In this
recent article it could be possible that antibiotics increase the risk of
inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in kids. According to the article, IBD has
doubled over the past 10 years. The study
followed more than 1 million children. The kids that were treated with antibiotics
were more than five times likely (84% increase) to get IBD then those who never
got the antibiotics. What is interesting is that when kids were given antibiotics
at older ages they had an increased risk of getting IBD but not as much. The
theory of why this may happen may be due to the fact that antibiotics kills
both good and bad bacteria.
I am somewhat sympathetic to this argument (although not
100% convinced). Growing up I had what they called isolated asthma and had a
history of getting sinus infections (usually in the spring and fall). Usually I
was prescribed antibiotics to treat these colds or sinus infections. As I
mentioned in my
personal story of Crohn’s my history right before Crohn’s. Right before I
had Crohn’s I had bronchitis and my doctor over the phone prescribed me some antibiotics
(at first I thought the drugs I was given contributed to Crohn’s however I
learned later that they actually helped). I wasn’t getting any better and
started to have the diarrhea (which was a side effect of the drug I was
taking). Never in a million years would I have guessed it was Crohn’s. My
gastro doctor diagnosed me with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in February of
the same year. My internist believes that it may have sped up getting Crohn’s. I
personally believe me working out vigorously, not probably eating the best, and
taking antibiotics for years had something to do with getting Crohn’s. Throw in
maybe some genes (nearly all my family suffers from some type of autoimmune
disease) and we have a recipe for Crohn’s. My goal is to one day know what
caused my Crohn’s.
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