Wednesday, 18 May 2022

Indiscriminate use of antibiotics

I've always avoided using antibiotics, and that could be the reason I'm seldom sick. This time, after more than a month of agonizing constipation, I fell victim to its opposite: diarrhea. The last time I had it three years back, and the doctor who treated me did not prescribe an antibiotic, perhaps because it was not so severe. That doctor (Aslam Shah), himself died a few months later due to Covid.

This time the diarrhea was so severe that I missed two days of work, and you can get some idea how severe it has been from the fact that I've never missed a day's work for many years now. I wasn't able to sleep for two nights in a row. 

As I expected, the doctor prescribed heavy antibiotics, fed intravenously into my body. It seems to have worked, as I slept straight for nine hours last night. The diarrhea has virtually gone, but I have to continue the medication for another five days. As I said, I don't like antibiotics because I know that the next time I get diarrhea I;ll have to take a heavier dose. I suppose there's no use resisting it. Today's young people (even children) can't survive without antibiotics. I remember a time when cholera was rampant and people would die as there were no antibiotics at the time. But there were many who survived and lived long and healthy lives.

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