Some people want to take probiotics regularly, even when taking prescribed antibiotics. If your doctor feels that you need a course of prescribed antibiotics, you will need to know how to take probiotic supplements while you are on a course of antibiotics. Additionally, you will need guidance for taking probiotics after finishing your last antibiotic dose. If you don't take probiotics correctly with antibiotic medications, your probiotic supplement will be of little use. You will waste time and money, and increase your risk of reinfection after you finish your last antibiotic dose.
Taking Antibiotics
Take your antibiotic as directed. Typically, directed use involves taking the medication with food or milk. Food and milk help to prevent upset stomach that occurs when taking medicines on an empty stomach. If your doctor prescribes an antibiotic dose three times a day, you should plan your meals ahead of time. If you are taking your dose with meals, you don't want to have a five-hour difference between one mealtime and a two-hour difference between another one. Your body needs the dose at regular intervals.
Taking Probiotics
You should never take probiotics at the same time as antibiotics because the antibiotics will kill all microbes, including the healthy ones contained in your probiotic supplement. Take a probiotic supplement at least two to three hours after taking your prescribed antibiotic. This gives the antibiotic medication time to kill the microbes before you take the healthy microbes that you want to retain.
Taking Prebiotics
The University of Maryland Medical School recommends a probiotic that contains one to two billion live cultures per day. This amount will help your body restore good bacteria in the body. Take a probiotic supplement with a prebiotic snack. Prebiotics are foods that help probiotics work better. Katherine Zeratsky, a nutritionist at the Mayo Clinic, suggests eating 3 to 8 grams of prebiotic foods a day, although there isn't an official fixed guideline or dietary recommendation specifically set for prebiotic foods. Prebiotic foods are those found in root vegetables, such as chicory root and wild yams, according to Jackson Seiglebalm Gastroenterology, a gastroenterology clinic in Pennsylvania. Other prebiotic foods include agave, artichokes, onions, garlic, wheat, kale, barley and bananas.
Further Directions
Antibiotics help your body clear up an infection, but treatment doesn't stop there. In order to keep the infection from coming back, or another infection developing, you need to continue taking the probiotics. Gary Huffnagle and Sarah Wernick, authors of "The Probiotics Revolution: The Definitive Guide to Safe, Natural Health Solutions Using Probiotic and Prebiotic Foods and Supplements," recommends double dosing on probiotics for up to two weeks after you take your last antibiotic dose. This helps the healthy microbes get a foothold in the body before the bad bacteria can establish ground. For example, after a course of antibiotics, women tend to develop yeast infections because healthy microbes were not able to establish a strong foothold in the body before harmful microbes proliferated.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Steven D. Ehrlich, NMD; Lactobacillus acidophilus; June 2009
- Jackson Siegelbaum Gastroenterology; Prebiotics; 2008
- MayoClinic.com; Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.; October 2009
- "The Probiotics Revolution: The Definitive Guide to Safe, Natural Health Solutions Using Probiotic and Prebiotic Foods and Supplements"; Gary Huffnagle and Sarah Wernick; June 2008
