It's important to take an antibiotic exactly as prescribed and to finish the entire prescription, experts say. To help prevent harmful bacteria from becoming resistant to your antibiotic, don't stop taking the medication just because you feel better.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration offers these guidelines to help you take an antibiotic properly:
- Finish your prescription without missing any dose -- even if you stop feeling sick. Don't stop taking it because you want to save some of the medication for a future illness.
- Only stop taking the antibiotic if your doctor tells you to do so.
- Avoid sharing your antibiotic with anyone else.
Health Tip: Help Prevent Antibiotic Resistance
Preventing or treating bacterial infections are what antibiotics were designed to do.
But colds and flu, most coughs and bronchitis, and the majority of runny noses are triggered by viruses, and antibiotics won't prevent these maladies or make you feel better, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns.
Unnecessary overuse of antibiotics allows bacteria to mutate and develop a resistance to these drugs, the CDC says. The agency offers these suggestions to help prevent development of resistant bacteria:
- Take your antibiotics exactly the way your doctor prescribed them. The same advice goes for your children.
- Don't ever stop antibiotics just because you begin to feel better. Always finish the entire prescription.
- Don't insist on an antibiotic to treat the flu or cold, bronchitis or a cough, a runny nose or a sore throat that isn't strep.
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