Antibiotics are a crucial part of treating a bacterial infection, but they can also cause side effects. If you are taking antibiotics, you may develop diarrhea or digestive tract infections. Taking probiotics can help reduce some of these symptoms and side effects, but the probiotics must be taken properly to be effective. Be sure to talk to your doctor before taking a probiotic supplement.
Probiotics
Probiotics are microorganisms that can be beneficial to the human body when you take them. Parts of the body, especially the intestines, naturally have some bacteria in them, the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine notes. These bacteria help you digest food, secrete vitamins and also help to regulate your immune system. In addition, these bacteria also can help to prevent infectious bacteria from colonizing your digestive tract because they take up the space and resources that invading bacteria would otherwise use.
Probiotics and Antibiotics
If you take a course of antibiotics, the drugs kill both infectious and beneficial bacteria in your body. This depletion of your intestinal bacteria can make you more likely to develop infectious bacteria in your digestive tract. Taking probiotic supplements, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus, can help to replenish these bacteria in your intestines and reduce some of the side effects associated with antibiotic use, the Mayo Clinic states. Probiotics may also be effective at preventing diarrhea in children or in travelers.
Dosing
Probiotic supplements generally measure the amount of bacteria they contain in terms of live organisms or colony-forming units. To prevent or treat diarrhea, you should consume between one and two billion live organisms each day, the University of Maryland Medical Center notes, though some experts recommend doses of between 10 and 15 billion. If you are taking probiotics supplements while also taking antibiotics, wait at least two hours after your last antibiotics dose to take the probiotic supplement.
Safety
In general, probiotics are safe for most people to use. You may develop gas, an upset stomach or diarrhea if you are taking large amounts of probiotics, but these side effects usually subside with continued use. There are some rare cases in which probiotic bacteria have infected heart valves, and this risk may be increased if you have an artificial heart valve, the Mayo Clinic reports. You may also need to avoid probiotics if you have a severely weakened immune system due to HIV/AIDS or an organ transplant.
