GI Distress- HELP! (long)

[Guest guest]

Hi-

OK, I'm going to go out on a limb here in hopes that somebody can

point me in the right direction. Brett's GI problems are starting to

give me GI distress of my own, and I need to know if anyone can help

us! I'll try to be brief, but I think the " whole story " is important

for clues as to what might be going on...

Over a year ago, we took Brett off dairy because of chronic severe

constipation (we didn't yet know he was autistic). From then on, his

stools have been overly soft to runny. This was easier for me to

deal with than the pain of constipation, so I was happy.

Last October, we started seeing a GI doc who put Brett on a course of

Nystatin and Flagyl because a " dysbiosis metabolic markers " urine

test from a local lab showed high yeast/fungal markers and high

bacterial/protozoal markers. (There were no stool tests done at the

time.) The diarrhea didn't improve, so I figured the meds didn't

work. However, no follow-up testing was done and we ignored the

problem for a while. (Sorry- I was still unaware of the importance

of the gut in treating autism!)

In February, we started the gfcf diet with great behavioral results,

but still no improvement in stools.

In March, we went back to the GI doc, who ran some stool studies that

showed an overgrowth of blastocystis hominus. We did another course

of Flaygl that didn't work (bugs still in stool), and started Brett

on acidophilus plus (1/2t 2x day). Now, we're on ioquinodol, which

is supposed to be stronger. It's a 3-week course, and we're about 2

weeks into it.

We went to the DAN conference a week and a half ago, and they sold us

on the importance of colostrum and zinc. We added those last Monday,

(one week into the ioquinodol) and the diarrhea got REALLY bad- 3-4

very loose foul-smelling poops each day. We stopped the colostrum

after 4 days, and his stools have improved a little. However, they

are so acidic (or maybe caustic?) that they are burning his poor

little bottom. Last night, he screamed in pain while I changed his

diaper and put some A & D ointment on his bottom.

OK- on to the questions:

Could the zinc be causing (or contributing to) the problem? We're

just giving him a 1/2t at bedtime.

Was the colostrum causing the problem, and it's still in his system?

Or maybe we didn't do enough colostrum and the diarrhea is an initial

reaction?

Could this be a yeast problem? Brett frequently has yeasty rashes,

but he doesn't have one right now. Just red and painful looking all

over.

The GI doc told us last Friday to stop the ioquinodol if it was

causing the diarrhea and to call him this week and let him know what

happened. But then I remembered that we started the colostrum at the

same time the diarrhea got really bad, so we decided to stop it

first. I am not keen on stopping the ioquinodol after 2 of 3 weeks

and leaving just the hardy bugs in his system.

I am planning to call the GI doc again today, but was hoping to get

some insight from ya'll before I do. This is SO frustrating! We'd

really like to start working on potty training now that preschool is

over for the summer, but we can't even start that until the diarrhea

is cleaned up. We also want to start chelation, but can't until the

GI tract is stabilized. UGH!!!!

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer...

Hugs-

Sue