The Experience Miracles Podcast

Antibiotics Exposed: The Consequences of Misuse & Overuse w/ Jessica Pawlicki APRN, FNC-P

Mar 12, 2024

Antibiotic Overuse in Children: Gut Damage, PANDAS, and Drug-Free Alternatives

Episode 11, Experience Miracles Podcast | Host: Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, Pediatric Chiropractor & Founder of PX Docs | Guest: Jessica Pawlicki, APRN, FNC-P, Board-Certified Nurse Practitioner & Founder of Well-Rooted Pediatrics | Published: March 12, 2024 | Duration: 45 min

Key Takeaways

  • Antibiotic overuse in children destroys the gut microbiome at the exact developmental window when 85% of the immune system is being built, leading to a cascade of ear infections, food allergies, eczema, asthma, and chronic inflammation that compounds over time.
  • The conventional progression from ear infections → ear tubes → tonsil and adenoid removal does not solve the underlying problem, it shifts the congestion and inflammation deeper into the respiratory tract, placing children on a path toward lifelong asthma medications and pharmaceutical dependence.
  • A single dose of steroids disrupts adrenal function and cortisol levels, and because every child’s detox pathways differ, one child may appear unaffected while another spends two years in recovery, making routine steroid prescriptions far riskier than parents are told.
  • Subluxation, restriction of neurological drainage from the upper cervical spine, is the actual root cause behind recurring ear infections and sinus problems. Without correcting subluxation, antibiotics treat the symptom while the underlying dysfunction remains and worsens with each round.
  • Strep left untreated or undertreated can cross a leaky gut wall, penetrate the blood-brain barrier, and trigger PANDAS/PANS, causing sudden-onset tics, OCD-like behaviors, and severe anxiety in children who appeared neurologically typical days before.
  • When antibiotics are genuinely appropriate (strep, UTIs, pneumonia, staph/cellulitis), the goal is to use the most targeted antibiotic possible, then actively rebuild the gut with probiotics and functional support, not simply trust that the body will recover on its own.

What Does Antibiotic Overuse Actually Do to a Child’s Health?

Antibiotic overuse is one of the most consequential and least-discussed threats to children’s long-term health. Antibiotics do not discriminate between harmful and beneficial bacteria, they eliminate both, and when given during the first two years of life, they do so at the precise window when a child’s gut, immune system, and nervous system are still forming. Jessica Pawlicki, APRN, FNC-P, a board-certified nurse practitioner and founder of Well-Rooted Pediatrics, has spent years tracing the downstream consequences of this early damage in her functional pediatric practice.

The gut is born “leaky by design”, immature and permeable so it can absorb maternal antibodies from breast milk. When antibiotics enter that system, they collapse the microbial balance before it has had a chance to establish itself. The result, visible through functional stool analysis, is insufficient digestive enzymes, malabsorption, and an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria like Klebsiella and Campylobacter. From there, the cascade builds: food allergies trigger inflammation, inflammation causes fluid buildup in the ears, the ears become increasingly sensitive to each subsequent infection, and the child is prescribed another round of antibiotics that further erodes the very immune system meant to protect them.

Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP, adds the neurological dimension: subluxation, restriction of drainage and neurological function at the upper cervical spine, is the primary structural driver of recurrent ear and sinus infections. When subluxation is left uncorrected and antibiotics are layered on top, the effect is, as Dr. Tony describes it, “pouring kerosene on the campfire.” Correcting subluxation through Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care addresses the root cause; antibiotics without chiropractic address only the symptom and set the stage for the next infection.

Why Jessica Pawlicki Left Conventional Pediatrics [0:00 – 7:20]

Dr. Tony Ebel: Welcome back to Experience Miracles. We have with us Jessica Pawlicki, a board-certified nurse practitioner, fully credentialed through the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, with her bachelor’s from Chamberlain College and a master’s in nursing and family nurse practitioner from Olivet Nazarene University. But more importantly, she is the founder of Well-Rooted Pediatrics, one of the most sought-after functional pediatric practices in the Chicago suburbs, caring for tens of thousands of patients from pregnancy through complex pediatric cases.

We’re going to take on a critical topic today: the overuse, misuse, and abuse of antibiotics and medications for children. When I say we as a medical system have wrecked kids’ immune systems, I do not mean you as parents. I mean the doctors you were trusted to turn to for recommendations. Jessica, let’s start with your why. What drove you to leave conventional pediatrics and start Well-Rooted?

Jessica Pawlicki, APRN, FNC-P: It’s a multifactorial answer, but it starts with my own child and my own experiences. I had my daughter in 2013, and I had struggled with infertility issues prior with no known cause, which led me into holistic and functional medicine. When I then walked into conventional pediatrics, these kids were on so many medications, so many antibiotics, being referred to so many specialists. I kept wondering: why did they need tubes? Why were these kids so sick? Why were we seeing recurrent fevers?

I wasn’t being heard when I asked questions. And I thought, if I, with all my medical knowledge, wasn’t getting satisfying answers, what is happening to parents who don’t have that background? They’re being told this is just the direction they have to go. They don’t fight it. They trust their provider. That was a big red flag. I said, I need to do better.

By the time I had my second child, I was deep in functional medicine research. I saw firsthand how insurance restrictions were blocking the kind of care children actually needed. That was the moment Well-Rooted was born.

Dr. Tony: And that’s such a critical point. So many things stand between a family and the care their child needs: they haven’t found a practitioner who shares a scientific understanding of how the body actually heals; they’re defaulted into the system and know something’s wrong but nobody validates that instinct; and then there’s the insurance system, which should never be called health insurance. You can’t use it to get healthy. You use it for sickness and catastrophe. And goodness, that path leads to really, really poor health for families.

How Antibiotics Destroy the Infant Gut and Immune System [7:21 – 13:37]

Dr. Tony: When you started investigating why so many kids were on these medications, what did you find? What are the dangers for an infant in the first 12 months, first three years, of life who is repeatedly put on antibiotics for viral infections?

Jessica Pawlicki: Anything before two years is a problem for us. The gut is born leaky by design, it’s meant to take in maternal antibodies, take in antibodies from breast milk while the immune system is forming. That’s intelligent design at work.

Then you introduce an antibiotic. An antibiotic is supposed to kill things by name, but it’s not intelligent enough to only kill the bad bacteria. With the bad comes the good. And when that system doesn’t have a ton of good established yet, everything gets knocked down.

Some children react immediately, GI distress, diarrhea, constipation. But many don’t show symptoms until months later, when eczema appears or immune challenges start stacking up. Remember, 85% of the immune system lives in the gut. So when you compromise the gut, you compromise immune defenses entirely.

Through functional stool analysis, we see it clearly: insufficient digestive enzymes, malabsorption, overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria. Once campylobacter or Klebsiella takes hold, it spirals from there. Every overgrowth creates the conditions for the next one.

Dr. Tony: It’s its own Perfect Storm. In our work, I take a case history, all the stress, the antibiotics, the birth trauma, and I already know before I run our INSiGHT Scans what those results are going to show. It’s the same in your office with labs, right?

Jessica Pawlicki: Exactly. And that’s the problem, it should never be predictable like that. You shouldn’t have a textbook child where you can say with certainty exactly where their immune system is struggling and what’s turning into what. But we do. And I tell parents: if you don’t fix this now, I can tell you what your next five years are going to look like, and not only will it be five more years of struggle, it will add five layers of difficulty to the healing process.

“If you don’t fix this now, I can tell you what your next five years are going to look like, and not only is it going to add five years of continued struggle, it’s going to add five layers deep of getting it back out.”, Jessica Pawlicki, APRN, FNC-P

The Ear Infection-to-Asthma Pipeline: What Conventional Medicine Misses [13:38 – 21:00]

Dr. Tony: Let’s talk about what’s actually causing a child to get that first ear infection at 6, 7, 8 months, a tough birth, teeth coming in, seasons changing, a big sibling at home. What’s the neurophysiological root?

Jessica Pawlicki: The root, in the end, is that the child isn’t draining. What’s making the system so constricted? It could be poor gut health, or mom’s gut wasn’t healthy during pregnancy, or mom was on antibiotics, or baby had a difficult birth with forceps. Everything gets stuck. The gut can’t keep up. Antibiotics get added, which triggers food allergies, which drive inflammation, which builds fluid in the ears. The ears become more sensitive each time. Before long, three rounds of antibiotics deep, the child is getting ear tubes.

And the problem with ear tubes is that they bandage the ears temporarily, but the fix isn’t there. You’ve put holes in the child’s first line of defense and expected the body to simply recover on its own.

Dr. Tony: And here’s what we see consistently. Subluxation creates restriction of drainage, restriction of neurological function, restriction of gut function, and inflammation. Subluxation on its own can generate this entire Perfect Storm cascade. Then you add offending foods and repeated medications, that’s kerosene on the campfire.

After three, four, five ear infections, the drill comes out, tubes go in. They move the problem; they don’t solve it. The congestion and mucus shift from the ears to the back of the throat. Now the tonsils and adenoids are overwhelmed. The same ENT who did the ear tube surgery says those tonsils and adenoids need to come out, and the family thinks the child has turned a corner.

Temporarily, maybe. But the fluid doesn’t disappear, it moves deeper. Now it’s in the lungs. The child starts coughing chronically, getting RSV, croup, pneumonia. Asthma and allergies emerge. And now the pharmaceutical system has a lifetime customer instead of a ten-day customer.

“Subluxation on its own can create this whole Perfect Storm cascade. And then the moment you put offending foods and medications in that, you have literally poured kerosene on the campfire.”, Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP

Jessica Pawlicki: And on the steroid side, even one dose of steroids disrupts adrenal function and cortisol levels. Some children bounce back; others spend two years in catch-up mode. This goes deep into epigenetics, detox pathways, and what the individual body can tolerate. There is no one-size-fits-all. And most parents are never told this. The inserts are stapled to the pharmacy bag, nobody reads them. And those inserts only cover the documented side effects, not the cumulative compounding that happens over time.

Steroids, Adrenals, and How ADHD Gets Manufactured [19:20 – 21:00]

Dr. Tony: Here’s what happens neurologically with repeated steroids. Steroids are powerfully stimulatory to the sympathetic nervous system. A child who’s been loaded with nebulizers and steroid medications through spring and fall allergy season, when school is also busiest and sports are ramping up, is a child whose adrenals and sympathetic nervous system are chronically over-activated. That child becomes hyperactive and impulsive. The system labels them with ADHD.

But ADHD didn’t just show up. It was manufactured by this Perfect Storm, subluxation, repeated medications, neurophysiological onslaught that overstimulated the adrenals and locked the sympathetic nervous system into a state of dominance. That’s not a behavioral disorder. That’s a nervous system that has been pushed past its limits and never given the support it needs to come back down.

Natural Approaches to Childhood Illness: The Two-Shelf Method [21:01 – 27:28]

Dr. Tony: So let’s get to the good. When a child starts showing congestion, immune challenges, what’s the right response? What are you lining up to support their defense systems instead of attacking them with antibiotics?

Jessica Pawlicki: We’re not a family that throws the entire cabinet at children every day for prevention. We save the big tools for when they’re actually needed. When that approach is used, targeted, not daily, we see better outcomes in the office consistently.

When we need to respond to an active immune challenge, we start with the basics: vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc. Our soil is severely depleted of minerals and vitamins, and our food supply reflects that, even families eating well can’t get adequate amounts from diet alone. When given at higher doses in short bursts at the onset of illness, the body responds well.

The goal is not to stop symptoms, it’s to support the body in getting through them efficiently. If we need to go further, we bring in colloidal silver, oregano oil, and other herbs that are antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral.

Dr. Tony: I love this because it mirrors how I think about the supplement cabinet at home. We literally have a two-shelf cabinet. The first shelf is the basics, vitamin D, vitamin C, the daily foundations. The second shelf is the heavy hitters: the specific functional medicine protocols we go to Jessica’s team for.

Here’s the key lesson I didn’t learn until years into practice: if you give immune-boosting supplements like elderberry and colloidal silver every day all winter as prevention, they lose their potency. The body adapts. Save them for when the immune system actually needs them, and when you deploy them in response to a real challenge, they hit hard and they work.

And then, alongside all of this: get adjusted. When a child in an active immune response gets a Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic adjustment, what we call a boost adjustment, we see their fever temporarily increase and their congestion start moving. They’re finally draining. The mucus starts to clear through the gut and sinuses. That’s the immune system being freed up to do what it was designed to do.

“The goal is not to stop symptoms, it’s to support the body in getting through them efficiently. However the body is working, support it. Don’t stop it.”, Jessica Pawlicki, APRN, FNC-P

When Antibiotics Are Actually Necessary [27:29 – 28:55]

Dr. Tony: We’ve been clear that antibiotics are overused, but they also save lives. Our kids have needed them. So where are the appropriate lines? When do you reach for antibiotics in your practice?

Jessica Pawlicki: Some conditions can sometimes be managed naturally, but there are cases where antibiotics are genuinely appropriate, and we don’t hesitate to use them when needed. For us, the clearer indications are:

  • Urinary tract infections
  • Pneumonias
  • Staph infections and cellulitis involving soft tissue
  • Strep, with important nuance

Strep is where it gets complex. People can try herbs, gargles, and natural protocols for strep, and some see success. But we’re now seeing the consequences of antibiotic resistance developing from strep bacteria, and the neurological risk from undertreated strep is high enough that we take it very seriously.

It’s worth noting: we stopped using the first-line conventional treatment for strep, penicillins and amoxicillin, close to a year ago. We kept seeing kids come back, and we were watching resistance develop. So we built a different protocol. When families end up at urgent care during a weekend and get standard penicillin, it happens, life happens, we then work to rebuild from there. The misuse and overuse isn’t always intentional. But we’re watching the consequences accumulate.

PANDAS and PANS: Biofilms, Leaky Brain, and What Really Works [28:56 – 34:00]

Dr. Tony: Let’s preview PANDAS and PANS, because strep, when left to grow unchecked in a child with an already compromised gut and upper cervical subluxation affecting vagus nerve function, doesn’t stay in the throat.

Jessica Pawlicki: Exactly. So the gut is likely already leaky from previous antibiotic rounds. Take that leaky gut, add strep bacteria, and now strep is crossing through the gut wall and into the bloodstream. Because strep is located so close to the upper cervical region and the vagus nerve, it can cross the blood-brain barrier as well. We now have a “leaky brain.”

What follows is a sudden onset of symptoms, neurological, atypical. We see tics, OCD-like behaviors, and severe anxiety appearing almost overnight. I had a parent just yesterday who had been traveling everywhere trying to find answers. Nobody believed her because the lab test came back negative. But her child changed overnight. That sudden onset is the hallmark we look for.

The strep bacteria is intelligent by design too. It doesn’t sit passively, it builds what we call biofilms, which I explain to parents like an aura around the bacteria. Antibiotics can hit the bacteria on the outside, but if you’re not addressing the biofilm itself, you’re not reaching the core. Standard protocols don’t work on biofilm-protected strep.

What we do is specialized testing to identify exactly where we need to target, then we use protocols that systematically break down the biofilm, I describe it like Pac-Man eating away at it, while supporting the body with specific probiotic strains that help the system recover and thrive from the inside. Then we rebuild.

Dr. Tony: And on our side, PANDAS and PANS children have the most complex subluxation patterns we work with. The vagal nerve dysfunction and subluxation lock in deeper into the neurospinal system. Where you think the primary restriction is, it’s usually not there. You have to work through multiple layers before you find the actual pattern. It requires patience and precision, and it’s why we love working with Jessica’s team on these cases, because the healing has to be sequential. You can’t skip steps.

“The pharmaceutical system has a lifetime customer instead of a ten-day customer. The more a child takes these medications and has the ear tubes and tonsil surgery, the louder they’re screaming toward asthma, allergies, and a lifetime on over-the-counter and prescription medications.”, Dr. Tony Ebel, DC, CACCP

Parent Education, Empowerment, and Finding the Right Provider [34:01 – 45:00]

Dr. Tony: Jessica, you do something that most practices don’t, you treat every child as their own case. You’re not running them through a protocol based on their diagnosis; you’re building individualized healing plans. Why is parent education such a core part of how your practice operates?

Jessica Pawlicki: Because these kids are not all the same. A child who struggled from birth is different from a child who was perfectly healthy until a sudden change at age four. You have to look at all of it. And the thing that allows us to do that is our cash-pay model, because I can spend the time needed. I don’t have to see a patient every ten minutes to meet billing requirements. I give families the time their situation actually calls for.

And honestly, my promise to families is: when we talk in six weeks, the trajectory is going to be moving the right direction. I can promise that because I know we’re approaching it the right way. If a child is not getting better, I’m not satisfied with where we’re at. Full stop.

Dr. Tony: I’ll say something here that parents might not expect us to say: if you want a provider who truly gets to the root cause and tells you the truth, you are looking for a cash-pay practitioner. It’s a real warning sign if your chiropractor or functional medicine provider accepts insurance, because by doing so, they’ve accepted someone else telling them what’s best for your child.

Insurance is not health insurance. You can only use it when things go catastrophically wrong. It is a system not organized around results, and in fact, it’s structurally better for the system if your child stays sick. That’s not what I say about the individual clinicians on the frontline of it, many of them are miserable working inside that model, but the system itself does not have your child’s best interest in mind.

Jessica Pawlicki: And the insurance model takes so much away from patient care. Prior authorizations, letter-writing, submitting and resubmitting, all of that is time I’m not spending face-to-face with a family who needs me. The moment you remove that obstruction, everything gets better. The care gets better, the outcomes get better, and the parents feel heard.

Dr. Tony: This podcast, every expert we bring on, every parent story we share, it’s about helping you know who to trust. Every provider who comes through these episodes is someone who takes the time to listen, who gets to the root cause, who partners with you instead of dictating to you. Finding that person, that’s the most important decision you can make for your child’s health.

Jessica, what’s your take-home message for every parent listening today?

Jessica Pawlicki: Trust your gut. No one knows your child’s situation better than you do. If something doesn’t seem right, keep asking. Keep looking. Share these podcasts, share these conversations, because one parent hearing this at the right moment can mean a child’s life is changed. Your child means the world to us. Until your child is better, we’re not satisfied. Keep fighting for them.

Dr. Tony: Every kid counts. That’s tattooed on our hearts. Every share of this podcast is a potential connection point that gets a child and a family out of the storm. We’re here for that, every episode, every single time.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does antibiotic overuse do to a child’s gut?

Antibiotics eliminate both harmful and beneficial bacteria, disrupting the gut microbiome during a window when 85% of the immune system is being built in the gut. In children under two, this damage shows up as GI distress, food allergies, eczema, and immune dysfunction. Functional stool analysis typically reveals insufficient digestive enzymes, malabsorption, and dangerous bacterial overgrowths, conditions that compound and become harder to reverse with each additional antibiotic course.

What actually causes recurring ear infections in children?

The root cause is usually subluxation, restriction in the upper cervical spine that impairs drainage and neurological function. A child with subluxation cannot properly drain their ears and sinuses. When antibiotics are added without addressing subluxation, they damage the gut and create food allergies, which drive inflammation that keeps fluid building in the ears. Each infection leaves the ears more sensitive than before. Antibiotics treat the symptom; subluxation correction treats the cause.

What is PANDAS, and how does strep cause it?

PANDAS (Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections) occurs when strep bacteria crosses a leaky gut wall, enters the bloodstream, and penetrates the blood-brain barrier, causing sudden-onset tics, OCD behaviors, and severe anxiety in children who previously showed no neurological symptoms. Strep protects itself with biofilms that standard antibiotics cannot fully address. Effective treatment requires specialized protocols that break down the biofilm layer, targeted antibiotics, and gut rebuilding with specific probiotic strains.

When do children actually need antibiotics?

According to Jessica Pawlicki, APRN, FNC-P, antibiotics are clearly indicated for urinary tract infections, pneumonias, strep throat, and staph infections involving soft tissue. For ear infections and most upper respiratory infections, which are frequently viral, antibiotics are not indicated and cause more harm than they address. The goal should always be to identify whether an antibiotic is actually necessary, use the most targeted option when it is, and actively rebuild the gut microbiome afterward.

What can I do instead of antibiotics when my child gets sick?

Jessica Pawlicki recommends starting with the immune basics: vitamin C, vitamin D, and zinc at higher doses in short bursts, not as year-round prevention, which reduces their effectiveness. The body needs to move through illness, not have symptoms suppressed. Getting a boost chiropractic adjustment during active illness helps the body drain and mobilize immune response. If more support is needed, herbs like oregano oil and colloidal silver can be added. Save the heavy-hitters for when they’re actually needed so they retain their potency.

How do I find a functional pediatric practitioner near me?

Dr. Tony Ebel and Jessica Pawlicki both recommend seeking out cash-pay practitioners, providers who aren’t constrained by insurance billing requirements and can spend the time each child’s case actually needs. For Neurologically-Focused Chiropractic Care specifically, the PX Docs Directory connects families with trained pediatric chiropractors across the country. For functional medicine, Well-Rooted Pediatrics (wellrootedpediatrics.com) serves families in the Chicago suburbs.

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