Prompt: Describe your personal philosophy about how and when you have taken, or would take, antibiotics. What experiences or prior knowledge do you have that shaped that personal philosophy?
In my prior experiences, I have and have not taken antibiotics seriously. I definitely take them seriously now, but I didn’t used to care very much about them, just from lack of knowledge really. I, personally feel that antibiotics are both taken advantage of and taken for granted. Taken advantage of because there are so many people that misuse them, don’t use them, give them away, flush them down the toilet, etc. They are taken for granted due to all of the same reasons. Many people don’t stop to think just how helpful antibiotics are in certain situations, and how detrimental they can be in others. In other situations, people think they are needed because they may be helpful, so they will get a few from a friend after self-diagnosing an illness. These are all issues that deserve addressing because antibiotics are important, especially for the future and for our well-being.
With that being said, I take antibiotics only when and if they are prescribed to me by my doctor. It is important to be diagnosed and then prescribed antibiotics by a doctor. The prescribed antibiotics are administered in their respective dosages for a reason. It is also important to remember that it is all done by the doctors for a reason, that is, if you trust your doctor I suppose (I do). Also, when given antibiotics, take the entire prescription, even if you feel better after the first couple of days. They are still inside working to get rid of whatever the sickness is, even after you feel better.
I have learned what I know about taking antibiotics from being in college and working in the medical field with doctors. It is always stressed to me that antibiotics are no joke and should not be misused at any cost. The reason being, is that we do not want antibiotic resistant bacteria and pathogens to become so resistant that our medications no longer work in the future. TAKE YOUR MEDS!
