This is a subject very dear to my heart. When I was a teenager, I was given 8 straight months of a strong dosage of tetracycline for teenage acne. What I, and (I was to find out later) many doctors, did not realize was that while antibiotics kill bad bacteria in the body, they can also wipe out the literal host of good organisms that keep our immune systems strong, help our digestive systems function, fight off infectious microbes, and even manufacture vitamins and enzymes for us.
Needless to say, I became very ill for years. I lost a ton of weight, and doctors didn't know what to do. They told me it was psychological, food allergies, everything. It wasn't until my family doctor came back with a sample showing an inordinate amount of yeast in my body that I started finding out about the balance of microbes in the system, and started to seek out doctors who knew about these "probiotics" I seemed to need.
Fortunately, I found an osteopath who prescribed me probiotics from Garden of Life. I have been taking them ever since (though sometimes less frequently than others). I also have frequent bouts of bladder infections, which I recently found out could be related to all of this, so I've been taking probiotics to target this as well.
All this might sound like crazy hippie talk to most people. But the other night I was listening to NPR, and I heard a scientist who is on the "cutting edge" (funny because some doctors have been talking about this for 20+ years!) of friendly-microbe research.
Listen to the article here:
It's amazing. I want to read some of his books now. It's always so affirming to hear mainstream science broach this subject, since most of the time it's relegated to health food stores and "alternative" health. Actually, it's not alternative at all. It makes perfect sense!
I try to eat a healthy diet with as little refined sugar as possible, I try to eat fermented foods with natural probiotics in them (like Greek yogurt and kefir), and I try to remember to take my probiotics every day. The next one I want to try is a new one by Nature's Way:
After listening to Carl Zimmer's interview, I'm interested in the fact that this product is from human digestive strains only. I'll let you know! Good flora to you!
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