Well, I took antibiotics for the first time a few weeks ago. After 8 days, broke out in a horrible rash covering my entire body. I went to the doctor, who basically said that it could be an allergic reaction to the antibiotic.
My idea, however, is that it's an allergic reaction to whatever funky microorganisms live in my gut. I've definitely heard the whole "eat yogurt while taking antibiotics" to help restore the "flora" that gets killed by the antibiotics. I, however, had an agenda of wanting to kill off everything in my gut before restoring them with yogurt cultures. (Basically, went to India 10 yrs ago, ever since then, when I eat spicy food, my gut goes out of control, and I thought perhaps I hosted a culture of "flora" from India that flourish in the presence of spicy food and that cause tummy upset.)
Anyways, the night before my allergic reaction, I had some buttermilk battered catfish cooked by my sweetie. Like real buttermilk batter, with cultures and everything. Anyways, a few hours later, I noticed my excema getting really bad...
Suffice to say, the next morning, I looked quite the fright. Red, bumpy, blotchy, rashy skin. "Like Freddy Krueger" said one coworker. Normally, when I drink, I get blotchy and itchy. This was a million times worse. Plus, I smelled "yeasty." And I even felt a little tipsy.
My idea: the buttermilk cultures took over in my gut, and created alcohol and other nasty byproducts. My body reacted severely to this, rather than to the antibiotic itself.
Note: I thought about doing research on this, to see if anyone else has this thought. But this is idea froth, and I'm on some tight deadlines at work, so I can't check on the theory.
