Intestinal Yeast Overgrowth

I began researching Yeast Overgrowth in Children and I couldn't believe what I found! My little girl had almost every sign and symptom of it! I jumped on the phone and called our new GI specialist. It was a Friday afternoon (naturally), but I was able to get through to a nurse. I told her I thought my daughter had thrush. She said she would run it by the doctor and she would call me back. She called back an hour later saying it was a side effect of the medication and they could change the prescription if I wanted. Tootsie only had a few days left of her current medication so I told them we would just finish it out. Not satisfied with the answer I got, or the fact that I didn't express my concern properly, I decided to take little Toots to the Walk-in clinic. We lucked out and met with a very understanding doctor. She agreed that Tootsie could be suffering from Yeast Overgrowth. She prescribed Oral Nystatin - 5ML, 4x/day. It took a week or so to begin to see improvement. Slowly the white coating disappeared, the rectal itching went away, the night terrors - which had become nightly - STOPPED, no more fits of rage, no more intense cravings for sweets, and the anxiety gradually diminished. We finally had our girl back! I should mention too that her symptoms were so life-altering that she had to quit daycare and I ended up taking 4 months off from the dental office (I am a dental hygienist).

Within the next month Tootsie gained 6lbs and grew a whole clothing size!!! She was feeling so much better! Her interest in her appearance returned, she was ready to schedule some play dates with friends, and wanted to sign up for swimming lessons. Everything seemed to fall into place. We still had this looming feeling though - what the heck caused all of this to happen?! We went in for a follow up with Dr. L and told him that we treated her for yeast overgrowth. He listened, raise his eyebrows, said hmmm..., and typed. No other comments. I wasn't sure if he believed us or if he agreed that yeast could cause all of the symptoms. I didn't care. Our little Toots was back to her old self and that was all that mattered!

We continued on a diet low in fructose and thought we had the cat-by-the-tail! Until 2 months ago when little symptoms starting to return. Nothing crazy, just a nightmare here and a sleep walking there. Mild episodes of hyperactivity and epidsodes of what I would call a brain fog...just kind of glassed over. She was also starting to get a little gassy and had some mild cramping periodically. I called Dr. L and he wanted to attempt the breath test again. My hubby and I thought that was a terrific idea. We were eager to finally have some concrete results! So once again we geared up for the test. This is now 7 months after the last attempt. She was much stronger this time and looking/feeling healthy. She tolerated the fasting like a champ and we set off on our 2-hour journey to the lab to do this thing!

We showed up at the lab with our heads held high...little Toots had her bag of distractions (a DVD player and a new movie, a coloring book, and some playing cards)...we were ready to hunker down for 3 hours and get this darn test done and over with. She slurped down the solution (I swear it was 10oz!) and we were on our way. The nurse collected her breath 15 minutes later, then again at 30 minutes...then, just before the 45 minute collection, Tootsie vomited all over herself! Every bit of the solution! OMG - this was NOT happening!!! The nurse said, "I'm sorry, but we have to stop the test." We felt like we had been punched in the gut. It took us a month to get in, a day of fasting, a day off work, and a 2 hour drive down - FOR NOTHING! Off to the parking garage we went with our heads hung low...little toots wrapped in an absorbant drape and carrying a puke pan...

Once we got in the car I called the lab and set up our next try...again, 1 month out. I thought to myself, "How is the next time going to be any different. What if she pukes again? What will our next step be? Will we EVER get answers?"

In the following days I noticed Tootsie's tongue was coated white again. I bought her a tongue scraper and we tried scraping it for a couple days. It didn't get better and didn't appear to be plaque (being a dental hygienist, I know what plaque looks like)...so I made an appointment with our local pediatrician to see if she would treat her for yeast overgrowth. She didn't feel comfortable with that and didn't think yeast could cause all of the symptoms I described. However, she did prescribe Oral Nystatin for thrush...which was 1ML 4x/day for 2 weeks. She believed she had yeast on her tongue, but wasn't in agreement with the possibility of yeast being in her intestines. Soooo...being the type-a that I am, I couldn't rest with that diagnosis. Why would ALL of her symptoms go away last time after taking Nystatin? I went ahead and started her on the thrush dosage and decided to take a different approach...a Naturopathic approach!

I made an appointment with a Naturopath doctor - Dr. D! He was amazing. He spent over an hour with us and agreed her tongue appeared to be coated with yeast and he absolutely agreed that yeast overgrowth, in her intestine, could be causing the symptoms I described. He said he would normally dispense a holistic/herbal medication, but because of her malabsorption disorder, it was probably best to stick with Nystatin. He called in the correct dosage for intestinal yeast overgrowth - 5ML. Thank you, Dr. D! That was almost a month ago and Tootsie's tongue looks great, she is sleeping peacefully through the night, and her hyperactivity has gone away (for the most part). Which brings us to today...

I am happy to report - my little Tootsie DID IT! She completed her breath test on Thursday! This time they had her drink the solution syringe-by-syringe to prevent her from swallowing air. Last time she gulped it down with a straw. This time she had some explosive diarrhea, but that was a good sign that the fructose was moving through her. We got the results just a few hours after the test was completed. We weren't surprised that she tested positive for Fructose Malabsorption, but we were surprised that she tested strongly positive for SIBO. Dr. called in a prescription for Flagyl once again, but we held off on picking up the Rx - we'd like to try Xifaxan this time. (We'll have to wait until Monday to get things straightened out.) The Flagyl tastes terrible (like chewed up aspirin), it can cause yeast overgrowth, it is absorbed into the bloostream, and has to be taken 4x/day for 2 weeks. Xifaxan, on the other hand, works strictly in the intestines and is not absorbed into the bloodstream, it tastes better, and it is only taken twice a day for 7 days.

Our journey continues...