Why do antibiotics cause constipation?
Antibiotics are broad-spectrum antibacterial medicines expressly used to kill pathogenic bacteria throughout the body. With few exceptions, antibiotics can’t differentiate good bacteria from bad, so all get killed, including the bacteria in the large intestine that give stools their amorphous properties slightly formed, light, uniform in color, soft, and moist. Once the bacteria population is reduced, or it is missing altogether, stools become dry and hard (type 1 on BSF scale) because there is nothing left to form them and to retain moisture. I describe the role of intestinal flora on this page: Restoring Intestinal Flora. The pathologies related to missing bacteria constipation, low immunity, the deficiency of biotin and vitamin K, mucosal inflammation are further exacerbated by medical doctors, particularly in the United States, who recommend using indigestible fiber in order to bulk up the stools instead of restoring the population of innate bacteria killed by antibiotics.
