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I have found it profoundly enlightening to read about some of the obsessions and what parents thought were associated to them. I know some of these things are pretty personal, but finding patterns and possible solutions can be very helpful. So, my DD is 10. She was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder when she was about 3. My daughter was adopted at birth from my niece. We believe she was exposed to several drugs during pregnancy, and the father was a heavy user. She is "normal" from all first impressions, but she was obsessive about intense events. Like she might get hit by another child and she would not let it go for months. Then it was things like "a child threw up on the rug" and she would never sit on the rug again. But basically, it was very manageable and I that concerned. We had therapists for her for anything we thought she needed. She did seem to get sick easily. And she got strep, and pneumonia, even the H1N1 (we think all did) she started getting a little worst. She also have a couple of stays in the hospital for UTI's and blockages. She was diagnosed with gastro-paresis was one low doses of amoxicillin for motility from a very young age. Eventually that stopped working. So we went to an antihistamine called cyproheptadine. She is still on it. She has been on antibiotics several times, for ear infections, pneumonia, etc. She had blood work a couple of times and developed a phobia of needles. I had major heart surgery she was about 5 and that might have affected her. With the last time we needed blood work, she had a major panic attack, hyperventilating, etc. Mostly, her major obsession was with getting a fever. She needed me to check her forehead at least 2-4 times an hour, all day, every day. Then it was fear that she would throw up. Every 15 minutes she would say she was going to throw up. She got sick at Applebees about 3 years ago and everyday something reminded her that event. She didn't want to go out to eat because it reminded to her of that. Needless to say, we never went back to Applebees. Going from appointment to another would trigger major anxiety, but once there, she was fine. I started her on a powder probiotic, 5 billion, called Culturelle, about 3 weeks ago. She started having better days, but also somethings got worst. She seemed to get more fearful of others and their germs, but less about her forehead. But, she started playing for friends again. I started her on Renewed Life 30 billion, and her anxiety seemed to almost go away. But her ability to process her frustration also disappeared. One night she physically violent with us, the next day she attacked another student (her niece) in school for not getting out a seat she wanted. My Pro-Kids (Pro- 15) got here the next day and I stopped the Renewed Life and gave her the new Pro-Kids. Everything seemed to just settle and calm. She had a wonderful day. She went to her gymnastic lesson without complaint, she played with her niece, (got annoyed but worked through it) and went to the store with us without complaining. She kept saying how good she felt, her stomach didn't hurt. I began to question about things like, "did she feel spoiled" (a common one), did she feel anxious, (very common), was anything reminding her of Applebees, (very common) and she answered "no" to all it. She checked her forehead once today. Even though I'm pretty excited, I know this stuff is never really over. But, the idea that there is hope is strong with me.

This popped up in my Facebook feed this morning. Long suspected by many (if not most) autism families, but encouraging research nonetheless. http://www.ozy.com/fast-forward/autisms-gut-brain-connection/33302

Did anyone else read the NYX article from last Sunday on the microbiome and autoimmune disorders: Educate Your Immune System? It talks a lot about autoimmune disorders. I know my DC was on lots of antibiotics as a baby...Perhaps a connection? http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/05/opinion/sunday/educate-your-immune-system.html Has anyone tried a probiotic enema? It seems like one of those "couldn't hurt to try" (well maybe a bit uncomfortable...). Does anyone else know of formal research (or anecdotal reports) on this? Here is another post regarding probiotic treatment. I guess a lot of the oral probiotics don't get past the digestive system, so the direct route may work better. At least it is easier than a fecal transplant. http://latitudes.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=23342

Has anybody read the book Brain Maker by David Perlmutter? http://smile.amazon.com/Brain-Maker-Microbes-Protect-Brain%C2%96/dp/0316380105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1443638847&sr=8-1&keywords=brain+maker In chapter 9 he talks about a PANDAS (Tourette's?) kid (Christopher)...I'm not sure Perlmutter has a great grasp on PANDAS (since in his mind, it's a form of Tourette's). However, what he had to say was interesting. He treated this kid (mainly tics, didn't mention other symptoms, so maybe he was really TS, not PANDAS/PANS, with an enema enriched with probiotics, with good results. This book does have some interesting points btw...definitely parts I don't agree with (such as he claims it's been proven that vaccines aren't a cause autism), and IMHO he blames too many problems on antibiotics (and not necessarily the infection for which the antibiotics were prescribed, or the Tylenol which was likely given with the infection/antibiotics). But, nonetheless, he brings up some interesting ideas. Also, has anybody heard of using pro-biotic enriched enemas? It's definitely an interesting idea.

Copied from another forum: "I was listening to Dr David Perlmutter's amazing talk on the Autoimmune Summit today. (His talk is available for free until Mon 11/17 at 10 am eastern time...here is the link: http://autoimmunesummit.com/david-perlmutter/ He shared about a 13 year old male patient he had from Canada with a serious tic/movement disorder. Dr P took a good history and noted that this boy had lots of infections and antibiotics at a young age. His mother was already giving him probiotics, but Dr P wondered just how much of the probiotics were actually making it past the stomach and into the bowel? It was possible that very little was making it into the bowel. At the end of their appt, Dr P told the mother to go to the pharmacy that day (they were scheduled to return to Canada the following day) and get an enema. He instructed her to add 6 caps of probiotics to the enema and administer it. Fortunately, the 13 yr old was open to this since he was not finding help elsewhere, and was grateful that Dr P was thinking outside the box. Dr P said conventional medicine's answer to a tic disorder would be to prescribe Haldol or another antipsychotic drug. The next morning, the mother called Dr P at his office and told him that after administering the probiotic enema the night before, her son's tic disorder had stopped! The 13 yr old continues to administer daily probiotic enemas to himself with up to 12 caps of broad spectrum probiotics per enema. That is quite an amazing testament to the power of our immune system in our gut! Dr P said that when recovering from any disease/illness,especially inflammatory conditions and autoimmune conditions, we should focus on restoration of gut bacteria." "Dr P also told about an MS patient who had a gait disorder and also had one pupil that was larger than the other. This person had a history of Lyme disease and had taken lots of antibiotics. The patient had 6 fecal transplants. After the fecal transplants, the patient's gait and pupil became normal! Dr P said the gut wall lining is only one cell thick and mediates what gets in and out (intestinal permeability or leaky gut)."

So I noticed that DS' breath last night had a weird fermented smell. Kind of like he had a couple beers. I smelled him this morning and it is not so bad. Smelled his skin too but he smells normal ("mommy!! what are you doing?!?!") . I started thinking about yeast overgrowth; he's been on abx for 3 weeks and does take 50 billion units of probiotics. He's also on Sacc. B., which is a yeast, so I'm wondering if I should cut back on the Sacc.B for a bit. He takes his last abx around dinner, and his probiotics right before bed (as per the ND's advice). He hasn't had any tummy issues. Has this happened to anyone else? What should I do?

Just picked up the April issue of Psychology Today. Pg. 40 "The Psychobiotic Revolution". "It may be possible to relieve anxiety and depression solely by manipulating bacteria in the gut." "Recently, he coined a term for the live organisms in the gut that are psychoactive and of potential benefit to those suffering from a variety of psychiatric illnesses - psychobiotics." (Yeah, they are just probiotics...) Some interesting info: A cocktail of Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum was found to reduce cortisol levels and curb inflammation. Gut microbes that actively secrete GABA are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. (Lack of GABA in the brain may bring on the negative ruminations long linked with depression.) Bifidobacterium infantis as a probiotic alters levels of serotonin - just like Prozac. Lactobacillus reuteri, delivered in either yogurt or supplement form, improves mood, appearance, and general health by increasing levels of oxytocin. B. infantis, L. reuteri and several other strains work throughout the immune system by attacking inflammation, a hallmark of depression. Lactobacillus rhamnosus reduces anxiety and depression and beefs up production of GABA receptors. B. infantis and L. reuteri work on the immune system, where they suppress proinflammatory cytokines. HERE's what makes me aggravated about this article. Instead of encouraging probiotic use NOW, they talk about these "therapeutic psychobiotics being a long way from reaching the market", but that you can still eat yogurt and fermented foods. They say that most probiotics don't make it past our stomach acid - but this article is from Psychology Today, so I'm sure it's not "Pharmaceutically Correct" to push anything that is already out there on the market. Sorry, but I'm fully aware that most research is paid for by the pharmaceutical companies, and they want to get their money grubbing paws on this. All of the microbes listed are in probiotics I have here in my refrigerator, and some of them are specifically made to get to the gut. That rant being said, I'm just glad that psychiatry is starting to see the light of day! Finally realizing that the brain is actually attached to our bodies, and affected by them! Hoorah! Since I pretty much typed out the whole article, I guess I should give the author credit! Thank you, Jordan Davidson.