Most people can take 14 days of an oral antibiotic without significant long-term adverse consequences.
As of 15 years ago, according to my doctor, while on the antibiotic, sacchromyces boulardi is the best probiotic to take to try to minimize the risk of adverse consequences.
Both can be true, antibiotics can cause substantial side effects in some people and most people will be fine. Still sucks if you are not one of those most people.
On the other hand, we're discovering that certain antibiotics can be very useful in treating specific GI conditions.
Rifaximin, and antibiotic designed to stay in your gut, has been approved for treating specific types of IBS. When it works it can induce remission for months or longer.
Story time: I went through a dark and stressful period of my life when I was in my teens. After I mostly got over the issues, I went on a vacation with a friend and his family. At one point in the vacation, I ended getting some kind of food poisoning from shellfish that apparently no one else who at the same meal got. Anyway, I eventually recovered in a few days, but it seemed as though I never fully recovered. I had frequent GI issues for literal years.
I sometimes wonder if the intense stress and whatnot that I had experienced prior some how made me more susceptible to whatever illness I happened to succumb to? No way to truly know, I suppose.
After various specialists and unhelpful treatments for what was later deemed to be "IBS", I was recommended to try something by my GP. He gave me some antibiotic (this was 15 years or so ago) it may have been that one -- Rifaximin -- I know it started with an "R." Anyway, my GP warned me that he came across it in some research, and would be willing to give a try, but I was not to get my hopes up.
I took the antibiotics for 14 days. Towards the end of the regiment, I was starting to have symptoms far worse than normal, but I pushed through. 15 years or so later, I basically have no issues at all. Whatever the drug was it was like a freaking miracle cure.
Antibiotics seem to be underused for GI issues, anecdotally I’ve experienced a dramatic reduction (even elimination) of some GI issues when using antibiotics (Z-pack) for unrelated infections (a course followed by quality probiotics like Visibiome).
As of 15 years ago, according to my doctor, while on the antibiotic, sacchromyces boulardi is the best probiotic to take to try to minimize the risk of adverse consequences.