GUT HEALTH AND THE ANTIBIOTIC EFFECTS OF NON-ANTIBIOTIC MEDS
“The frightening rise of superbugs resistant to all known antibiotics has been attributed to the accelerated use of antibiotics in medicine and agriculture. Mixing megatons of bacteria in the guts of billions of people with tons of antibiotics, and still more in sewage treatment plants and agriculture, is bound to produce bacteria with every type of multiple antibiotic resistance plasmid [DNA fragment] imaginable. But that is not the biggest problem, since fingering the commercial use and misuse of antibiotics ignores biggest exposure of bacteria to antibiotics. It ignores the fact that most popular pharmaceuticals, NSAIDs, statins, anti-depressants, anti-diabetics, etc., also have substantial antibiotic activity. Most of these pharmaceuticals started out as phytoalexins and then were found to also have pharmaceutical activity. Pharmaceuticals are just repurposed natural antibiotics. When you take an aspirin or Metformin or a statin, you are taking an antibiotic. When you take a pharmaceutical, you are selecting for multiple antibiotic resistance plasmids [DNA fragments] in your gut flora and you may be making the next superbug.“ Dr. Art Ayers from his June 25, 2014 blog post titled Antibiotic Resistance, Superbugs and Drugs found on his site, Cooling Inflammation
Practically any field of study or any profession has it’s share of “dirty little secrets“. The problem is, the medical and pharmaceutical industries are literally bursting at the seams (it’s one of the things that makes EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE such a pipe-dream). Case in point, the topic of today’s post. Don’t you find it interesting that in this age of increased recognition about the importance of GUT HEALTH and “SUPERBUGS“, we find two quotes, written over two decades apart, telling us the very same thing — that virtually all drugs (that’s all as in “all“) have antibiotic activity.
In light of what we know about the DESTRUCTIVE AND DEADLY NATURE OF ANTIBIOTICS, this should provide at least some degree of wake up call for those taking pharmaceutical drugs (especially since they are almost always related to at least some degree of INTESTINAL PERMEABILITY and DYSBIOSIS). Throw into the mix the ridiculous amount of pharmaceuticals consumed by our society (HERE), and you have a true recipe for disaster on your hands. The lists found in the quotes above specifically mention……
- BARBITUATES: These are downers and SLEEPING PILLS.
- BETA-ADRENERGIC RECEPTOR ANTAGONISTS: These are mostly known by their other name — BETA-BLOCKERS. These drugs work by slowing down your system and generally making people feel sluggish and cruddy.
- DIURETICS: These are “water pills” which are used mostly for people in Congestive Heart Failure or with HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE.
- ANTIHISTAMINES: These are taken by folks with ALLERGIES, and can have strong Antibiotic effects.
- MUCOLYTIC AGENTS: These are the drugs which, exactly like their name implies, break up mucous (the most common of these is currently Mucinex).
- NSAIDS: These are the Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs that not only dramatically increase your chances of fatal GI Bleeds, Cancer (HERE), and Death in general (HERE), but actually tend to weaken injured Connective Tissues (more info on NSAIDS).
- PROTON PUMP INHIBITORS: PPI’S are the ACID BLOCKERS that wreak such havoc on the body, and which are a significant cause of OSTEOPOROSIS.
- PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC DRUGS: Although this covers quite a bit of ground, by far the biggest portion of this class would be ANTIDEPRESSANTS.
- STATINS: STATINS are another one of those drugs that will utterly destroy your health and leave you in pain. Click on the link to learn why.
- ANTI-DIABETIC DRUGS: If you have issues REGULATING YOUR BLOOD SUGAR, you will sooner or later end up on one of these drugs. Listen to what Dr. Art Ayers said about Metformin; one of the more popular drugs given to Diabetics (I am cherry-picking here) in a May 17 post called Metformin, Antibiotic with Autoimmune Side Effects. “Metformin is the treatment of choice for type 2 diabetes and yet, like many other common drugs, the full extent of its impact on the body (and the body’s essential microbiome) has not been studied…. Metformin has all of the properties of an antibiotic selected to lower blood sugar and have limited side effects.”
- ASPIRIN: Hopefully you are not still doing the Aspirin-a-Day thing? If so, you might want to read THESE POSTS.
By the way, I found ample evidence that SOY BEANS — a known XENOESTROGEN — also have a significant amount of Antibiotic activity. Furthermore, while Dr. Ayers is a proponent of Essential Oils taken externally to reduce INFLAMMATION, listen to how he answers a reader’s comment about taking them orally. “
Essential oils are just extracts of the polyphenolics compounds produced by plants to kill bacteria and fungi. These phytochemicals are called antioxidants simply because they have functional groups that react with superoxide and other reactive oxygen species, but their function in plants is as natural antibiotics — they interact with the enzymes and receptors of organisms. In many cases they are toxic and we have bitter taste sensors to warn us of their presence.”Bottom line, if you are taking pharmaceutical drugs or certain other substances, you are destroying your health by destroying your Gut’s health. Figure out what it will take to get off as many pharmaceuticals as you can, and get started. HERE is a place to begin.
