How can antibiotics mask symptoms? If you’re feeling better, doesn’t that mean they’re working?
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In a bacterial infection, symptoms are caused by things like toxins and the immune system working to fight the bacteria. Antibiotics assist the immune system by targeting the bacteria and kill them. Therefore there are fewer toxins being secreted by the bacteria, and your body’s immune system doesn’t need to work as heavily. So the symptoms aren’t masked, but the thing causing the symptoms is gotten rid of.
Even though this has been answered well, and this might be out of scope of the question, I want to reiterate the point u/dkf295 made: even if you’re feeling better, always always always finish the course of any antibiotic treatment you’re given for an illness. If you don’t, you run the risk of the bacteria that survive and aren’t killed by your immune system mutating to be resistant to that antibiotic, and if that bacteria gets out and spreads, then we are suddenly less able to deal with bacterial infections. There are already an alarming number of antibiotic-resistant bacteria evolving and causing disease because of this improper use of antibiotics, and one estimate put it as early as (I think) 20-30 years-ish before antibiotics are pretty much useless at fighting bacterial infection.
So, please even if you feel better, don’t stop taking the course you’re prescribed.
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