The main reason I am writing this article is to protect the antibiotics we have from becoming useless.

It is a real possibility that if we are not careful we will run out of antibiotics and bacterial infections of the chest, kidney and the like will kill thousands if not millions.

When we overuse these drugs, antibiotic resistance develops and they become useless to us.

But there are also a few other important reasons not to take antibiotics unnecessarily.

Firstly, we have friendly gut bacteria which are very important to our body.

Antibiotics kill our friendly bacteria and diarrhoea can develop which can be life threatening.

These friendly bacteria are an important defence system and the body becomes susceptible to infections when they are destroyed.

So antibiotics can result in us catching infections. If you do take antibiotics I would suggest taking probiotics like Actimel to replace what we have lost.

There are many other side effects that can develop and some can be lethal. This is a real shame when a person takes antibiotics for a viral illness.

Remember antibiotics only kill bacteria and do not cure viral illnesses like the common cold and flu.

Sometimes doctors like myself are forced by patients to give antibiotics. It is easier giving a script than trying to persuade a patient that the antibiotic will do no good for a viral illness.

Some of my patients take a herb, echinacea, to prevent them catching a cold but speak to a pharmacist to make sure it does not interact with any medicine you take.

I find the main reason that these colds and coughs linger is because people do not rest or are under a lot of stress. Obviously fluid intake is also important.

If I find myself under too much stress and need to boost my immune system then I book myself in for a few acupuncture sessions.

We really do need to protect our antibiotics. I do hope you can pledge to be an antibiotic guardian.

n Dr Sahota is the diabetes and prevention lead for Dartford Gravesham and Swanley CCG, a member of the Kent Health and Wellbeing Board and a KCC obesity champion. He posts ideas on how to stay healthy and happy at Prevention Medical Practice on Facebook.