viral or yeast flare, first month on SCD - what does all this mean?

[Guest guest]

Hello everyone. I'm apologizing in advance for such a long post, but

I'm so confused and don't want to leave anything out in case any of

you can help. Thank you. Thank you!

My son (28-months w/ Fragile X and PDD-NOS) started with the Specific

Carbohydrate Diet almost a month ago. He's doing beautifully with it:

improved communication and social skills, and having well formed

stools pretty consistently for the first time in about a year

(unbelievable joy!). The problem is, I think he's having either a

yeast or viral flare right now, but I'm not sure which, and I don't

know what to do. We've stopped a lot of our biomedical stuff while

starting SCD, and now I'm not sure what to do next.

Before starting SCD, he was GFCFSF and following the DAN protocol,

which included a long list of vitamins, minerals, probiotics, enzymes,

EFAs, MB-12 shots, Valtrex and Fluconazole.

Just prior to beginning SCD, things were getting pretty bad: constant

diarrhea and lots of signs that he was intolerant to something we were

giving him (food, supplements, we couldn't figure it out).

In desperation, we started SCD and stopped most of his supplements

either because they were not SCD legal or we had a feeling they were

causing problems. We continued only the B-12 shots, P-5-P (Vit. B6),

liquid zinc, and S. Boulardi. The result was nearly overnight success!

Yea! We also tried him back on enzymes a few days after starting, but

quickly found out that those were not well tolerated either, so we

stopped them. I've restarted the cod liver oil with success, and will

soon be trying the probiotic goat's milk yogurt (fingers crossed). . .

Things had been fairly stable and progressing nicely for the last

three weeks, until he developed a rash on his face. At the same time,

he began waking up a lot at night, being really really fussy and

clingy during the day, and having more sensory defensiveness. I also

noticed the bloated belly was back (had been gone since starting SCD)

with gas and belching. I don't think this is just die off, because we

made it through that in the first 10 days or so, and were back to

happy days and nights again. I've been super strict about the diet –

no infractions at all. We've been steady on the same foods for several

days, so I really don't think the rash is a food reaction.

The rash is the one so many parents have described: lots of little red

pin prick spots scattered around in patches. I've seen this rash

linger, fading and flaring on different parts of his body for the last

2 years – not usually on his face, mostly on his chest and back. It

disappeared completely a few days after starting SCD, but now its back.

I've always attributed this rash to a chronic Herpes-6 infection,

which I believe my son first contracted when he had the Roseola virus

at 12 months, and soon after began having occasional " drop attack "

type seizures. He has not had a seizure since starting Valtrex, nor

did he have one in the last month while off the Valtrex. Since

beginning to read more from this and other groups, I've also wondered

if this rash and other symptoms he's having from time to time are from

yeast flaring. I'm still pretty confused about differentiating virus,

yeast and bacterial flares.

So, back to the current rash on his face . . . interestingly, while

performing his oral motor therapy, I felt a rough patch inside his

mouth that corresponded with the most concentrated area of rash on the

outside of his face. This spot was clearly tender for him. I thought

it may be some type of sore, but he wouldn't let me get a good look.

Then, just as the rash on his face began to fade, a cold sore appeared

on his upper lip just under his nose. He's never had a cold sore

before. This is the first crystal clear evidence of the HHV6 virus

I've seen.

What should I take this cold sore to mean? Is this a good sign that

his body is kicking out the virus? Or is this a bad sign that the

virus is flaring and that we need to restart the Valtrex (and of

course anti-yeast therapy).

How does this relate to the rash if at all? Is this all a sign of

virus, or is this both yeast and virus flaring?

I don't think I can give him fluconazole (its sweet, so it probably

has SCD-illegal additives), so I'm considering Candex and/or the

BrainChild anti-yeast protocol. . .

Any advice from those of you who've been through this already is

greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Kelley