A new study confirms antibiotics mess with the gut.  The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports the common wisdom that antibiotics can damage the ‘good’ germs living in the body. [1]

Another article suggests five ways to kill bugs in your gut and one of these suggestions is to stop eating sugar which I have been saying for over eleven years will help your rosacea. Dr. Hyman, the writer of the article suggests that what is in your gut may be the problem for a number of health problems including skin diseases. [2]

Clearing up any unhealthy bugs and getting a healthy flora may improve not only the skin but also a number of other health issues and “relief from allergies, acne, arthritis, headaches, autoimmune disease, depression, attention deficit, and more–often after years or decades of suffering.”

Bacteria has been one of the theories postulated as the cause of rosacea but this has never been proven. If bacteria isn’t involved the question is always asked, then, why do antibiotics clear rosacea? The usual response is the anti-inflammatory role of antibiotics is what treats rosacea. There is now a very low dose antibiotic like Oracea used to treat rosacea. However, the long term risks of antibiotic treatment is something to consider which may include an upset stomach, antibiotic resistance and bacterial overgrowth.

But the question is whether do you have a gut feeling about rosacea?  And antibiotics without a doubt plays a role in the gut.  Do you feel that rosacea is somehow related to something going wrong in your gut?

Most rosaceans use  trigger avoidance in their treatment of rosacea and the subject of diet triggers ALWAYS comes up.  Rosaceans have a gut feeling that what they are eating and drinking may have something to do with their rosacea but can’t seem to get a handle on it.  While most rosaceans on the internet know that sugar is a potential rosacea trigger, the NRS still hasn’t added sugar to their ‘official trigger list.’

For more than eleven years my Rosacea Diet has been published explaining why sugar is a rosacea trigger and more rosaceans have confirmed that reducing sugar in the diet does indeed help control their rosacea. Sugar is feeding your rosacea which makes it warm, red, and glowing.

There has been some discussion of how treating IBS, SIBO and H Pylori has helped rosacea. You might want to read this interesting post by Nanobugs, especially the last part of the post. So maybe you have a gut feeling that your rosacea is related to what you are eating and drinking.  Maybe your gut is trying to tell you something.

For more information:

[1] Study confirms antibiotics mess with gut
ABC Science, Maggie Fox, Reuters, Tuesday, 14 September 2010
Original Article

[2] 5 Steps to Kill Hidden Bugs in Your Gut That Make You Sick
Mark Hyman, MD
The Huffington Post . September 30, 2010

More Info:

Rosacea 101: Includes the Rosacea Diet

H Pylori Controversy

SIBO and Rosacea

Image Courtesy of Alternative Media Initiative

In recent years oral antibiotics are now given by dermatologists as a first line treatment for rosacea along with topical metronidazole.  Oracea has become the most recent popular antibiotic because it is low dose and touted as an anti-inflammatory rather than antibiotic, but nevertheless, is still an antibiotic. Generally speaking, taking these antibiotics for rosacea is long term since after short term use rosacea comes right back. Why is long term use of antibiotics the treatment?  According to Dr. James Del Rosso, professor of dermatology at the University of Nevada, says, ”We know that it’s best, in an ideal world, that patients are not on long-term antibiotic therapy. The reality is that patients are there for treatment, and part of the effective treatment that we have to date is giving them antibiotics. And so we’re caught in the middle until we have some better, definitive ways to solve the problem.” [1]  So what doctors are trying to do is reduce the dosage to a minimal amount that still treats the rosacea effectively, hence low dose tetracycline, Oracea. We have no idea what the long term effects of taking Oracea are since the safety of using Oracea hasn’t been established beyond nine months. All we do know is the long term effects of antibiotics since they have been used for a long time. What are the long term risks and side effects of antibiotic use?

Long Term Risks

There are many risks associated with long term antibiotic treatment and probably the foremost concern is antibiotic resistance which is is a type of drug resistance where a microorganism is able to survive exposure to an antibiotic. This problem is aggravated when “the greater the duration of exposure the greater the risk of the development of resistance irrespective of the severity of the need for antibiotics.” [2] There are, of course, other risks associated with long term antibiotic resistance including bacterial overgrowth, digestive problems usually due to changes in gut microflora, lower levels of phytoestrogens and compromising the immune system. [3] This doesn’t even take into account the many side effects of antibiotic treatment which are too many to list here. [4]

So a rosacean should ask his doctor what are the long term risks associated with taking an antibiotic, including Oracea, including the side effects and determine if the risks are worth the benefits.  This what is called the risk-benefit analysis. If you decide to accept long term antibiotic treatment, including Oracea, you will discover later what these risks are for yourself but at least you were warned.

For more information on this subject CLICK HERE.

Sources

[1] NPR
Doubts Raised Over Antibiotic Use for Acne by Allison Aubrey

[2] Wikipedia

[3] The Long-Term Effects of Antibiotics on Health and Immunity

[4] Antibiotics
The Merck Manuals