Antibiotics Intestinal Bacterial OverGrowth and Gut Health

Broad Spectrum Antibiotics and Your Gut

The most popular antibiotics prescribed for parasites and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth are known as broad-spectrum antibiotics. These Antibiotics do not affect fungi, viruses, or parasites; they only affect the bacterial cells that they bind to. Antibiotics destroy both good and bad bacteria, leaving no good bacteria remaining in the gut. When the gut has an overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria, such as Strep and E coil over-growth, a perfect environment is created for Candida fungi yeast to grow and thrive. This is a living paradise for parasite infestation.

It is also well documented that many strains of bacteria are building up resistance to antibiotics. If you have had ongoing or repeated courses of antibiotics, your gut health will be compromised, as will your immune system. If your immune system was low before a course of antibiotics, you would be unable to fight off infections successfully. Repeated rounds of antibiotics over a long period will create an imbalance in gut flora and an overgrowth of nasty and unhealthy bacteria. This is called Dysbiosis.

The unhealthy bacteria take the nutrients from the food you eat and start to grow and multiply. This process creates millions of cells that accumulate. These cells originate from just one cell and are called a microbial bacterial colony.

Microbial colonies within the gut also excrete waste by-products. Under normal healthy gut conditions, your body eliminates these by-products successfully. When the gut is compromised with large colonies of unhealthy bacteria, natural elimination does not occur. As the colonies of microbial toxic by-products increase, your body becomes overloaded, and more unpleasant gut and intestinal symptoms are experienced.

Image: Low-temperature electron micrograph of a cluster of E.coli bacteria, magnified 10,000 times. Each bacterium is oblong-shaped.

Photo by Eric Erbe, digital colourisation by Christopher Pooley, both of USDA, ARS, EMU.

Generally, bacteria are present right through the gastrointestinal tract. Your small intestines have less than 10,000 bacteria per milliliter of fluid. If you compare this with your large intestines, the colon or bowel, which has much more bacteria at a whacking 1,000,000,000 bacteria per milliliter of fluid. Both the small and the large intestines have different bacteria doing a different job.

Bacteria – Small Intestines

Keeping your small intestines balanced and working correctly is important for the proper digestion of food and absorbing vital nutrients. The small intestines have a big role to play in keeping your immune system healthy. They contain a spider network of amazing cells that fight infections and regulate the immune system, these are called lymphoid cells.

Risk Factors – Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth

One of the risk factors involved in small intestinal bacterial overgrowth is the lack of gastric acid or hypochlorhydria. Under normal circumstances, the gastric acid in the stomach suppresses the growth of bacteria we ingest. When the production of gastric acid decreases or production is low bacteria can develop leading to Helicobacter pylori, Unfortunately, diagnosis can result in a false positive, and antibiotics are then prescribed.

We all need healthy bacteria, they are of vital importance for the small intestines. This amazing tiny microorganism aids and protects us from nasty pathogenic bacteria that enter our bodies. Good bacteria help the body absorb nutrients. The good bacterium also regulates the normal muscular activity of the small intestines, thus aiding the easy movement of contents through the gut. When nerve and muscle functions in the gut are out of balance, this alters the microbiome or flora in the gut, which then leads to various symptoms, including the movement of contents through the intestinal tract to successfully and complete elimination.

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) is an increase or change in the number of bacteria in the small intestines. Generally, the change to the bacteria is not normally the result of just one single strain. This bacteria is more like an overgrowth of different types of bacteria that should not have found their way into the small intestines from the colon. An overgrowth of bacteria affects the function of the small intestines and their structure resulting in poor digestion and uncomfortable stomach symptoms, and damage to the lining of the small bowel, creating unpleasant symptoms, such as leaky gut syndrome, immune reactions resulting in different food allergies, food sensitivities, chronic inflammation, and even autoimmune diseases such as Crohn’s disease.

Intestinal Bacteria Overgrowth – Symptoms

The whole process of digestion involves the breakdown of food in the intestines. This digestion breakdown produces gas, and it’s the gas that causes bloating and a distended painful stomach. In most cases, the gas passes as flatulence. Around 70% of people labeled with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have small bowel bacterial overgrowth.

Symptoms of Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth

• Upper or lower abdominal pain or discomfort
• Bloating and stomach distention
• Constipation/Diarrhea
• Overproduction of gas causes belching
• Weight loss
• Vitamin deficiencies.
• irritable Bowel Syndrome IBS.

Antibiotics Treatment – You Choose

Antibiotics are prescribed by doctors for treating small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, as well as many other bacterial infections and parasites. Research on this subject has shown that half of all treated patients have SIBO recurrence after treatment. Antibiotics are not successful for most people; maybe this is why. In this video, Microbiologist Michael Baym explains how bacteria move as they develop resistance to antibiotics.

Gut Problems and Antibiotics

People with intestinal bacterial problems can suffer from lazy bowel syndrome. This means that feces stay in the bowel or large intestines rather than moving through freely. Prescribed medication for gut problems can cause constipation, which is an unpleasant side effect of many drugs today. If this happens, it’s an indication that the bowel needs clearing. People who suffer from recurrence gut problems even after antibiotic treatment may be better off getting tests done to diagnose the cause. There are many health benefits of doing an organic herbal colon cleanse especially for eliminating unhealthy bacteria and promoting muscular contractions of the small intestines and the colon. Followed by a gut health program with diet, herbs, and supplements.

Intestinal Cleansing With Organic Herbs

Colon cleansing, parasite cleansing, and gentle intestinal cleansing of the organs is an important part of the natural process of clearing your digestive tract of colonies of bacteria and toxins. If you have symptoms of Candida yeast overgrowth or have been diagnosed with parasites, Colon cleansing with organic herbs can significantly help clear bacteria from your digestive system.

For gut healing to occur, the underlying causes or predisposition factors that cause bad gut health problems need to be addressed. There are many reasons and underlying causes of undiagnosed gastrointestinal problems; it is just a matter of discovering what the causal factors are and finding the right treatment and then healing and rebuilding the gut.

References

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