Diflucan or natural?

[Guest guest]

Has anyone been really glad they used diflucan or was it a bad mistake?

My son had to stop his round of vancomycin 3 days early since he

started wheezing and coughing for a few hours after each dose- grains,

potatoes and sugar used to do this to him too prior to SCD.

For several days I have noticed red cheeks, really red above his top

lip/under nose, HYPER, agressive and loud and for some reason really

blackish BMs that alternate between fairly normal and mush abt 3 times

a day. I figure now that we've knocked out some bacteria and

parasites, the yeast are having a field day in all that new room in

his gut. The doc wants us to start the 30 days of Diflucan, but Cody

has such a bad reaction to virtually every med he tries. I really

really hate any type of prescription med and use them as a last

resort. We have used olive leaf and high acidophilus for ages. The

more I read, the more I think I should rotate the antifungals and

probiotic strains (keeping legal ones only of course) since I think

his yeast have built up a tolerance to what he's taking now. I don't

know if the diflucan will jump start the yeast killing or only make

his body weaker as most meds seem to do to him.

What to do, what to do??? (big sigh....)

Janet, mom to Cody - SCD since 4-17-06, multi food allergies, leaky

gut, speech delay, high metals, MB12 shots, dairy & soy free 4 yrs, GF

plus 2 years- 5 years old

[Guest guest]

Are you getting his meds compounded to avoid allergens and illegals?

This could be a cause of the reactions you're seeing.

For us, diflucan was a miracle drug. My son responds very well to

prescription antifungals, and due to his severe food allergies he

can't tolerate most naturals. Each child is different, though, and if

your child is reacting badly to the meds (compounded) and not to the

naturals, then that's what you'll need to use.

Have you done an OAT or CDSA to identify what yeast strains you're

fighting? Different strains are tolerant/responsive to different

meds/naturals - you need to accurately match the med to the yeast

strain or it won't be effective.

Suzanne

[Guest guest]

Suzanne,

Thanks for answering! We had been getting meds compounded up until

these last few weeks. The doctor arranged with a local pharmacist

familiar with SCD and DAN for pure forms of Flagyl & Vancomycin. For

example, Cody's vancomycin was just the pure IV solution diluted w/

sterile water.

OK- as I typed that I had a " duh " moment! Aren't IV solutions based

on glucose which when I was researching his corn allergy said to avoid

since they were corn based?

Hmmm- he has IgE reactions to corn- mild, low level, but a possibility

I will look into.

Yes, Cody does seem to have problems with some of the natural herbs- I

can only give him fractions of the dose in order not to trigger

wheezing and slowly work up from there, but at the same time he does

poorly on any type of man made chemically based product.

We have done an OAT recently, but it's been a year or two since the

CDSA and no they didn't culture the results to see what would work.

At that time he didn't show bacteria or parasites, just yeast.

We feel he picked up the bacteria and parasites last summer from the

beach, a hotel hot tub and/or a nasty lake we visited in a two week

period.

Another thing to ask the doc about!

He was doing so well on the SCD, I am wondering if I jumped the gun on

the meds and didn't give the diet time to work on it's own.

It's so hard to decide what is right to do and what is not when I

would do anything to get him totally well.

Sometimes I am his own worst enemy with my great intentions that fall

so short.

Thanks for the feedback and letting me process my thoughts out loud-

most helpful!

Janet, mom to Cody- 5 yrs old- multi food allergies plus more- SCD

since 4-17-06

>

> Are you getting his meds compounded to avoid allergens and illegals?

> This could be a cause of the reactions you're seeing.

>

> For us, diflucan was a miracle drug. My son responds very well to

> prescription antifungals, and due to his severe food allergies he

> can't tolerate most naturals. Each child is different, though, and

if

> your child is reacting badly to the meds (compounded) and not to the

> naturals, then that's what you'll need to use.

>

> Have you done an OAT or CDSA to identify what yeast strains you're

> fighting? Different strains are tolerant/responsive to different

> meds/naturals - you need to accurately match the med to the yeast

> strain or it won't be effective.

> Suzanne

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Janet,

Wow, it sounds like your son is a tough allergy kid like mine is. My

boy only tolerates about 12 foods (just meats, veggies, and oils).

You are doing a great job figuring all this out - you clearly know a

lot about him and it sounds like you've got a good DAN! doctor.

I bet you're right that it could be the glucose in the IV solution.

Let me know what you learn, will you? Was this administered orally

or in IV? I have found out there's a difference between pharmacists

who occasionally do compounding (most do) and specialty compounding

pharmacies. Unless this pharmacist does a lot of compounding, it

would be worthwhile to find one - nearby or on the internet - who's

familiar with these issues - they should ask you about ALL your

child's sensitivities (ours keeps a file on my son and we update it

regularly with his new allergens), and avoid them. Our local

compounding pharmacy has done a great job, for instance, of finding

us a source of corn-free glycerine and safe cellulose.

It is very tough fighting yeast if there are problems tolerating

both meds and naturals. I wish I knew the answer. I'd love to talk

with you more about how you and your DAN are handling this - offline

if you want. We haven't used naturals but we can't keep using the

meds forever, either.

I know for my son, his yeast was severe enough that the SCD wouldn't

have done the job alone. He's been SCD for 3 months and on

antifungals the whole time, we stopped for a week and his yeast came

roaring back - he had an immediate, severe regression. I'm not sure

what his DAN! plans to do when he's done with this course of

treatment in 2 weeks, and I probably should have a plan in place,

but I don't. We also just started Pentasa for inflammation, but

aren't seeing any results yet (the only difference is that he's

pooping 3-5 times a day).

If you're interested, I have a small yahoo group for parents of kids

with autism who also have extreme/multiple food allergies. Most of

them actually have more IgE than IgG allergies, but we have lots of

both. We tend to get severe gut kids. Some have tubes and EE. Most

though are just allergic/leaky gut kids. Let me know if you want the

URL (anybody else is welcome too!).

I look forward to talking more with you!

Suzanne

>

> Suzanne,

> Thanks for answering! We had been getting meds compounded up

until

> these last few weeks. The doctor arranged with a local pharmacist

> familiar with SCD and DAN for pure forms of Flagyl & Vancomycin.

For

> example, Cody's vancomycin was just the pure IV solution diluted

w/

> sterile water.

> OK- as I typed that I had a " duh " moment! Aren't IV solutions

based

> on glucose which when I was researching his corn allergy said to

avoid

> since they were corn based?

> Hmmm- he has IgE reactions to corn- mild, low level, but a

possibility

> I will look into.

> Yes, Cody does seem to have problems with some of the natural

herbs- I

> can only give him fractions of the dose in order not to trigger

> wheezing and slowly work up from there, but at the same time he

does

> poorly on any type of man made chemically based product.

> We have done an OAT recently, but it's been a year or two since

the

> CDSA and no they didn't culture the results to see what would work.

> At that time he didn't show bacteria or parasites, just yeast.

> We feel he picked up the bacteria and parasites last summer from

the

> beach, a hotel hot tub and/or a nasty lake we visited in a two

week

> period.

> Another thing to ask the doc about!

> He was doing so well on the SCD, I am wondering if I jumped the

gun on

> the meds and didn't give the diet time to work on it's own.

> It's so hard to decide what is right to do and what is not when I

> would do anything to get him totally well.

> Sometimes I am his own worst enemy with my great intentions that

fall

> so short.

> Thanks for the feedback and letting me process my thoughts out

loud-

> most helpful!

> Janet, mom to Cody- 5 yrs old- multi food allergies plus more- SCD

> since 4-17-06

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Suzanne,

Yes, Cody does have a lot of allergies (IgE and IgG) and at one point

seemed to develop a new one each week. Oddly, not a single allergy to

meat. Mostly grains, potatoes (white and sweet) and stuff that is

illegal on SCD anyway so this diet has been liberating. I took a deep

breath and threw the eggs back into his diet even though they were

high IgG on every test since he was 3. No apparent problems from them

so far but I am ready to remove if needed. Same for bananas- his

other highest IgG food.

We do love our doctor- Dr Mumper- she is fantastic and so is her whole

staff. She is the one who really encouraged us to try SCD.

We have also been working with a naturopath since Cody was almost 2

and she has helped a lot too.

The vancomycin was an IV solution, but it was diluted with sterile

water in order to make it be able to be taken orally. From what I've

read on the ARI site- when taken orally, the vancomycin will not be

absorbed by the body- it directly goes where needed targeting gut bugs

(but also the good guys hence the following yeast overgrowth).

The pharmacist prepared the same meds for her own child and he is also

on SCD so I feel she would've kept the vanco free of illegals, but I

will call and find out if glucose was in it for my own curiosity's

sake.

My son is not labeled autistic or even ADHD (but at one time the

schools would've labeled him ADHD I'm sure because I'm a former

teacher - that's better thankfully), but I would still be interested

in more info about your group since we share many biochemical concerns

w/ autistic kids (high baby hair metals, MB12 shots, speech delay,

gluten intolerance, leaky gut, allergies). He has had various vague

behaviors and traits that often made us worried (much time as a

toddler lying on floor staring at ceiling fan, lining up books and

blocks in endless rows- but not playing with them, an utter lack of

imaginative self play, extreme hyper behavior, obsession with one

topic to the point of driving us nuts!- nothing definable but on top

of his biomedical problems enough to concern us sometimes).

Janet, mom to Cody- SCD since 4-17-06- multi food allergies, leaky

gut, asthma- currently off meds, MB12 shots 1 1/2 yrs, dairy & soy

free 4 yrs, GF 2 plus years, etc etc!