Something we told our readers years ago
The overuse of antibiotics is destroying our gut bacteria. Not only do antibiotics cause depleted immunity, but since the gut is often referred to as our second brain, they are also seriously affecting our mental health. Only now is the mainstream media admitting this.
Natural Society talked about the link between antibiotics and mental illness back in 2011 – and the mainstream press completely ignored the study that was published in the popular journal Nature. The study revealed that antibiotics are permanently destroying beneficial bacteria within the gut, a condition scientists link to mental illness.
Apparently the problem is worth noting now, since experts are saying “the cure to brain disease and mental health” is really in your gut.
The problem is that mainstream medicine has been largely reductionist in its thinking since the days of French philosopher Descartes – the body was thought to be a mechanical entity much like a car with parts. Few in medicine would have thought to look at the gut for answers to how your brain works.
Fortunately, vanguard researchers are now recognizing the merits of a more holistic approach. Take researchers at Rush University Medical Center, for example. They’ve begun publishing data demonstrating that significant bowel issues associated with Parkinson’s disease may actually have a role in its cause.
This is just one brain disease, though. Anecdotal stories abound of individuals who take an antibiotic for a simple issue and end up ‘being out of their minds.’
One of the many crippling side effects of antibiotics is a debilitating mental health issue.
When you consider that we are also being exposed to antibiotics if we eat any type of meat since most agriculture is raised on copious antibiotics (among other unsavory hormones), it’s no wonder that mental health disorders are on the rise.
Only a very few doctors, like Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, are doing anything about antibiotic overuse. She has based her pediatric practice in the UK on fixing all kinds of behavioral and eating disorders by using diet and probiotics to restore gut health.
Though maybe since antibiotics are quickly becoming useless as bacteria develop into unstoppable organisms, our (hopefully) future reduced use of the medications will help prevent these current mental health issues.
If you have been feeling a little ‘off’ mentally, try improving your gut flora by taking probiotics and reducing the use of antibiotics. You are likely to feel infinitely better.
Additional Sources:
Article image source – NationofChange
Christina Sarich is a humanitarian and freelance writer helping you to Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, and See the Big Picture. Her blog is Yoga for the New World. Her latest book is Pharma Sutra: Healing the Body And Mind Through the Art of Yoga.
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TLB recommends you visit Natural Society for more great/pertinent articles.
Indeed, too much antobiotic intake damage our gut health more than we ever would know. I usually take probiotics alongside antibiotics. When is the best time to take probiotics when taking antobiotics?