Can an increase in symptoms be a good sign when on a new abx?

[MMWG]

Sorry to be a total board hog. I was reading through some past posts and saw several people say their child sometimes gets worse before better. In the past, when we went on a abx, there was a slow gradual improvement of behaviors. This time, on augmentin, we saw not much either way for about 3-4 days, and now we have a rush of emotionality and a slight up of the tics. I am concerned, but we have about 5 days left on it before we check in with the doc. Can a change be good, or is this a sign we aren't on the right track? I know no one knows for sure, I just am wondering if we are stirring something up that needs to be stirred up...

 

Okay, no more posts from me this morning, I promise.

[dcmom]

My opinion would be no. I don't think an antibiotic would cause the worsening of symptoms. What you may be seeing is an increase in the autoimmune mechanism, regardless of the antibiotic.

 

I assume you had her swabbed for strep? My kids both had one exacerbation with no know cause. Our doc chalked it up to some type of stealth infection (asymptomatic strep or virus). They both had this exacerbation at the same time ?!?! which kind of does point to infection.

 

My kids also are no longer helped by antibiotics. We do prophylactic abx for strep, and if we see symptoms we do plan to increase dosage for a week, but in all of their episodes, we have had to move to immunomodulating treatments to stop the pandas episode. We have had great success with steorids, IV steroids, and pex.

 

I would consider a reasonable investigation for an illness ( thorough exam, blood test for strep titers and/or myco p), a course of strong antibiotic treatment, and possibly a steroid burst (have you done this before?).

 

Hang in there!

[peglem]

Sorry to be a total board hog. I was reading through some past posts and saw several people say their child sometimes gets worse before better. In the past, when we went on a abx, there was a slow gradual improvement of behaviors. This time, on augmentin, we saw not much either way for about 3-4 days, and now we have a rush of emotionality and a slight up of the tics. I am concerned, but we have about 5 days left on it before we check in with the doc. Can a change be good, or is this a sign we aren't on the right track? I know no one knows for sure, I just am wondering if we are stirring something up that needs to be stirred up...

 

Okay, no more posts from me this morning, I promise.

Augmentin always gives my child severe yeast problems, but once she finishes the rx and we get the yeast back under control, things get better.

[momofgirls]

Hi MMWG, your post caught my eye when I read that your son was experiencing a worsening of symptoms upon starting an antibiotic. I don't know how much you have investigated lyme disease but that can be a classic symptom of lyme. A lot of us on the board have discovered that our children had lyme and other tick borne disease with which you would see a herx response with antibiotics. Meaning a worsening of symptoms as you kill the lyme bacteria. If it were me, I would check for lyme and other tick borne disease in addition to strep. In my mind children with strep induced only symptoms would see relief from antibiotics as opposed to a worsening of symptoms. The opposite is true with lyme disease. You can read up on the lyme board and ask questions over there if you suspect this could be an issue for your son as testing and diagnosing for lyme is complicated.

Just a thought,

Kim