6 ms·

But has the warning ever said why you should complete the course? I always assumed (until recently) this was to prevent reinfection, not resistance. Stern warn

But has the warning ever said why you should complete the course? I always assumed (until recently) this was to prevent reinfection, not resistance. Stern warnings with no information about possible consequences is heavily lambasted in movies, yet we repeat this behavior with medicine and expect different results. If you tell someone not to do something and don't tell them why not, and the consequences aren't otherwise clear, expect them to do what you said not to do.

awqrre 10y ago
I always assumed that it was to completely kill it and that resistance was a side effect of not killing it...
- beambot 10y ago
  Yep, you're intelligent enough to make the correct assumption. Unfortunately, I presume many others are not and could really use a little extra education by the pharmacist dispensing meds -- so they also understand the why.
- ddt_Osprey 10y ago
  Meanwhile, here's me over here, thinking throughout my youth that it was advice to prevent the painful, avoidable side effects withdrawal symptoms. Stepping down off a high dosage in halves is the exact same strategy used to ease people out of addiction. As a kid, I thought anti-biotics were this far-out medicine, so strong and hazardous that coming down off them was something you had to do carefully.
  - eru 10y ago
    A reasonable hypothesis for a kid. Though, if you ever take any antibiotics, they usually don't taper off the dose at the end, do they?
    - awqrre 10y ago
      Not the ones that I've encountered... they used the same dose at the same intervals for the whole period of time... maybe to keep a lethal level in your system the whole time.
      - eru 10y ago
        Yes, exactly. And a smart kid might notice that. :)
      - ddt_Osprey 10y ago
        I definitely remember receiving blister packs, decorated with directions and pill groupings that started with 2 pills, at high intervals like every 6 hours, then tapered to 2 pills every 12 hours toward the end of the first week, then 1 pill every 12 hours for the remainder of the pack, and included strict instructions to use the whole thing. I got strep throat a few times as a kid. I don't have perfect recall about the details of what I had to take and when or why, though. But I do remember having to vary dosage.
SkyMarshal 10y ago
Was going to say the same thing. My doctors have always told me to finish the prescription, but never once why. My mother was a nurse so she always reminded me of the critical missing reason why, and I've always dutifully finished all antibiotics prescriptions as a result. But that was a simple thing the doctors writing the prescription should have been doing themselves, and an apparent systemic failure of the medical profession to account for messy human psychology in a critical procedure.
caf 10y ago
It astonishes me that people would be prepared to acquiesce to authority when a doctor tells them to ingest these drugs that they really know very little about, but draw the line at accepting the advice about taking the whole course of drugs.
- neilc 10y ago
  I think another factor is just intuition: taking medicine when you feel ill makes sense, but continuing to take the medication for several days after you feel completely recovered seems intuitively wrong to a lot of people.
- jasonkostempski 10y ago
  People will take all kinds of advice when they're trying to feel better but once they feel good, they want to get back to partying ASAP and the doctor says no drinking while taking antibiotics.
  - Patient0 10y ago
    The no drinking thing is actually a bit of a mythconception - e.g. Penicillin is safe to take while drinking. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/06/02/1380836.htm http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/06/02/1380836.ht...
    - s_kilk 10y ago
      TL;DR - In the early days of penicillin, it was used to treat various STDs. Doctors strongly advised their patients that alcohol was not to be consumed while taking the anti-biotics, not because there was a chemical interaction between the medicine and the infection, but to lower the odds of the patient getting wheeled one night and re-infecting themselves.
- goldenkey 10y ago
  Most doctors dont have the types of antibiotics memorized by heart either unless they work in a specialty or ER. There are cell wall destroyers, folic acid synthesis interruptors, protein synthesis disruptors, etc. [1] Gone are the days where a doctor should be taken at his judgment 100% as if medicine is a black box enigma. The average HNer would be wise to google about their conditions and drugs they consume. A doctor can only remember so much - they are primarily valuable for their experience in hueristic diagnosis -- not for knowing everything medical and everything pharmacutical. It is wise to relinquish some responsibility to a professional but not all. Most of medicine aside from surgical methods can be understood by a mildly intelligent person who cares enough, because of wikipedia and google, everything except actual experience is very accessible. I dont see how your astonishment is anything other than misinformed hyperbole. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Antibiotics_action.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Antibiot...
Cyph0n 10y ago
Exactly this. If it's so vital that we finish the dose, why don't you make a bigger deal out of it? I feel that doctors simply don't care enough. Is there any other explanation?
perfunctory 10y ago
Same with me.
junto 10y ago
This is actually typical bad parenting or poor management. Whilst orders without explanation work in the army through absolute discipline, it doesn't work very well with people who haven't been conditioned to it. Given an instruction when you don't understand the "why" is highly ineffective. As seen by your experience with your doctor. There is also a further problem in that antibiotics treat not just you, but prevent infection in the wider population. People in general find it hard to think about the wider impact, which is something we see every day with regards to the world wide population's regards to the impact of their own pollution. It's why we recycle but then drive SUVs.
janwillemb 10y ago
I just got a course of antibiotics, so I asked why should I finish it (because it said so on the package)? The answer from the lady of the medical staff: otherwise the inflammation would come back.

awqrre 10y ago

I always assumed that it was to completely kill it and that resistance was a side effect of not killing it...

beambot 10y ago
Yep, you're intelligent enough to make the correct assumption. Unfortunately, I presume many others are not and could really use a little extra education by the pharmacist dispensing meds -- so they also understand the why.
ddt_Osprey 10y ago
Meanwhile, here's me over here, thinking throughout my youth that it was advice to prevent the painful, avoidable side effects withdrawal symptoms. Stepping down off a high dosage in halves is the exact same strategy used to ease people out of addiction. As a kid, I thought anti-biotics were this far-out medicine, so strong and hazardous that coming down off them was something you had to do carefully.
- eru 10y ago
  A reasonable hypothesis for a kid. Though, if you ever take any antibiotics, they usually don't taper off the dose at the end, do they?
  - awqrre 10y ago
    Not the ones that I've encountered... they used the same dose at the same intervals for the whole period of time... maybe to keep a lethal level in your system the whole time.
    - eru 10y ago
      Yes, exactly. And a smart kid might notice that. :)
    - ddt_Osprey 10y ago
      I definitely remember receiving blister packs, decorated with directions and pill groupings that started with 2 pills, at high intervals like every 6 hours, then tapered to 2 pills every 12 hours toward the end of the first week, then 1 pill every 12 hours for the remainder of the pack, and included strict instructions to use the whole thing. I got strep throat a few times as a kid. I don't have perfect recall about the details of what I had to take and when or why, though. But I do remember having to vary dosage.

SkyMarshal 10y ago

Was going to say the same thing. My doctors have always told me to finish the prescription, but never once why. My mother was a nurse so she always reminded me of the critical missing reason why, and I've always dutifully finished all antibiotics prescriptions as a result. But that was a simple thing the doctors writing the prescription should have been doing themselves, and an apparent systemic failure of the medical profession to account for messy human psychology in a critical procedure.

caf 10y ago

It astonishes me that people would be prepared to acquiesce to authority when a doctor tells them to ingest these drugs that they really know very little about, but draw the line at accepting the advice about taking the whole course of drugs.

neilc 10y ago
I think another factor is just intuition: taking medicine when you feel ill makes sense, but continuing to take the medication for several days after you feel completely recovered seems intuitively wrong to a lot of people.
jasonkostempski 10y ago
People will take all kinds of advice when they're trying to feel better but once they feel good, they want to get back to partying ASAP and the doctor says no drinking while taking antibiotics.
- Patient0 10y ago
  The no drinking thing is actually a bit of a mythconception - e.g. Penicillin is safe to take while drinking. http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/06/02/1380836.htm http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/06/02/1380836.ht...
  - s_kilk 10y ago
    TL;DR - In the early days of penicillin, it was used to treat various STDs. Doctors strongly advised their patients that alcohol was not to be consumed while taking the anti-biotics, not because there was a chemical interaction between the medicine and the infection, but to lower the odds of the patient getting wheeled one night and re-infecting themselves.
goldenkey 10y ago
Most doctors dont have the types of antibiotics memorized by heart either unless they work in a specialty or ER. There are cell wall destroyers, folic acid synthesis interruptors, protein synthesis disruptors, etc. [1] Gone are the days where a doctor should be taken at his judgment 100% as if medicine is a black box enigma. The average HNer would be wise to google about their conditions and drugs they consume. A doctor can only remember so much - they are primarily valuable for their experience in hueristic diagnosis -- not for knowing everything medical and everything pharmacutical. It is wise to relinquish some responsibility to a professional but not all. Most of medicine aside from surgical methods can be understood by a mildly intelligent person who cares enough, because of wikipedia and google, everything except actual experience is very accessible. I dont see how your astonishment is anything other than misinformed hyperbole. [1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Antibiotics_action.png https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Antibiot...

Cyph0n 10y ago

Exactly this. If it's so vital that we finish the dose, why don't you make a bigger deal out of it? I feel that doctors simply don't care enough. Is there any other explanation?

perfunctory 10y ago

Same with me.

junto 10y ago

This is actually typical bad parenting or poor management. Whilst orders without explanation work in the army through absolute discipline, it doesn't work very well with people who haven't been conditioned to it. Given an instruction when you don't understand the "why" is highly ineffective. As seen by your experience with your doctor. There is also a further problem in that antibiotics treat not just you, but prevent infection in the wider population. People in general find it hard to think about the wider impact, which is something we see every day with regards to the world wide population's regards to the impact of their own pollution. It's why we recycle but then drive SUVs.

janwillemb 10y ago

I just got a course of antibiotics, so I asked why should I finish it (because it said so on the package)? The answer from the lady of the medical staff: otherwise the inflammation would come back.