Antifungals and friendly flora

[conancillo]

Hi Shelley:

Will natural (GSE, OLE, etc.) and prescription (diflucan, nystatin, etc.) antifungals kill friendly bacteria just as antibiotics?

I wonder why these drugs(or supplements) will leave your gut with fewer friendly bacteria, if that's the case.

Is it that when you kill the yeast, the antifungals leve holes in your gut with niether good nor bad bacteria?

I'm thinking that maybe once you kill the badies, you need to take goodies to fill the empty spaces left when you killed the yeast.

Thanks,
RMA

[shelley]

It depends on how they kill the baddies whether they will kill the friendlies and how fast. Many antibiotics and anti-parasite herbs kill microbes by destroying the protective outer layer of these single-celled organisms. Many single-celled organisms have an outer layer that is made up of a kind of cellulose, indigestible fiber, which is why they're so hard for the immune system to kill. The anti-fungals and antibiotics that dissolve this layer will dissolve any cells with this layer whether they're baddies or friendlies.

The broad-spectrum antiobiotics tend to work this way.

More particular antiobiotics work on the lock and key principle. They are a key masquerading as something a certain kind of cellular organism likes and wants to absorb, and once inside the lock, kill it. These types of antibiotics tend to only kill the baddies and are much safer.