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Daily ibuprofen


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A few months back, our pediatrician mentioned some obscure study that postulated a chicken/egg theory about our kids relating to the inflamation of the blood brain barrier, basically implying that by managing the inflammation long term, maybe the strep won't hit as badly.

 

It was an interesting theroy, and with Dr. M's support, we started daily dosing of our son with ibuprofen - careful not to exceed the recommended daily dose. Initally he was taking it 2x a day, in the morning, and again in the afternoon about 8 hours later. He still got strep with this regimen, but each episode was less severe than in the past. His last bout with strep was in late April, and we added a rifampin boost to the augmentin. With the exception of a myco p infection last month that only saw a very mild rise in symptoms...he's been fairly stable - about 85-90%.

 

We now only dose him once a day - in the AM, and occasionally if we see an issues arising in the afternoon - but typically, if we see anything, it's around dinner time, which is only about 60-90 min before bed - so we just try to ride it out.

 

Anyway - on Friday we got a call from the school that there was strep in my daughters class and that she had 2 emotional meltdowns that day in school - off to the ped, and sure enough, she was also positive. My son tested negative, but the ped wrote us a script for abx just in case he took a turn over the weekend (which we haven't gotten filled). He told us to keep up the ibuprofen regimen - as it seemed to be making a noticeable difference in my son's overall behavior.

 

Now - my son has been a proverbial canary in the coal mine - he reacts VERY strongly to any sign of strep - and we have hardly seen a blip on his radar - maybe dropped to 80% from 85%. Not sure if it's the daily regimen of ibuprofen, but we've been having a good run even with muliple strep infections.

 

Just thought I'd share our experiences thus far, it has made a difference.

Edited by airial95
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So glad this is helping! if you do see liver issues or want to be proactive, you can consider something like milk thistle, which helps cleanse the liver. Both ibuprofen and most antibiotics are processed through the same liver pathway that milk thistle helps. The only thing you have to be aware of is that milk thistle can effect the rate at which certain medications are metabolized. Probably not an issue for little kids, but would be for adults. So do a google search on meds and when milk thistle would be contra-indicated. Milk thistle belongs to the ragweed family, so an allergy to it is possible. But it has worked well for my family.

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Everytime we draw blood for my son we ck the liver and haven't had any issues so far. Thanks for the milk thistle suggestion, I'll look it up and ck out if adding it to our daily regimen as a precaution makes sense!

 

I should also mention that we do supplement daily with Omega 3 and eat lots of O-3 fortified foods (the smart balance milk, butter, Voortman makes a GREAT chocolate chip cookie with 750 mg per cookie!) to help manage inflammation, but we haven't seen the results with just the O-3 that we have with ibuprofen.

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I am so glad that you are getting relief from daily ibuprofen! I have had a Dr. tell me you can use it daily for years.

 

For milk thistle you can try 1/2 the adult dose which ranges from 150 to 300mg per day. I have not noted it to be a supplement you have to ramp up dosage on or even notice a difference in anything, it is purely supportive to the liver.

 

Might I ask how you are using rifampin? we did one 10 day course and it was heaven (added to pen vk). Contemplating boosting monthly but wasn't sure how others are using it?

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We did a 10 day course of rifampin to boost the last 10 days of augmentin. We were able to keep him off abx for close to 6 weeks - with one 15 day run of azith for a myco p that didnt cause much of a flare.

 

We had been doing well until last week. Got a call from my daughters teacher saying there was strep in the class and then ahe texted me 2x that day about anxiety related meltdowns. So off to the ped, and she was positive! My son tested negative, and has neen doing fine...until last night. We saw some hyperactivity increase the last few days - but it was the last week of school so theres been lots of cupcakes, candy etc... happening everyday. We hadnt seen any of his typical OCD creep out, so we thought we were good. Last night the ODD started coming up, in addition to the hyperactivity. He got a spanking (something we rearely do, and only for life threatening situations) because he darted out into the parking lot and nearly got hit by a car. (If it wasnt for my screaming, the car wouldnt have stopped. It was raining like mad amd she wouldnt have seen him). Then this morning he came into our room and said he wet the bed. Thats our biggest strep tell...so here we are again!!

 

Luckily, our ped wrote me an rx for cefdinir for him when i was there with my daughter last week to fill jist in case. Guess Im off to the pharmacy this morning!!

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Sorry to hear about more strep in your house! I am sure you are excited school is out for at least the exposure factor.

 

Yes, health and safety come first so I understand when a parent's gotta do what a parent's gotta do.

 

We did 10 days of Rifampin and they were heaven sent. Tomorrow is the day it all came to a head one year ago and this month seems like the closest to baseline for as long as he has lasted in between IVIGs.

 

I truly hope the best for your family and hope you get it figured out how to keep strep at bay.

 

Penny

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