It seems my 3 children have been on a course of anti-biotics at least 5 or 6 times this past winter-spring. IS THIS NORMAL(for other children) when one of them reaches school age and is passing it on to the others? I am wondering if my kids have a bad immune system or something. It seems every time one of them gets a fever, it evolves into something bad (croup, enlarged lymph nodes, strep, etc) if I don't get them antibiotics. Just want to hear from other mothers how much their kids use antibiotics over the winter - spring months & if their Doctor has ever become concerned that they are on them too much. I worry about this.....About them someday becoming resistant due to SOO much use.

Unfortunately, antibiotic use is a viscious circle. They get sick and have a course and then the antibiotics in themselves can leave you with a decreased immunity and due to this decreased immunity due to the antibiotics, they then pick something else up that then requires antibiotics and so it goes on. 5 to 6 courses during the winter is a lot and the more you take the more resistant you will become to them.

My whole family uses the natural alternatives and homeopathic remedies for these ailments work just as well as antibiotics can. BELLADONNA is a good homeopathic alternative for a strep throat and something such as DROSCERA is a good cough remedy for croupy type coughs. Also, there is no real need to take antibiotics for croup, as you can relieve a lot of the symptoms of this by taking your child into the bathroom with the taps running to create steam. It is the moisture that they need and this can really help.

I use the homeopathic alternatives all the time and all my family seem to have really great immunity and hardly ever get sick at all. If they do, they either throw it off naturally themselves in a few days, or if it gets really troublesome, the correct homeopathic remedy will then sort the problem out in a matter of 24-48 hours.

Anyway, hope this helps and this is what I have been using for a long time with really great success?

Good luck

Yes it does seem like you kids immune system is weak. I would consider changing their multivitamin to something different and well as adding a good antioxidant supplement to this routine. I am surprised if the doc is passing out antibiotics that freely as they only work on bacterial things and not viral things. Your best bet though is to get their immune system back in shape and you may be wise to check into the all natural remedies for things like Sarah suggested.

In addition to the alternative therapies suggested by Sarah (if you're comfortable with them), I'd suggest getting a different doctor if that's a possibility for you. This sort of indiscriminate prescribing of antibiotics seems to be pretty rough on your children, and I would think it would disturb their normal bacteria flora (which renders them more susceptible to reinfection). Good luck.

I don't think my Doctor is giving them to me indiscriminately at all. I mean, my youngest ended up in the hospital for Croup for one night, the steam route, bathroom, cool air I am familiar with and this DID NOT work. (It did with an older child years ago, but my youngest was having a hard time breathing- very noisy lasting an entire day, he had "strider".) My Doctor doesn't give me these quickly, I always try to wait it out a few days and see if things will clear up, I don't run them to the Doctor the 1st or 2nd day at all, I usually WAIT until I feel something is wrong before I even take them to the Doc.... one cold ended up with my 6 yr old having enlarged lymph nodes where he then had to have his blood tested to rule out something more serious, again, antibiotics worked within days, the lymph node was down. Then my 5 yr old got a cold, and he ended up Snoring real loud at night, never did get a fever, but I was concerned as he had "Sleep Apnea", then I was told to go to a specialist thinking he would get his tonsils out, and again, was perscribed antibiotics and within 2 days the snoring was Gone, and his tonsils back to normal size, here he had Strep throat. So I believe my children DO need these, it's just that why is every virus turning into a bacterial problem? Is this common when you live in a cold state? I am from PA, I have been talking to some friends, and they are describing the same kind of thing with their kids and also a nurse the other day. So maybe I am not so alone after all. I know when summer gets here, this will stop, thank God.

Living in a cold State actually helps. Viruses and bacteria cannot survive in cold conditions, however they do thrive in the heat of the summer and that is how they can multiply in the heat.

As mlgable has already said, antibiotics do not work on viruses, only bacteria. Also, I think your kids immune systems are being lowered by the antibiotics themselves and that is what they do. Rather than curing, they can just suppress symptoms.

As others have said, I would give them extra doses of Vitamin C, a good healthy all round diet to try and boost their immunity.

Also, try alternatives. Your kids do not need antibiotics for things when there are alternatives that work. As I said before, BELLADONNA is a good homeopathic remedy for strep throat and DROSCERA is a good remedy for croup type coughs.

I would suggest that next time your kids get ill, take them to see an ND rather than an MD and you will fare much better.

Strep can be pretty dangerous-there are different levels of it. If left untreated it can affect the heart, the brain, and joints. Do some research on Zinc and C for increasing the immune system before they get in the sick season and tell them not to share beverages or food with their friends or even brothers, its not worth the risk in my opinion. Happy Health.

Hi there! I know how you feel as my son went through the same thing this year. Constantly sick with pneumonia, sore throats, colds, etc. HWe were becoming worried, and I even started thinking that he had leukemia or something. Well, he became very ill and we took him back in and found out that he'd ben harboring strep in the soft tissue which had drained to the lymph nodes behind his tonsill. He ended up with a peritonsill absecc and cellulitis, and had to have an emergency tonsillectomy. He is so much better now and hasn't had a sore throat since. If we'd only known that it was the tonsills all along. I know you've seen a specialist, but you might try another ENT and get a second opinion. As for all the vitamins and alternative therapies, we learned that there are some types of bacteria and infections that you don't mess around with. They need to be treated by medical personell, and may even require surgery and/or repeated courses of antibiotics. Our Dr. wasn't negligent with our son, he had done the tests and exams. Our son just happened to have an infection that was silently smoldering in his body and it took him getting serously ill for it to finally come to light. Get a second opinion from another Dr. Hope this helps!

Thank You IteachAG: I also think my 5 year old might be having some kind of tonsil problem, accually this is only the 2nd time he has had them swell. And again the antibiotics are bringing them down. But I do have some relatives that had to have their tonsils removed because of constant infections, they just seemed susectiple in this area, whereas maybe their sisters & brohters were not (as none of my other children have this particular problem). But I see we might be heading down that road with him, not sure quite yet. Last year, my children were only on antibiotics about once the whole winter. It just seems to be a Bad year, and from what I have read and heard, I am not alone. I was reading last night that many times all the bacteia is not destroyed (like you explained) and this comes back within a month, and some Doc's put these children on antibiotics 4- 6 weeks and if that doesn't clear it up, they do a tonsilectomy. I know they don't ruitinely do this operation as they once did, you must have 4 or 5 cases of Strep within a certain amount of time or something. I'm just hoping with summer on it's way, this may be the last bout for awhile. Thanks!