The overuse of antibiotic prophylaxis in the US, and the lame fear that a scratch WILL kill you!!!!!

a reply to: snowspirit
Wow, that's really hopeful research going on there, it maybe deserves a topic of its own don't you think?
...I'm glad it's Canadian docs/organisation/s that have found this and not the US corporate pharma industry.

*Edit*
My gut instinct is that Canadian organisations/individuals are more likely to fairly share innovations with the world than their US counterparts.

a reply to: grainofsand

Twenty times since I was eighteen isn't bad. That is about forty years. Most times were for some lung issues I could not fight myself. I did a lot of insulating, there is a lot of stuff in hundred year old attics and crawlspaces. My hand looked like a balloon the time with the slivers. I won't go to a doctor till I know I can't kick it myself. The antibiotic does the best for lung infections in me is augmentum. It must be I can't fight a certain type of microbe well that it kills, because it works where others don't when I get pleuracy or bronchitis.. When I would go to the doctors, they would say I needed to give up dust, they told me smoking was not a problem. I never smoked much.

a reply to: snowspirit

WOW...Your good. I have got doubles a half dozen time but NEVER a triple.

originally posted by: rickymouseI did a lot of insulating, there is a lot of stuff in hundred year old attics and crawlspaces.

Totally know what you mean, I was ripping out a 168 year old lath and plaster ceiling last week and had a double folded T-shirt over my dust mask it was so bad, was black as coal when I finished, took 3 full body washes in the shower before I saw white bubbles.
...and don't talk to me about insulation!!! It is my least favourite material to work with...argh!...the devils fibre!

*Edit*
The lung thing sounds horrible though, and just the kind of horrible thing that antibiotics should only be prescribed for.
I wish you good health for the future man.

*Edit again...this is the rant forum*
...and I don't believe in devils for the record, but if they did exist and made building products, they would make glassfibre insulation for sure!

a reply to: grainofsand
old ceilings are known to cause health problems , as a plasterer when ever i took down an old ceiling , for over a week i would suffer from flu like symptoms .

it is the dust not the insulation that cause these problems .

a reply to: tom.farnhill
Plastering & rendering is my main game as well and although I'll first board over an old ceiling every time if I can, when ripping out I much prefer dust to glass fibre insulation. As long as I protect my mouth and nose, I don't care how much gets in my hair, down my back, whatever...but the same cannot be said for itchy insulation, urgh, hate it!

Creeping tentatively back on topic though, at what point would you contact a doctor for concerns about a cut or flu like symptoms? I've never actually gone to see a doc if I haven't needed stitches, and same with a flu/cold type thing, just rest and let my body beat it. Perhaps if people had manned up a bit more, refraining from the doom of scratch=automatic infection and using unnecessary antibiotics, we wouldn't have seen such a quick rise in resistance.
...and US doctors seem to be the biggest culprits in the world for their unnecessary prophylaxis use.

*Edit*
Before anyone feels the need to say it, I know full well that flu and other viruses require anti-virals, and not antibiotics.

a reply to: grainofsand

well the only time i ever visit the doctor is when i can't fix the problem myself with natural cures .

my ex wife on the other hand would visit the doctor for the slightest thing .

originally posted by: tom.farnhill
my ex wife on the other hand would visit the doctor for the slightest thing .

I know a few people like that, I wonder if they are the same folk who pressurise their doctors for unneccesary antibiotics...or is it doctors exploiting these seemingly neurotic patients to make an extra coin for the prescription?

Either way, they are probably the same folk who feel a need to see a doctor because they can't wash a simple wound themselves and are terrified that without antibiotics they may get an infection and die! OMGZ!!
As I said earlier, I've never had an infection from an accidental cut/scratch type wound, and I've had thousands over the years while working...our bodies are actually quite good at beating bacteria if we don't 'nuke' our good ones with unneccesary antibiotics. Just a pity so many fearful people have helped bad bacteria in their resistance mission through inappropriate use.