Describe your personal philosophy about how and when you have taken or would take antibiotics. What experiences or prior knowledge do you have that shaped that personal philosophy?
My personal philosophy on taking antibiotics is to try to limit the consumption of antibiotics when I am not very sick to keep my tolerance low and hope a resistance does not build up. For example, when taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen, I switch between the doses if I am fighting off a cold because one can burn the stomach if taken too much, I believe it is acetaminophen, and I am worried about building a resistance to it early in life. In addition, my mom has kidney damage from taking too much acetaminophen because of her chronic back pain. Due to these reasons, I am hesitant to take many antibiotics except for when necessary.
My other method is to blast my immune system with antibiotics over a short period of time to try to eliminate the infection within a few days. The previous experience that led me to treat colds this way was when I was sick on the east coast at the beginning of this year. I had developed a cold on the plane to the point my sinuses were so blocked I could not feel my body. Luckily, I had Sudafed and took multiple doses over a weekend to try to blast it out of my system. I am not sure if this method was effective or if I was just lucky, but it worked. If I get sick like that again I will probably try this method since it worked so well.
