Natural Alternatives to Antibiotics

Natural alternatives to antiobitics -- what an exciting and potentially extremely important area of study, for several reasons:

First, our high tech society has overused pharmaceutical antibiotics to such an extent that we've created superbugs which defy nearly all our previously developed pharmaceutical antiobiotics through the process of natural selection (evolution). But happily, microbes don't seem to be quite as capable of bypassing natural antibiotics through successful mutation.

Second, infections of various types are one of the primary reasons we spend money on doctors' visits and prescriptions. I think it's absolutely wonderful there are ways to minimize those expenses (along with potential for side effects from the drugs) thanks to natural alternatives to antibiotics which are prescribed pharmaceuticals.

Third, I find it incredibly comforting to have things in my herbal medicine chest [internal link] that I know I can can use to start my healing process right away -- whether it be on a Saturday afternoon or at 2:00 in the morning some night when no doctor is available except at the Emergency Room and few pharmacies are open anyway.

As I was working on this page I was suffering through the first cold I'd had in over a decade. I'm not sure what happened with this one -- whether it was an especially strong virus, or I was in an especially weakened condition for some reason, or maybe I wasn't as consistent in my use of those remedies which normally save me, or what. I do believe I kept the infection milder than it otherwise might have been, but I lost: I developed a full-blown cold. I was keenly disappointed to have broken my decade-long winning streak of "no colds or flu", but I did gain some extraordinarily valuable knowledge and experience which I can now share with YOU, right here and now.

Microbes fall into three main categories:
* bacteria
* virus
* fungus

As you no doubt know, pharmaceutical antibiotics are limited: they cannot treat viruses but are only effective against bacteria, though there are some pharmaceuticals which are antifungal.

Happily, there are natural antibiotics which are effective across all three categories. Some antibiotics seem more effective for some types of microbes than others. There aren't any good guidelines that I've discovered, though I do know that there are even potential allies among the natural alternatives to antibiotics for even the scarier microbes such as strep and staph [external link].

Note: Naturally, no one should fool around with resistant microbes, and everyone should get their trusted healthcare provider's advice when facing any illness. None of this material is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any illness, ailment or disease. Please also see my disclaimer along with *safety and cautionary information [internal link]*.


Bacteria
Bacteria actually get something of a bad rap because while there are some very bad ones, we forget there are also some very good ones, some of which reside in our own bodies and which we rely on for our own health.

Because we forget that (or don't know), we risk damaging those incredibly important ecological system within our own bodies when we target the bad bacteria. The wide use of antibacterial handwashing liquids is a highly questionable practice for that reason. We created superbugs out of regular microbes through overuse of antibiotic pharmaceuticals, do we really want to make superbugs out of those microbes that are found naturally -- and with little or no threat of danger -- on our hands, especially when normal handwashing will usually take care of them?

Bacteria are so important that some scientists say that life on this planet would be impossible without them [external link?]. They've been found in some of the most amazing places, such as around extremely high temperature volcanic sites deep beneath the sea.

We also need them in the soil to help grow our food -- they're actually an indicator of soil health -- and we need them in our guts (intestines) to generate certain vitamins we need and can't produce ourselves and to keep the unfriendly intestinal bacteria in check. Who knows where else we need good bacteria?

So it should go without saying that broad spectrum pharmaceuticals are likely to cause some problems even while they address harmful bacterial activity. As a result, most alternative healthcare practitioners advise that any pharmaceutical antibiotic treatment should be promptly followed up with a course of probiotics [internal link to sources for probiotics -- or Special Report] (the good bacteria for the gut).

Virus
I know of no pharmaceutical antibiotic which is supposed to be effective against viruses, but I do know of a number of natural alternatives that are effective against at least some viruses, and this alone makes a little knowledge in this area of natural antibiotics extremely useful. Colds and flu are caused by virus.

Fungus
Fungus can be quite tricky. These days I think many fungal infections -- jock itch, nail fungus, thrush, and others -- are attributed to systemic *candida overgrowth [internal link]* or "candidiasis," a problem which often has its start with the overuse of commercial antibiotics which destroy the good bacteria in our intestines and allow the bad bacteria -- among them candida -- to grow out of control. Candidiasis can be difficult to diagnose, and extremely difficult to treat. Nevertheless, there are some things that can be done for it as well.

The Remedies

Herbs with Antiobiotic Properties

Essential Oils with Antibiotic Properties*

Other Alternative Remedies and Considerations