Case Study #1: Upset intestines after antibiotics

"Dr Jensen,

I had an abscessed tooth that came on suddenly. It went from a tingle to full blown abscess in three days. Of course, this happened Friday evening, Saturday, and Sunday.

I called my dentist Saturday, but he was out of town, so I went to Primary Health. The doctor there put me on an antibiotic. The pain was evil and my face was very swollen.

On Monday, my dentist did the first phase of a root canal on my tooth and told me to stay on the antibiotic.

I went home and by Tuesday I was feeling a lot better, the swelling that had almost covered half of my face had all but disappeared, and I was convinced that I could go back to work on Wednesday.

Last night, one of the common side effects of taking Amoxicyllin, lower gastro-intestinal track distress, started to kick-in.

I called my dentist at 7:30 this morning, when his office opened. He said to just stop taking the Amoxicyllin and call him if the swelling started to return to my face. I said that I would and headed out for work.

I got to work and found that the severity of the side-effects would prevent me from being able to [work] today.

So, now I really need help in getting my digestive track back to normal health. I had been eating yoghurt and taking the supplements, as you suggested. However, now do I need to do something extra to undo the side-effects of the antibiotic?

Sincerely,

[Patient]"

Patient,

Sorry about your tooth, those root canals are no fun but are a piece of cake compared to the agony preceding them.

You're already well on your way to feeling better. In the past few months you've removed allergens and sensitive foods and toxins, and you've replaced your gut flora. (Supplementing with extra yogurt and gut flora is particularly important for women taking antibiotics to prevent vaginal yeast infections.) Proactively doing these things will go a long ways to speeding your recovery.

As the flora that you're taking begin to reassert themselves your intestines should normalize. If things don't calm down in the next 2 days we may need to look at replacing enzymes for a week or 2, or possibly adding a little hydrochloride to the mix. Doing an in house test will tell us quickly if those will help or not, should the need arise.