antibiotics tics candida?

[TessaKrista]

I have now come to realize a very very strong connection between giving my child antibiotics, and the sudden onset of throat clearing / cough tics that immediately accompany the abx. I wondered about this before, and now it is totally confirmed. In fact, I went over my son's history on the calendar, and see that he has been on abx every month at least 5 to 10 days per month. Each time, something either continues or starts. I also realize that just because he has a sore throat or a fever and sore throat that his ped was right, it does not mean strep. I have been going to the walk in clinic that has given him abx without swabbing. The last time he was sick and I felt funny, the other walk in swabbed us, but gave us abx anyways. He had 9 days of azith at high doses and guess what... he started with this stupid throat clearing tic that is still there. In fact, now in bed at night, he also has a snort, that he wonders why he has it.

 

I decided to go back to the place that swabbed us and everything was negative. Wow... I feel horrible.

 

This kid has to be full of yeast. He was being medicated on and off and on and off perhaps for no reason, which sucks.

 

*Funny that I made that connection way back in march or april i think it was, but wasn't sure. Now I see that it is correct. Biaxin made a head tic come out. But azith makes the throat clearing come out. Then, when he drinks juice or eats bread or pasta, it is worse. Bad news.

 

What should i do?

[TessaKrista]

There are many kids on this forum that are on prophylactic abx. My son is not on them prophylactically, but has been on them on and off...and on and off every month for fear of strep around us by other kids. Now I know that it is best to swab to confirm, but I was so worried about his second exaserbation of pandas when he was a different kid, that I didn't want that again. But... now I am dealing with a clear cut issue of throat clearing induced by abx. That has become obvious.

 

What about all of the kids who are on abx prophylactically? Is it different then starting and stopping? what are some probs with staring and stopping and being on them once per month.?

[LNN]

I don't know the answer on the effects of pulsing abx vs. continuous abx for any length of time. Both will assault the "good" as well as the bad bacteria in the gut. So the need to repopulate with probiotics is really important in both cases. The threat of yeast overgrowth is also high in both cases. So I personally think it's important to use not just probiotics but other anti-fungals like garlic, grapefruit seed extract or something similar on a regular basis.

 

Yeast has been the cause of some behaviors I initially thought were a Pans flare. But it hasn't been the only non-infection trigger. My son developed tics (which had been gone for 18 months) when he started a particularly aggressive abx program for lyme last year. It was a result of herxing and his body not being able to keep up/eliminate the toxins being released from the dying bacteria.

 

When you start treating a chronic infection, or supplementing nutrients such as zinc or D or methylfolate, you can re-start some under-performing body systems, especially the body's immune and detox systems. In addition to triggering a herx response, you can also turn a trickle of toxins in your waste elimination system into a flood. Metals, fungals, viruses - can also start to come into play as you make the body stronger. These things might've been there all along but move from back-burner issues to bigger issues as the body is better able to deal with them. So detox becomes really important.

 

So whether you pulse abx or use them long term, I think the appearance of tics tells you that something is going on, but I'm not sure you can assume it's yeast. It could be several other things. I'd suggest asking for a blood test to detect yeast antibodies to better hone in on what's behind the tics. I'd also put these other things on your radar. If your son is on a roller coaster of sore throats and illness and can't seem to stay well, it could be a sign that some other chronic condition(s) (infection, metals, virus, fungal infection, nutritional deficiencies) are in the picture.

 

Directly back to your question, any time you use abx, you're reducing the levels of good bacteria in the gut. In addition to the other things I've mentioned, you absolutely need to add good bacteria back and use anti-fungals (prescription or natural) to keep yeast (which is always present in the gut) from overwhelming and inflaming the gut.