Necessary disclaimer: This post is my experience and should not be construed as medical advice. Also, I know my own body. Some of my symptoms can be indicative of more serious issues. Please consult your healthcare professional for any health difficulties.
Three weeks ago, I got a urinary tract infection. It happens on occasion, sometimes frequently, as a woman gets older and her natural secretions dry up and even change pH. A real pain, to be sure.
This one didn’t respond quickly to my preferred herbal therapy (massive doses of cranberry extract and gallons of water) and I didn’t want to take any more time trying something else so I called my doctor to get an antibiotic prescription. (UTIs can be dangerous. The bacteria can travel up your urinary tract, into your kidneys and from there to your bloodstream. If you get one and it doesn’t go away within 24 hours on an herbal protocol, call your doctor.) I requested a particular antibiotic that I know works on me and is fairly mild as far as those go.
My doctor is wont to automatically prescribe an anti-fungal when she prescribes antibiotics for women because 9 times of 10, women will get a yeast infection when on an antibiotic regimen. The drugs kill not only the bacteria causing the infection but also upset the rest of the balance in your system. I know from experience that if I eliminate refined sugar from my diet during the 7 days on the drugs plus 2 days afterward, I don’t have to take yet another Rx. (Yeast feeds on sugar.) I did that, complaining about missing my sweets for the whole nine days.
What I forgot, though, is to add a probiotic into my diet to counteract the rest of the imbalance.
Two days into the Rx, I started belching a lot more than normal. I didn’t think much of it until a week ago, a few days after finishing the antibiotic prescription, I was awakened out of a sound sleep at 3am with a bonfire in my chest. I’ve never had heartburn before but damn! Now I feel really sorry for those people who get it frequently. At that hour, in the middle of my sleep cycle, I couldn’t remember my own name, much less what herbs I had in stock that might be good for heartburn. Thankfully, I dug grandma’s solution out of the depths of my brain: a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water and a half hour of pacing around the house (to let gravity help get the acid back down where it belongs) and I could finally go back to sleep.
Next night, the same thing. Only this time it was two doses of baking soda and an hour of pacing. I don’t think well without a good night’s sleep so it took those two days for the dime to drop that I’d forgotten the probiotic. You see, for the first time in my life, those antibiotic pills had also disrupted my normal stomach function – something the probiotic would’ve handled if I’d remembered to take it. So, an emergency trip to the store was in order!
Even though the stomach acid problem was brought on relatively quickly, bringing the body and all its integrated systems back into balance doesn’t happen overnight. All that excess acid (and my – sigh – smoking) has irritated my lower esophageal sphincter, bringing on dysphagia. That’s where either something is stuck in your gullet or it feels like something is stuck. I know there’s no blockage because I’m not having any difficulty swallowing food. But it’s really uncomfortable; that irritation has to be calmed while the probiotics do their thing.
So, another trip to the store for some slippery elm powder for its demulcent (soothing) effects. It’s tough to find just a jar of powder locally but I got some in capsules that I can open. One a day into a glass of water. I don’t want to just swallow the capsule & let it get digested – I want that powder sliding past & hitting the irritation. I’ll do this until I feel the irritation is completely gone – probably another couple of days.
Six days into the probiotics and three into the slippery elm and I’m finally feeling something closer to normal. At least I’m able to sleep through the night again. And so are the cats! They definitely were upset that they had to get out of their cozy places to supervise my pacing around a dark house in the middle of the night.
So, if you have to be on an antibiotic for something, be aware that it will not only kill the unwanted bacteria but also the good bacteria normally found in your body.