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"Earlier this week, my four-year-old son came down with pinkeye AND infections in both ears\u2014poor thing! I promptly filled his oral antibiotic and eye drop prescriptions and within two days of him taking the meds, the pinkeye and ear pain were gone. But the doctor prescribed both for 7-10 days, and this morning when I told him we had to put the drops in, he said, &amp;quot;But why mommy, I&amp;#039;m all better.&amp;quot; Good question! It may seem like it makes sense that once you feel better, you can stop the meds. (And my husband, who absolutely hates taking medicine in the first place, does it all the time.) But stopping meds before the prescription is finished not only puts you at risk of getting sick again yourself (it takes the full course of an antibiotic to clear all of the bacteria out of your system), you&amp;#039;re also contributing to the growing problem of antibiotic resistance. Certain strains of some run-of-the-mill infections (like strep and staph) are now becoming resistant to the most powerful drugs we have to fight them\u2014Which could mean that when you&amp;#039;re faced with a potentially dangerous infection, the usual meds might not work to clear it up. So, be diligent about taking your meds. It&amp;#039;s confusing, I know. That&amp;#039;s why we put together a special report in our April 17th issue that covers many of the finer points of taking meds. Check it out!  -Amy Brightfield, Health Director "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/health-fitness/a44414/medication-misconceptions-3168/>