Why do you “have to continue the course” of antibiotics even when you’re better?

Totally get it but think about it this way. When someone is bipolar and is feeling better while taking their meds, they tend to want to stop bc they feel better but then they inevitably get worse bc the meds were what was keeping them regular. Your son probably has to finish the antibiotic bc the full course of the ear infection has not finished. He may feel and look 100% better but he may still have some infection. Such annoying but 🤷🏻‍♀️ I’d do what your doctor says! Call and ask maybe?

It’s also to stop antibiotic resistance x

Hiii, nurse here! It’s definitely difficult, especially since it’s making him upset 🥲 but we encourage patients to complete their course of antibiotics because there is a risk for a relapse of infection from not clearing it all the way and the possibility of the bacteria becoming resistant to that type of antibiotic. This can make the infection harder to treat in the future!

Always always complete ... is right about the antibiotic resistance

what’s the theory behind this? I understand how using antibiotics when you don’t need them can contribute to the antibiotic resistance problem but I can’t logically understand why not finishing a course can contribute to it?

Never mind I just googled it! Lol

My friend decided to stop taking her antibiotics for tonsillitis because she felt better and then the infection spread to her knee. Always finish the course those last couple of tablets could make all the difference with it returning x

Not finishing the prescribed days is what causes super bugs that become resistant to any medications. And also so it doesn't relapse. So absolutely yes always always always finish antibiotics. Try to hide it in like chocolate smoothies or applesauce or yogurt if you can

Cause the antibiotics will reduce the symptoms of feeling unwell but the infection may not necessarily be gone so always best to finish the full course x

My mum is a microbiologist and she’s drilled into me ALWAYS ALWAYS finish the course, she’s seen some horrors with bacteria resistance and I’m not keen on seeing it for myself

Antibiotic resistance in a nutshell:

Imagine you have a population of 100 individuals, and you start poisoning them. We know it takes a week to kill all 100 individuals
The ones that die off at the beginning will be the weakest ones, and the strongest individuals won't die off until the last day.
But this time, we stop the poison on day 6, and the strongest ones don't get that final dose to be killed off. They're weakened for a bit, but they survive, and now the only individuals left are the strongest ones. They reproduce and create a new population, passing on their strong genes.

We try the same poison, but this time none of them die off until the last day, and now even when we finish the full week there are still a few individuals left.

Same again. These ones survive, reproduce, and now you have a whole population which is resistant to this poison. Barely any of the individuals die off after a full week of exposure to the poison. The poison is now ineffective

My daughter also hates liquid medicine, and I had asked for chewable antibiotics. I would crush them in yogurt. Still no fun but went down a lot easier