Its because there might be a few bacteria left if you dont eat all the antibiotics
And those survivors might evolve and get resistant to antibiotics
Better to kill them all, leaving no survivors
Comment on Life pro tip for friends of pharmacists
sharkfucker420@lemmy.ml 3 days ago
So why do you have to take rhe full thing of antibiotics? It has never been explained to me
Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
scrion@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Let’s not forget to mention that these resistant bacteria start to spread, making antibiotics less and less useful over time, for everyone.
We’re already at a place where antimicrobial resistance has become a huge issue, rendering treatments with antibiotics useless in many cases.
who.int/…/13-10-2025-who-warns-of-widespread-resi…
If you ever suffered through a bacterial infection and remember how you felt once the antibiotics finally kicked in, and the prolonged suffering resistances would cause, or ever watched a loved one in a hospital die from a bacterial infection just because the were in a weakened state and the stem they caught was already resistant, you’ll understand why that sucks so much as it does.
The_v@lemmy.world 3 days ago
That was the theory and how it works in a petri dish, however that’s not how it works in the body.
Antibiotic treatment doesn’t have to kill all of the bacteria. It needs to kill enough so the immune system can catch up and finish the job.
There been evidence for more than 50 years that overly long antibiotic treatments cause resistance to build up faster. That’s why they have limits on the first place.
So there’s a balance between too few days, and to many.
chosensilence@pawb.social 3 days ago
“feeling better” is our physiological response to the medication working, not an indication of whatever you’re sick with being out of your system. you could feel better but have bacteria remaining in small amounts not making you experience symptoms but then they begin proliferating. eventually, you’ll feel sick again. take the entire regimen as recommended. it’s only “recommended” because they can’t make you do it, but really, do it that’s how it works.
shrugs@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Funny how these “assumptions” are proven wrong but still everyone regurgitates them.
Don’t eat eggs, because they increase your cortisol… is another one of these myths
PaintedSnail@lemmy.world 2 days ago
Okay, so how does the average, non-medically-trained person know when the best time to stop is?
chosensilence@pawb.social 2 days ago
…finish all of the medication. antibiotics are not prescribed beyond their need to be consumed. read the directions given to you and follow them.
shrugs@lemmy.world 2 days ago
The non-medically person? They should not! The medically trained person on the other hand, should question and update their training, shouldn’t they?
TabbsTheBat@pawb.social 3 days ago
As I understand it, just cause you feel better it doesn’t mean the bacteria is fully gone. If you stop taking them before that point the surviving bacteria (which were more resistant) will start multiplying again and you’ll need more/stronger antibiotics at that point