When is the right time for antibiotics?

Throughout your life, you’ve likely been prescribed antibiotics by a doctor to help you heal and get better. But doctors don’t prescribe antibiotics for all sicknesses. So when should you take antibiotics? Knowing when to take antibiotics and when to avoid them can help you stay healthy.

How antibiotics work

Antibiotics can help you feel better and can even be lifesaving and necessary. But taking antibiotics for the wrong reasons can cause problems. Antibiotics work by killing bacteria in your body and keeping them from living and growing. The bacteria that stay alive and grow after you start taking antibiotics are called antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

The Mayo Clinic says that if disease-causing bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, then treating future illnesses will become more difficult. This also means that antibiotics won’t work as well. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), there are now 2.8 million cases of antibiotic-resistant infections each year, with about 35,000 deaths caused by these infections.

When to take antibiotics

Antibiotics should only be taken when necessary. Some bacterial infections can get better without antibiotics. But some infections do need antibiotics to help with treatment.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, antibiotics are only used for bacterial infections, such as:

• Urinary tract infections
• Strep throat
• Whooping cough
• Pneumonia

Your doctor may want to run tests to decide which type of antibiotic you may need or if you need one at all. Antibiotics are not for all kinds of sickness, as they do not work against viral infections like a cold or the flu.

When to not take antibiotics

Antibiotics work by killing bacteria, which keeps them from multiplying. Since viruses are built differently than bacteria, antibiotics don’t work against them.

Because of this, you should not take antibiotics if you have any type of viral infection, such as:

• Flu
• Common cold or runny nose
• Most cases of bronchitis/bronchiolitis
• A sore throat (unless it’s strep throat, which is a bacterial infection)
• A sinus infection caused by a virus

For certain serious viral infections, your doctor may prescribe an antiviral drug to help you with treatment.

Other ways to stay healthy

Aside from medications, there are small things that you can do every day to help you stay healthy.

The CDC advises these simple steps to prevent sickness and infection:

• Don’t get too close to others who are sick
• Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds (use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer when soap and water aren’t available)
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
• Stay home when you feel sick and try to wait until your symptoms have moderately improved in the last 24 hours and you no longer have a fever or need to use fever-reducing medications
• Use sanitizing wipes to disinfect shared surfaces
• Cover your nose and mouth by coughing and sneezing into your elbow or a tissue

By regularly following these steps, you’ll build healthy habits that can help you avoid getting sick.

Talk to your doctor

Always talk with your doctor when you are not feeling well. Your doctor can help you find the right treatment so you can get healthy.

Don’t have a doctor? Blue Cross of Idaho members can find doctors and other providers when they log in to their member account and select Find Care. From there, they can search for providers by location, specialty and more.

 

Written by: Blue Cross of Idaho

Posted: November 14, 2024