My mom told me taking medicine will lower our immune systems. Is that true?

Question

My mom told me taking medicine will lower our immune systems. Is that true? As a result of what she said, i didn;t see the docter instead i let my immune system to fight it for 2 days but after that i felt no better so i went to see a docter...

Answer 1

Actually, what happens is that when you take antibiotics, you start building antibodies to certain bacteria.  These antibodies stay in your body.  When the same bacteria enters your body again later (or if there are bacteria left over from the illness), that bacteria begins "mutating" or "evolving" itself to become immune to those antibodies.  This doesn't happen overnight; it happens throughout life, and it makes the bacteria more difficult to fight later.  The good news is that the body will develop its own antibodies to that bacteria over time.  However, the bad news is that if you have ever taken antibiotics, those antibodies are there to stay, and the cycle begins.  Sometimes, this works in your favor if you recatch the "bug" and the bacteria mutates too slowly to ignore those immunities.  It also takes time to develop those immunities.  By all means, if, after three days, you are feeling no better, antibiotics can be the way to go, because this means your body has not pinpointed the correct antibody for that bacteria.  Furthermore, there are some bacteria the body just cannot fight (such as streptocochia-spelling? strep throat).

Answer 2

I think she's referring to the fact that if you use a lot of medicine over time, it will take your body's experience in fighting off diseases. Many people from a few generations ago are stricken with autoimmune diseases because their bodies were so clean and needed 'something, anything' to fight off that they fight the body. Also over time, any human or animal will gain a resistance genetically to many things. This is true for everyday things like lice and bugs that don't die from spray or treatment, even things like staph infection resist the antibiotics used for treatment over time which has now lead to 'MERSA'

Answer 3

it depends what you are sick with, because you don't need to run to the dr with every little cold, sore throat, or something minor, but when you are not getting better or it is somethin serious, then not only is it crazy, but stupid not to seek medical attention, the christian science people don't believe in doctors at all and that is why someof the children end up dying, not too long ago, a 15 year old boy died because he had a burst appendix , this disease should not have gotten anywhere near this far as a simple operation and antibotics afterward would have cured that boy, i don't have a problem when people want to kill themselves this way if they are adults over 21 but if it happens to a child because the parents refuse to get them medical attention, for that , or cancer or anything else then i think the parents should be thrown in jail and the key thrown away,  with medical advances there is just no reason for it, and the christan science people seem to forget the same god that gave us the information and knowledge for electricity, cars and cell phones, and computers by the way is the same god that gives us medical knowledge and the ability to use it, i think they are stupid stupid people that pick and choose from the bible, it's like being stranded in a boat when the motor quits, and you have some oars, it's ok to pray for god to send you someone to help but how stupid are you if the help that you prayed for was actually the oars to get your self to safety, god helps those that help themselves and helps others and that is what medicine is all about most of the time,

dale t

Answer 4

Yes mother is right, under  a doctors care or not.

Though what else can we do when sick? Just do the best you can do and try hard not to take meds, alternative or from the doctor if not needed.....

Answer 5

Your mom was referring to taking medicine without the doctors advice. Taking medicine does not only lower the ability of your immune system to respond, it help isolate drug resistant strains of bacteria and viruses that can cause serious problems. If you feel bad always seek doctors attention. He/She will tell you if you need medication.

Answer 6

That is true to a certain point . But refusing to take medicines and being sick can also lower your immune system basically use your common sense if youre sick and need see a dr. go if you feel like its just a 24 hr bug true let your immune system fight it . But if your really SICK.. see a doctor being sick will lower and weaken your immune system making you only sicker

Answer 7

depends what kind of medicing - some herbal remedies actually help to boost the immune system after you've been sick to help build it back up - do some research on what you want you are considering taking to know what it wil do for you.

Answer 8

not unless you take them like m&ms.

my grandmother has a drugstore so I'm used to getting all the medicine i "need". My immune system works fine. That's what meds are for. That's why no drug company has been sued for lowering one's immune system so far.

Answer 9

in some ways, yes.  Your body needs a chance to fight off disease naturally..  its how your immune system works!

I see people who run to the Dr and get antibiotics for the common cold!  This is silly and does no good, as most colds are killed in about 3 days or so anyways!

Most people who get antibiotics also do not use them properly..  they take them until they "feel better" and ussually save the rest of the medicine "just in case"..  many times this only weakens the disease, and this is what helps contribute to drug resistant strains.

Antibiotics can also kill some of the natural flora in your body as well..  there are good bacteria and virus in your body that help fight off disease and regulate your digestive tract.  Antibiotics can throw this balance out of whack, and its not uncommon for someone on antibiotics to have diareah, or to develop a secondary infection during recovery!

If its something your body is just not able to fight off on its own, or is making you deathly ill.. then yes, get medication.. and take it AS DIRECTED!  A prescription of antibiotics is suppossed to be finished, not just taken to relieve symptoms.

Answer 10

almost a catch 22 per say, medicine help your immune system to neutralized problem, but as said, if you immune system itself builds immunity to medicine, then the next time the medicine will not work as well,

so it may lower functionality over time, but initially it will help cure problem at hand,

not advised to leave too long depending on ailment,

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,3824...

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Answer 11

Covering everything in anti-bacterial spray, washing your hands with anti-bacterial soap, and taking medicine at even the first sight of a possible disease will lower your immune system.

@ the person opposing the health system: Well, us here in Massachusetts are required to have health insurance, so we might as well go to the doctor.  I'd understand your argument if you had no health insurance or if the hospital was far away, meaning you'd have to use unneeded gas.

Answer 12

There are medicines that impair your immune system but usually they are really nasty medicines, things you wouldn't find in your medicine cabinet.  Like chemotherapy for cancer.  Anything you can buy over the counter is safe.  Antibiotics don't hurt your immune system.

My GF has a kidney transplant and she takes anti-rejection drugs that suppress her immune system, in fact that's what they're for.  They're called 'immunosuppressants'.

Answer 13

Well it does if you are constantly taking meds for every little ache. If you are really sick then theres nothing wrong with using something to help you get better. But if you are taking advil every time you feel discomfort then eventualy your immune system will get weak. You know a i read in a maclians magazine one time that there is this big study about the relationship to kids playing outside when theyre young and allergies. They found that for kids who played in the dirt or outside didnt experience any allergies when they got older. They experienced a variety of germs and diseases when they were young, and their immune sytem learned to protect itself to a variety of things.

Answer 14

That's true.  And the reason why kids have a lot more allergies nowadays is because the world is 'cleaner' and so the immune system doesn't have anything to 'work on'.  I have experience from this.  I have terrible spring allergies, and I take my medication everyday.  But I decided to stop using medication for things that I don't need to take medicine for.  After two years without it, my allergies have gotten a lot better!

Answer 15

Homeopathy is a system of Medicine that actually uses small doses of the virus affecting you .

So they fight against each oyher and your immune system Jumps in and finishes them all.

Suggest you read up or consult a Homeopath.

You must be sure tat you find some one who actually treats People not a Quack who will give you Sugar pills !

Best of luck but allopathetic Drugs make you Dependent on taking them__BUSINESS!

Answer 16

my doctor talked to me about this it just means like you shouldnt be taking medication for everything like if you have a headaceh try not to take advil or whatever if it isnt that bad virus's and other infections can learn and streghten thier immune systmes causing changes in medicine

Answer 17

Actually she makes a good point, but is too extreme.  Most medicines actually assist your body in fighting an illness, but only if it is the correct one.  Ideally, your immune system, when functioning normally, will eventually ward of most illnesses, not all. It takes noticeably longer, and most people do not want to wait to feel better.

Answer 18

Well Chan, some medicine really does lower your immunity. With them, one have to be careful for how long you can actually take them.

Answer 19

Not true.

If your doctor wants you to take a medicine,

you have to take all of it like perscribed, even if you're feeling better.

If you don't, the virus will be able to defeat the medicine, you'll feel like c**p again, and next time you take that medicine, it won't work because your body can fight it.

Answer 20

It depends.As one reader said prescription medicine must be finished fully. But like Ibupropfen if you take to much you will build up a  tolerance. Always try to take the smallest amount that fixes the problem.

Answer 21

true, your body becomes dependent to the medicine and produces less of a defense.

Answer 22

they say that people who take antibiotics all the time, they will no longer work for them...therefor it will seem like their immune systems are lower.

Answer 23

Reducing your temperature can reduce the effectiveness of your immune system.

Taking decongestants can prevent your body from getting rid of germs effectively

Antibiotics kill the bodies natural protective bacteria.

2 days is far too short a time to get over an illness.

http://www.drgreene.org/body.cfm?id=21&a...

Most bacteria and viruses that cause infections in humans thrive best at 98.6 degrees F (37C). Raising the temperature a few degrees can give the body the winning edge. In addition, a fever activates the body's immune system, accelerating the production of white blood cells, antibodies, and many other infection-fighting agents

Answer 24

yeah that makes sense

because that means that your immune system wont have the 'practice' to fighting off diseases

so when you are first exposed to one, if you never went to a doctor, a cold would probably be destroyed before you even knew, but if you do go to the doctor often, that wouldn't be the case

the whole going to the doctor thing, i think, is just a waste of time. I've had 104 fevers, and i eventually brought it down by just drinking water taking vitamins, and with a cold rag on my head. You really don't need medicine, but why in the heck would doctors tell you that, since you buying medicine gives them more money.

Answer 25

That is not true.  However, she maybe referring to antibiotics.  If you take antibiotics unnecessarily, like you finish your friends prescription because you THINK you have an infection, the pointless use will make bacteria more resistant to the antibiotics, because it is not a full prescription with a full-course plan of action to take down an infection.  

Other medications that may weaken your immune system will tell you on the label, but it will only be temporary during the assigned regimen.  Once you finish them, you are fine.  These are not common prescriptions for general illness, however.

Answer 26

not necessarily, if you are prescribed antibiotics and you don't take ALL of them like your supposed to, that's when the bugs can build up an immunity to the drugs.  You have to take EVERY single pill in a prescription to make sure it kills off ALL the bugs otherwise, it just knocks them down for awhile and they "figure" out a way to beat the antibiotics next time.  Not all bugs need drugs though, some illnesses have to be fought off naturally, like the common cold for example.

Answer 27

Your mom is right.  Your body has a natural defense mechanism that gets damaged with the use of any kind of drugs, prescription and otherwise.  

Anti-biotics are some of the most abused prescriptions given by doctors.  They seem to prescribe them when they are not sure what to do.  It hurts your digestive system and makes it harder for your immune system to do what it does best...protect you from foreign invaders in the body.  

If you think food has caused the problem making you feel sick you can take 'Activated Charcoal' capsules.  You can get these pretty much any place that sells supplements.  Take 2 every couple of hours until you start to feel better.  

You may not have heard of this before as a solution, but I started going to a chiropractor many years ago - you have to find the right one - and this improved my health tremendously.  I can go to him when I have a cold or flu and it pretty much stops within a day or two.  There are many other benefits too.

My recommendation is to go to someone who uses muscle testing, called Kinesiology to determine where and how to adjust.  They have a system of working with what the body needs to heal itself.  

I hope this helped.  Best wishes,

Inner Beauty

Answer 28

she probably just meant that your body will not be used to getting rid of sickness on it's own, and will begin to rely on medicine instead of fighting it off itself..but this only happens if you take a LOT...taking some cold medicine wont affect your immune system...this is why they give shots. the only way to keep from getting sick is to be used to being arround germs and having some in your system... (this is also why so many kids are getting sick lately, b/c parrents are so worried about hygiene and keeping clean, that they forget that getting dirty and playing in a sandbox is actually healthier than staying on a spotless room...) people must be exposed to the germ before they can become immune to it..

Answer 29

Actually, some medications can lower your immune system. Anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine medications can actually lower your immune system. I think what your mother is talking about is an antibiotic medication, say for an infection. If you take these medications too often, you body becomes immune to their good effects because the bacteria that is causing the infection doesn't pay attention to the medicine anymore or it mutates and the medication doesn't do any good. More and more infections are becoming immune to antibiotics and they are doing us less and less good. That's probably what your mother meant.

Other medications, such as for blood pressure, diabetes, etc. you must take every day, so it matters what kind of medications you are talking about.

Answer 30

Your Mom is right. Only, if it's something serious, sometimes it's good to get help from a doctor otherwise desease will get out of control and you might have complications. Besides, a doctor can diagnose, and you can only guess.

A little bit of medicine won't hurt. If you don't take it longer than 10 days it's fine. It's people who are on drugs non stop those have almost ground zero immune system.

Ask your doctor about the immune system and how to strengthten it.

Usually vitamin C helps.

Answer 31

Depends on the medicine, I guess. Antibiotics help your immune system fight off infections, but the infection gets a chance to mutate, becoming resistant to the antibiotic. While that doesn't weaken your immune system, it increases the chance that your infection will become a resistant strain, and neither your immune system nor antibiotics will be able to fight it off.

If she was referring to aspirin, ibuprofen, or an NSAID, then no, it won't weaken your immune system, but it won't help it either. Those meds usually lower your temperature and make you feel better, but fevers actually make it easier for your immune system to kill the infection. If your fever isn't dangerously high, it's better to just endure it.