To not take the antibiotics I've been prescribed?

[lomplanter]

I have tonsillitis. Tonsils are swollen, red, covered in white patches. I haven't taken any antibiotics yet, but have used throat spray.

I went through a phase of regularly getting it, and was hospitalised once in 2021. But the last time I had it was around three years ago now.

I went to the pharmacist and under the new service he gave me some antibiotics and throat spray. He examined me etc.

I attended because earlier, I felt pretty unwell. Hot, aching, fatigued, nauseous, and just generally shit. Along with the throat pain (definitely bearable). I had definitely over exerted myself prior.

I feel much better better now, still not amazing but not horrendous. I can cope with the pain of swelling.

I really don't want to take them unnecessarily and fuck up my gut microbiome/health.

DP thinks I'm being ridiculous, and should just take them. I feel like I shouldn't? Maybe I should wait?

AIBU?

most infections, even bacterial ones go away on their own.
our bodies are amazing.

so no, if the op is improving without taking antibiotics then she shouldn't start taking them. and tbh I think the practice of prescribing ab via a pharmacy consultation is ridiculous. imo they should be hospital use only.

My daughter is extremely stoic and endured what she kept telling me was 'just a sore throat' and was fine. She actually had developed Quincy which is extremely serious. You've had some terrible advice on here - taking half a tablet, take them for a few days until you feel better - NO! Finish the course as prescribed and take some acidophilus to help your gut flora.

Medication is prescribed based on your weight, actually. Not what the ‘average man’ needs. Stop spreading ridiculous misinformation

You seriously think that only hospitals should be allowed to prescribe antibiotics? As if they’re not overrun enough? The whole point is to stop an infection before it gets to a stage where it needs hospital treatment

The stupidity and lack of common sense on this thread is really quite amazing

If you are already prone to tonsillitis then I would definitely take them.

Apparently if you take digestive enzymes with antibiotics, you can protect the gut.

These are protease type ones.

I had this dilemma a week or so ago, not feeling too bad but horrendous asthmatic cough and the GP detected a bit of a chest infection. I have another health condition which means I need to protect my gut health so I discussed with the GP who prescribed them - she said it was fine to wait a day or so and see if I got better on my own. But the symptoms were dragging on and I decided to start (and obviously then complete) the course. I knew if it got out of control I'd end up needing more intensive treatment and that wasn't worth the risk.

I listened to an episode of the Zoe podcast on what to do when you need to take antibiotics, which was very interesting - they suggested avoiding taking prebiotics in tablet form as some studies have shown them to slow recovery of the microbiome, possibly because they dump a whole load of unusual microbes into your gut which can compete with what's left of your natural gut flora. Instead they recommend taking saccharomyces boulardii (a yeast) to reduce the risk of c. diff problems and lots of fermented foods (kefir, kimchi, kombucha, sauerkraut, yoghurt, cheese) plus diverse plants to rebuild the microbiome. The infection cleared up nicely and my gut seems fine - I'm sure it has taken a hit but hopefully it will build up again quickly.

https://zoe.com/learn/podcast-antibiotics-the-surprising-truth-about-probiotics

Hang on. You've had this badly enough in the last few years that it put you in hospital (if I have understood your OP correctly) and you're wondering whether to take the ABs?

Please. Take the damn ABs.

I did this OP. I could have written your post to the letter. I avoided the antibiotics... And then felt better. And then felt worse again.

And then lost two weeks of my life when the tonsillitis became quinsy and I was hospitalised with sepsis.

Don't chance it. Take the anti bs and when the course is finished get a good course of acidophilus to replenish the gut bacteria x

There is so much dangerous advice on this thread it's ridiculous.

A medical professional has prescribed you medication. Take them and stop taking advice from strangers over the internet over a medical professional who has personally seen you in real life.

People recommending cutting the tablets in half!? I dispair.

It's incredibly silly and dangerous advice. Eight stone is roughly 50kg. I'm aware of one (injectable) medicine where we'd reduce the dose at that weight. There's a specialist resource advising on dosing in critically ill patients who are underweight. Even here they use a cutoff of 40kg. You absolutely can and should be taking normal licensed doses. Medication doses are based on trials which cover a range of weights, ages, sexes. Even for old medicines where the trials might have been less inclusive, we have a huge range of post-marketing experience to support the licensed doses. If you had a blood clot and started taking less than the licensed and prescribed dose of, for example, apixaban purely because you think you're so petite and special, you could die.

People doing shit like this is why we have increasing resistance to antibiotics.

Utter bollocks.

So you think everyone who needs or potentially needs antibiotics should be seen in or admitted to hospital? . This is one of the most ridiculous things on this thread , which is already full of stupid advice . Also , you do realise that the pharmacist would have to have a prescribing qualification and isn't just some random person serving behind a counter .

You are a complete moron. Always take medicines exactly as prescribed.

There isn’t much point in going to the GP or Pharmacist and wasting their time if you aren’t going to take their advice.

@innerdesign . Totally agree . People could die by taking dangerous advice from unqualified randoms on here.

This. Why on earth waste the time of a medical professional if you're going to ignore that advice and do what random people on the internet tell you to do.

Its your choice and in fact a lot of the time Antibiotics are just a kick start or boost to your immune system so if you feel its kicked in anyway maybe its not necessary.
BUT they dont generally hand them out willy nilly these days so a qualified medical professional felt it was warranted and in some cases the infection will just keep coming back until you properly kick its arse and antiobios can help with that

Completely agree.

@Taylormiffed If you are altering the presentation of medicinal drugs without the advice of the medical professionals that prescribed it that really is an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Many oral medicines are coated to protect your innards and control the absorption rate of the drug. If you are cutting coated tablets in half you are interfering with the coating and therefore risking doing damage to your oesophagus, developing ulcers and altering the drug absorption rate and metabolism. It IS really, really stupid. Please stop doing it unless you have been advised to do so by the medical professional who prescribed it.

That's fun for people like me who need antibiotics about 2-4 times a year

Why would you waste a professional person's time by asking for a prescription and then decide that you know better and not take the prescribed medication? I mean, for goodness sake....

Also, proper scientific research (rather than dr Google and quacks on social media) regarding antibiotics and gut health has shown that it takes a couple of months after short term use of antibiotics (i.e. 5-10 days) to recover gut health, not the ‘years’ some people are spouting, and taking probiotics afterwards actually delays recovery. The extent of damage to gut health also depends on what type of antibiotic has been prescribed, how long for and what strength but of course the social media ‘experts’ never mention that because they know fuck all about it.

That ‘genius’ idea would mean millions of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy treatments etc would have to be admitted and live at a hospital for the entire duration of their treatment plan as many are on long term antibiotics.