Taking drugs is always a pressing question this time of year.
It’s now been over two weeks I’ve been trying to fight off a chest infection, and there’s still no relief in sight. The thing is it isn’t getting worse either just a persistent cough and croaky voice and feeling sluggish. The box of antibiotics is sitting on the kitchen bench beckoning. I believe the body knows how to heal itself and should be given the opportunity to use its own immunity rather than rely on artificial prompts which ultimately do us no good.
But the main reason I don’t like taking them for every ailment is the resistance factor. There does come a day in everyone’s life where we seriously need antibiotics and if the body has built up resistance due to overuse it’s not a good thing.
Sleeping in a chair next to my daughter’s hospital bed years a few ago while she battled pneumonia is an experience i will never forget.
Given the severity of her case which went undiagnosed till her lung collapsed, it was only antibiotics that saved her. And because I am a Mum who administers them so rarely, the drug worked quickly and powerfully.
So here I sit with the question, to dose up or not to dose up? I’m giving my body one more day to get me on the mend and then Zapp!
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Share your experiences as patients and parents
Lilian you are a wonderful woman, and indeed a doctor given the things you know. A doctor is a healer, and that doesn’t necessarily mean having a medical certificate. It means treating people holistically and bringing them back to health which you do especially in your work as a yoga teacher with people in nursing homes. Thanks for contributing again.
Hi Ruth, as a Mum not a doctor,I know that if you have an INFECTION,the anti biotics will help you. But if its a VIRUS, it wont, unless it actually stops the possible infection from starting. Best to ask your docter,dont wait too long! We all love your daily blogs and articles,so keep it up. Get better soon regards.
Gosh Ruth you certainly don’t come across Narcissistic in anyway shape or form. I absolutely admire the fact that you put yourself out there with all your strengths and weaknesses…. that we all have as human beings in one way or another and get people commenting on them…good bad or ugly. I think there are alot of people out there who do read them but maybe for whatever reason don’t write a comment…maybe too busy or just like to digest it, think about it and read what others say….i guess i’m a bit guilty of that and also i do take a bit of time to think how i want to put that message across and then i get distracted with everyday life interruptions. You have so much to offer many of us out there Ruth Ostrow….keep persevering!!!
And lastly the blog from your partner Stu was very good and you can inform him i have registered my protest and how cool that you and Stu can sit together and watch internet porn and openly admit it. I know that might sound very male and could open a can of worms with other readers but good on you as a couple for doing it and spicing things up in the relationship.
Good luck with overcoming your chest infection….sleep well.
Tony thank you twice; firstly for your kind doctorly advice. Secondly for you lovely comment. As a new blogger (old journalist but very new to this blogging format) I sometimes wonder if I am talking in the dark. If a tree falls in a rainforest and no one is there to see it fall, did it fall? ALso as a long time columnist writing weekly I have wondered whether people want to hear my daily ponderings on life. I do worry that it may be rather Narcissistic. But then again Twitter and Facebook have made Narcissism the new humility. Anyway it’s great to have positive feedback from an intelligent reader. Much appreciated.
Seriously Ruth if you still have a chest infection, will you just take the bloody things. I have been reading your articles in the Australian for many years now and you certainly come across as some one who looks after their health more than most. You don’t appear to be someone who pops antibiotics at the ‘drop of a hat’. Don’t wait until tomorrow…take them tonight before going to bed, just relax and get a good night sleep and make sure you take your Inner health tablets after you have finished your course of antibiotics.
cheers
‘Doctor’Tony
ps just love your daily rants that comes from a smart, intelligent, articulate woman who goes through the same ups and downs of life that we all go through.They are wonderful insights…please keep them going
Thanks so much Dieter
Hi guys waiting for responses from Mums like me, that eternal guilty question of when to give our sick children drugs and for how long.
.. if it has gone to the chest, and it is a bacterial infection, and it’s not getting better, it may be time to take antibiotics …
.. you are not building up resistance if you get too sick..
.. get better first, than build resistance .. 🙂
cheers Dieter L – useNature.com