Does taking at least 4 rounds of one week antibiotics a year for a few years have any affect on your organs?

Question

Does taking at least 4 rounds of one week antibiotics a year for a few years have any affect on your organs?

Answer 1

Everything you do will have an affect on your body.  For example, the simple act of typing the question into Yahoo Answers created pressure on your finger tips (when your fingertips hit the keys), which may lead to development of arthritis in your fingers down the road.  The important question to ask is whether the effect is worth it.

Chemo drugs are extremely toxic, and can have all kinds of side effects including hair loss, mouth ulcers and even infertility.  However, cancer patients take chemo because the consequences of not taking chemo are WORSE.  In other words, the harms done by the chemo was outweighed by the benefits.

In your case, antibiotics are in general very safe medications,  so you are probably ok.  However, even the most commonly used antibiotics can still have unwanted effects, such as development of resistance, allergic reactions, or even choking (simply by the fact you are swallowing something).  These risks are extremely small, but they do exist.

So, you need to ask yourself if these small risks are worth it -- if you were taking the antibiotics for bacterial infections, under the direction of a physician, then yes, most likely the small risks are far-outweighed by the benefits (of controlling the infection before it gets worse or spreads to the rest of the body).

On the other hand, if you got those antibiotics without a prescription (like from your friends/relatives or a store), and took them for viral conditions (such as the common cold), then you are subjecting your body to risks without any benefit in return.  Not a good idea.

If you are still worried, tell us the names of the antibiotics (and how/why you were taking them), and one of us will give you a more detailed analysis.

Answer 2

Couldn't be good for your kidneys. Those guys are picky about what goes down.