Antibiotics Cause Diarrhea – Why?

There are many causes of diarrhea, possibly caused by bacteria, viruses, parasitic infections but also by antibiotics. This is an undesirable side effect of antibiotics for children. Most often mild and go away on their own when you stop taking antibiotics. Sometimes a severe type of diarrhea occurs called pseudomembranous colitis.
Why antibiotics cause diarrhea?
Normally there is always a benign bacterial population in many different species in the intestinal tract

. These bacteria are always in balance, in order to enhance the process of digestion, absorption of nutrients, elimination of toxic substances, inhibiting and neutralizing pathogenic bacteria in the intestinal tract.
Antibiotics are substances that at the lowest concentration can kill or inhibit the growth of bacteria. Antibiotics have many different groups, in each group there are many brand-name drugs
So when you want to use a certain antibiotic, a physician must know which antibiotic belongs to which group, especially when you want to combine antibiotics.




When using one or more powerful antibiotics that work on many types of bacteria, with high and prolonged doses, the above-mentioned types of benign bacteria will also be destroyed by antibiotics, breaking the balance. bacteria.
This in turn promotes the development of existing or newly invasive pathogenic strains of bacteria, leading to antibiotic-associated diarrhea or enteritis.
Any antibiotic can cause bacterial imbalances in the body, especially current broad-spectrum antibiotics. The antibiotics that cause the most diarrhea are ampicillin, cephalosporins, erythromycin and clindamycin.
Manifestations of the disease
Most cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhea are mild, with the main manifestation being passing loose, loose stools several times a day.
In some cases of immunocompromised children, malnourished children, and severe underlying medical conditions, high-dose, long-term antibiotics can cause a more severe condition called diarrhea pseudomembranous colon.




In this case, the symptoms may include: diarrhea, watery stools and possibly blood; stomachache; nausea and vomiting, fever.
How to distinguish a child with diarrhea from taking antibiotics and a child with diarrhea from food poisoning or diarrhea caused by a viral infection?
In most antibiotic-associated diarrhea, there is no fever, the symptoms clear up after the antibiotic is stopped; While diarrhea caused by young infections causes fever, diarrhea is worse, accompanied by other digestive symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain.
However, with cases of antibiotic-induced pseudomembranous colitis, the child should be taken to a doctor and stool tested for differential diagnosis.
Notes in treatment
At present, there is still the phenomenon of self-medication to treat children even if they do not know what the child is sick with, that is, mothers who see their children coughing, sneezing, runny nose or fever are buying antibiotics for their children.
Therefore, in order to limit the unwanted effects of antibiotics in general and intestinal bacterial disorders caused by antibiotics in particular, firstly mothers need to strictly follow the doctor's treatment regimen, not arbitrarily buying Antibiotics treat children.
In mild cases, when the antibiotic is stopped, the symptoms will be relieved significantly or may be completely gone.
In the case of bacteria but still need to use antibiotics or severe bacterial disorders, it is necessary to provide additional support for probiotic and prebiotic preparations that balance the strains of intestinal bacteria.
However, in case of combination with probiotics that do not work, you should take your baby to see a doctor to replace with another antibiotic.




In case of severe diarrhea, children should be taken to health facilities for timely examination and treatment. Do not arbitrarily use digestive enzymes in cases of antibiotic-associated diarrhea..

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