Are you suffering from upset stomach, diarrhea, and vaginal infections? If you are, then chances are you are suffering from antibiotic side effects. You see, antibiotics eliminate every single micro organism that gets in their way…YES, even the friendly and beneficial bacteria that reside in your body. With that in mind, the balance between good and bad bacteria is disrupted.

These good bacteria or probiotics for short are responsible for fortifying our defenses and enhancing different systems especially our digestive functions. With their numbers decimated, we are susceptible to different types of diseases and infections.

True, antibiotics are essential for warding and fighting off infectious micro organisms that thrive in our body. BUT nobody can take away the fact that it can cause colitis, inflammation of large intestines, and other life threatening side effects…especially if you are taking cephalosporins, clindamycin, as well as fluoroquinolones.

HOWEVER, there is a way around it. And that is to take probiotic supplements to restore the balance between good and bad bacteria in your body. Let me show you some guidelines that you better keep in mind to get the most out of antibiotics and probiotics…

Antibiotics And Probiotics – Guidelines For Taking Them
Here’s a tip to protect yourself from the uncomfortable side effects caused by antibiotics – take an extra dose of probiotics a couple of days before you take your rounds of antibiotics. How much probiotics should you take? An extra dose could be as much as 10 billion CFU of friendly and beneficial bacteria or having yogurt and kefir included in your diet.

During the period that you are taking probiotics, you should take about 2 or more doses of probiotic supplements during day time. Along with that, your dose of friendly and beneficial micro organisms should be taken about 3 hours after you have taken antibiotics. Don’t make the mistake of taking antibiotics and probiotics at the same time. This defeats the purpose as the antibiotics will just destroy the probiotics.

Here’s another tip – with hundreds of different probiotic strains being eliminated with antibiotics you are taking, including a variety of yogurt and kefir that has 6 probiotic strains or more should be very logical.

You should keep on taking those extra doses of probiotics a day for one whole week right after you have completed your medication using antibiotics to make sure that you have all of your bases covered and that you have completely replenish and restore the good and friendly bacteria back to its safe and healthy levels.

Also, you should support the growth and development of probiotics by going for a diet that is jam packed with essential fiber (prebiotics fit this purpose).