Most diseases and illnesses are either due to a deficiency of nutrients or an overload of toxins. One of the major sources of toxins are drugs, including over-the-counter medicines, birth control pills, hormone replacement treatment, blood pressure-lowering drugs, pain killers, antibiotics, and anti-depressants, which are extremely toxic and poisonous to the body. Antibiotics, for example, force therapeutic actions to take place in the body suppressing symptoms and leading to negative side-effects. They kill the beneficial organism as well as the harmful pathogens, setting the stage for yeast infections.
Yeast
infections are caused by a strain of bacteria called
Candida Albicans. We all have these living in our bodies
from an early age, but they are kept under control by
the friendly bacteria like Lactobacillus that are
present in our intestines and on our skin. The Candida
causes problems when it starts reproducing faster than
the friendly bacteria after a course of antibiotics.
Yeast infections are commonly seen during or after
treatment with oral antibiotics. In fact, the
indiscriminate use of antibiotics has probably caused
vaginitis to reach pandemic proportions the world over.
While most antibiotics can result in overgrowth of
Candida, broad-spectrum antibiotics, such as
tetracycline, are the worst culprits. The lactobacilli,
especially, protect by providing a barrier that prevents
Candida from growing and invading the vaginal wall.
Overzealous use of antibacterial or deodorant soaps can
also to yeast infections as they too eliminate the
helpful bacteria. Much of the food that we eat also
contains antibiotics, since the poultry and cattle are
given these drugs to make sure that they remain healthy
in overcrowded conditions. The friendly bacteria are
also needed to keep the immune system robust. Repeated
use of antibiotics results in the immune system losing
its ability to fend off even minor
infections.
Talk to
your physician about the need to take antibiotics.
Antibiotics are routinely prescribed for common cold,
which is caused by a virus, for sinusitis when
conditions other than bacteria are causing the symptoms,
before dental work when the risk of yeast infection is
more dangerous than any other bacterial infection. If
taking antibiotics is unavoidable, it is better to take
probiotics at the end of the antibiotic course. This
will replenish the friendly bacteria, reducing your
chances of falling prey to yeast infection. Cutting back
on sugar after course of antibiotics will promote the
chances of probiotics repopulating the intestinal tract
at a faster rate.
Drugs can
only be certified as safe by the FDA. However, the FDA
relies on drug company studies and research, which in
turn is funded by the same companies they are supposed
to regulate. In fact, drugs which are supposed to cure
us end up making us sicker or killing us. That is why it
is advisable to turn to a holistic medicine practitioner
who will cure us of the disease and not merely treat our
symptoms with more drugs.
