Antibiotics, even when necessary, may be the wrong kind

For years I’ve been warning you about the dangers of overprescribing antibiotics.

But that’s not the only risk where these drugs are concerned.

A shocking new study has found there’s another big problem. And this one can hit us when we really need antibiotics.

The research, just published in JAMA, discovered that almost half the time you get an Rx for an antibiotic, it’s the wrong kind.

But taking some simple steps when seeing your doctor could make all the difference.

When less is more

They’re the wonder drugs that we’ve misused for so long, they’ve now turned against us.

I’ve been sounding the alarm about drug-resistant super bugs for some time now. They’re killing more people than ever. And things are only going to get worse.

Of course, that’s why it’s so important not to take antibiotics unless you really need them. I know, that sounds easy enough but another recent study put out by the CDC discovered that around 30 percent of prescriptions written for these drugs are totally unnecessary.

That amounts to 47 million useless prescriptions being handed out every year!

It’s almost unbelievable.

But what about the times when you really need an antibiotic?

This new study, by Pew Charitable Trust, found that 48 percent of the patients with the top three conditions that antibiotics are handed out for got the wrong kind. Specifically, the researchers looked at ear infections, sore throats and sinus infections, as around 44 million prescriptions a year are given out for those illnesses.

While those three conditions are often caused by viruses – meaning that antibiotics are unnecessary and won’t help you get better – at times they can involve a bacterial infection. And that’s when an antibiotic is needed.

But instead of following prescribing guidelines for the kinds of antibiotics to be used in those situations, doctors are going hog wild prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics that kill a wider range of bugs.

And in the realm of antibiotics, less is definitely more.

When broad-spectrum antibiotics are used so haphazardly, it puts out a big welcome mat for those deadly super-bugs that are now killing around 23,000 Americans a year. And using them when it’s not absolutely necessary won’t help you recover any faster, either.

But why in the world are so many doctors making these wrong Rx decisions?

The Pew team believes a lot of it has to do with pleasing patients who may come into the office with a drug they took before in mind, especially if the name is easy to remember like a Z-pack (which is the wrong drug for those kinds of infections).

The right first-line treatment, unless you have a penicillin allergy, according to Dr. David Hyun an infectious disease specialist at Pew, would be a basic antibiotic such as amoxicillin.

But many people, said Dr. Hyun, believe that if they once took a drug such as Z-pack and “got better right away,” that means it’s the drug that works for them.

That, however, just isn’t the case where antibiotics are concerned.

So the next time you need to see your doctor over an illness where an antibiotic might be necessary, remember:

• Don’t force an Rx out of your doc just to be on the “safe side.” If he doesn’t think one is needed, he’s probably right.
• Don’t ask for an antibiotic, such as a Z-pack. If you really do need one, let your doctor decide which it should be.
• And again, most sinus and ear infections and sore throats get better on their own and don’t need antibiotics to begin with.

“Are you taking the right kind of antibiotic? Half the time we’re not, study says” Maggie Fox, Today, today.com