It’s refreshing to see a major news outlet discussing collateral damage and not just resistance. Over the past decade, 99% of the time antibiotic overuse is covered and warned about it’s always only in regards to resistance.
It’s a good article that also doesn’t spread the common misinformation of “just take some probiotics and fermented foods after antibiotics and you’re good to go”.
Swallowing an antibiotic is like carpet-bombing the trillions of microorganisms that live in the gut, killing not just the bad but the good too, said Dr. Martin Blaser, author of the book “Missing Microbes” and director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine at Rutgers University.
“I think the health profession in general has systematically overestimated the value of antibiotics and underestimated the cost,” Dr. Blaser said.
No shit. And it has spread like a virus to the general populace as well. The majority of people seem mentally addicted to antibiotics and think they’re going to die if they don’t get an antibiotic for every minor issue.
- Find out if you really need an antibiotic.
- Ask for the shortest course.
- Rethink probiotics.
I appreciate the NYT for finally helping spread this.
Just yesterday people on Lemmy were cheering about AI discovering new antibiotics. When I shared info about the concerns of collateral damage, the responses were more unintelligent and close-minded than on reddit. Extremely depressing.
For more info on this subject there’s a wiki and forum at https://humanmicrobiome.info.
I’m not as confident as you are in the evidence-based nature/abilities of doctors. See https://forum.humanmicrobiome.info/threads/doctors-are-not-systematically-updated-on-the-latest-literature-what-t.27/
You’re citing forum posts to discussions (with some evidence mentioned within) to support this supposition that doctors are horribly informed and out of date. But I’d like to point out that this is being vastly overblown, and even a 5-10 year out-of-date medical professional has immensely more knowledge and safe ability to recommend therapy than a layperson. I can’t pretend to know the credentials of the individual you’re responding to, but they’re clearly well versed in clinical infectious disease based on their comments, and you’re not supporting your position by citing a forum instead of the actual primary literature that supports your position.
even a 5-10 year out-of-date medical professional has immensely more knowledge and safe ability to recommend therapy than a layperson
I know from a plethora of experience that this is wrong. It’s also way too broad of a claim. Laypeople knowledge varies a lot. I know first-hand of some laypeople who are actually top experts in scientific/medical fields and I know of people with medical degrees who promote themselves as experts in their field yet they spread harmful misinformation that severely harmed patients and nearly got them killed.
you’re not supporting your position by citing a forum instead of the actual primary literature that supports your position
I think this is poorly worded, but I think I still understand what you were trying to say. There is no reason for me to duplicate the forum post here. There are citations there. Copying them here doesn’t make them more legitimate.
Well… here’s my advice. Bring it up to them if you feel they didn’t remember.
I guarantee the pharmacy is also tearing a new one into the doctor for not following guidelines. (If that’s the case) Some pharmacists will outright deny the prescription until either the doctor changes it to what is needed, or another pharmacist is pressured into doing as the doctor says. This has a paper trail. All decisions do.
Medicine is so complicated because there are soooo many things that can be wrong. Usually we get over that by creating specialty care:
Usually, doctors at hospitals are dedicated to a single specific thing. ICU-Trauma, infectious disease, dialysis, diabetes. And they have a team that is also part of that specialty care, pharmacists, nurses, technicians that are all familiar with the specialty.
If an ICU doctor realizes that there is an infection going on, the Infectious Disease team will work on it alongside with the doctor that will treat the trauma as 2+ heads are always better than one.
At the end of the day, your doctor will have to go with what’s better because he has a team dedicated to knowing the exact specifics of all antibiotics and therapies.
As for outpatient treatment, the pharmacy will not fill anything that looks out of the norm before getting some sort of reasoning from the doctor.
Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions when you’re under someone’s care. I’m sure you’ll get an eye roll but shorter durations ARE important, sometimes.
Infectious Disease takes years of mastery, I am nowhere near that, just the basics. The doctors and pharmacists in charge of infectious disease have been buried in literature for years/decades which is why I can only paint a picture and not necessarily describe all the intricacies.
Edit: also brother, sue for malpractice if that was the case for you. It’s not all bad, but you’re right to say that some doctors are meatheaded. That’s why there is a paper trail and guidelines to follow. It’s important that there is trust in our medical pros. I hope that one day you can feel safe again in the hands of doctors.