Ask Leyla:  Help! How can I resolve digestive upset after taking antibiotics?

Q: I’ve been taking acidophilus pills, plus probiotic yogurt, but I still have diarrhea from taking a round of antibiotics five months ago.  I’m eating organic whole grains and raw foods that supposedly help the gut biome, but nothing helps.  

A: When experiencing diarrhea, eating more fiber and hard to digest foods like whole grains and raw foods only makes matters worse.  Following a BRAT diet can help bring relief:  Bananas, white rice, applesauce, black tea, and dry toast.  Your food choices should be bland and unseasoned except for salt.  Salty broths can help replace fluid losses.  Nothing creamy, saucy, or greasy.  Spices like black pepper are irritating to the GI tract.  
 
Antibiotic use often leads to dysbiosis causing digestive upsets including diarrhea.  Saccharomyces boulardii is beneficial in helping to relieve diarrhea associated with antibiotic use.  You can even take it with antibiotics, helping to protect and restore the gut biome.     
 
Antibiotics do a great job of wiping out bad bacteria, but in the process also destroy beneficial gut flora, setting the stage for opportunistic bacteria and yeasts like Candida to grow.  While S. boulardii is a type of yeast, it actually helps inhibit the growth of Candida albicans.  
 
Antibiotics are dispensed too easily and too often.  In my opinion, they should only be prescribed as a last resort.  Its impacts on the microbiome are long lasting and can be difficult to restore, even in the best circumstances of appropriate diet and the administration of pre, pro and synbiotics.  
 
Another serious risk of antibiotic use is Clostridium difficile. It is estimated to cause over 500,000 infections a year in the United States.  C. diff can cause colitis and diarrhea that can be life threatening.  Anyone using antibiotics can get it, not just those at risk.    
 

To your health!