birth to my son six years ago—you can read about that ordeal here.) I’ve written quite a bit on the subject and in my research spoken to dozens of top experts, from the CDC to the FDA to the Union of Concerned Scientists. They all agree: Doctors prescribe (and people take) way too many unnecessary antibiotics. This recent stat from the CDC says it all: Antibiotics were prescribed in 68 percent of acute respiratory tract visits but of those, 80 percent were unnecessary. This overprescribing is especially prevalent among kids. I asked our pediatrician about the trend and he said that parents come in expecting a script and if they don’t get one they get pissed. Indeed, one study on pediatrics showed that doctors prescribe antibiotics 62% of the time if they perceive parents expect them but only 7 percent of the time if they feel parents do not expect them. Does anyone else think that is insane?!

Trust me, this is not one of those anti- western medicine rants. I’m alive today because of western medicine (I was diagnosed with chronic leukemia 12 years ago and still take a pill for it every single day). I vaccinate my kids. I am happy to take an antibiotic or give one to my kids when it’s necessary. But it’s often not necessary. We are a society that wants a quick fix and unfortunately one doesn’t exist for things like the common cold and flu (both caused by viruses not bacteria). And we are doing our bodies—and our community—a huge disservice if we pop an antibiotic every time we get a sniffle. Don’t even get me started on the overuse of antibiotics in farm animals (you can read my thoughts on that here).

So you see why, knowing all of this, it was impossible for me to take those antibiotics, no matter how much I longed for a magic pill to make me better. Instead, I drank tons of water, sipped throat coat tea, sucked on cough drops, took long steamy showers, popped Motrin for the aches and pains and rested as much as a person with three young kids and a sitting-still problem can. The doc had also given me low-dose prednisone, a steroid, to open up my lungs, which I did take and which helped with the breathing. I felt better and better each day and now, five days out, I am basically back to 100 percent give or take a few tissues. My experiment worked and I feel like I dodged a huge bullet by not subjecting my body to the antibiotics. You may wonder why I went to the doc at all if I wasn’t going to follow her orders? Well, I didn’t know what I was dealing with and if it were strep or certain types of pneumonia or if I’d had a fever with the bronchitis, an antibiotic would have been necessary (check out the CDC’s list of what needs an antibiotic and what should be treated with OTC meds and good old-fashioned rest).

So, the next time you or your child is prescribed an antibiotic I urge you to do your research and ask if it’s really necessary (kids’ ear infections often don’t need antibiotics, either!). Oh, and wash your hands! It’s still the number one way to stay healthy this time of year.