Loss of appetite from augmetin/biaxin - any suggestions?

[Hopeny]

My DD8 continues to recover from Lyme & co/PANDAS/Myco. Her PANDAS symptoms are all but gone. We are still battling Lyme & co pain. About 45 days into augmentin/biaxin combo she has lost her appetite. She has never been a big eater, but this is our second round of this combo which has been a miracle for her but it does seem to cause lack of appetite. Exactly the same thing happened before and when she switched to 60 days of Doxy her appetite came back, She does not have body image issues and actually worries about becoming too thin (not heading to BCH any time soon!) and I asked her and she does not feel her throat closing or anything, (with PANDAS in full force she did feel she was gagging on food), she just is not interested in food/not hungry. At this stage she has not lost major weight so I was just going to start supplementing with pediacare, but wanted to see if anyone had any suggestions to fire up the appetite. We are trying to keep sugar down because of Lyme. I do not want to take her off this combo because we are seeing amazing results. But I guess there will be a limit if this keeps up. Thanks.

[sf_mom]

You might have your LLMD check her thyroid if it continues.

[Hopeny]

I will do that, thank you. We had her tested earlier this year when arrogant rheumatologist at top NYC hospital insisted it was a thyroid problem, not Lyme, despite CDC positive test, and everything came back normal. It seems to correlate with being on this combo but I will definitely check to see.

[sf_mom]

As you probably know... thyroid problems are often an issue with chronic Lyme. It is important to at least check occasionally throughout treatment as it can alter it either way. I only know this because I am on thyroid medication. Any sudden weight gain or loss the thyroid should be checked. I do believe it is the result of recent antibiotic change though and hopefully her appetite will normalize.

Edited October 29, 2012 by SF Mom

[SSS]

I have no idea if your 8 year old would be willing, but Alka Selter Gold (has to be the Gold) is my new favorite thing.

I just started minocycline and some new herbs last week, and feel nausea and blah.

The Alka Seltzer Gold really helps- (maybe you could add stevia to it?)

[EmilyK]

I often have Biaxin for sinus and bronchitis issues. My trick is to keep my belly full nibbling all day and super hydrated. I'm on it now and drank no less than 4 mugs of chicken broth yesterday to stay hydrated. I find it cuts the horrific taste in the mouth which contributes to lack of appetite. I also use digestive enzymes. So lots of soups and meat broths if you can. Lots of probiotic too.

[airial95]

My son has eating issues with his PANDAS as well - nothing like the choking or body image issues others have talked about, more about contamination or things being "broken" or "wrong". When he was at his worst, he would go days without eating. We didn't have the correlation to the abx combo you did, but his eating issues would cycle for several weeks around a positive strep infection. Our son was/is underweight, and after checking a full metabolic panel to make sure nothing else was amiss but the OCD aspect of things - our pediatrician did give us a few helpful tips:

 

1) Since for us it was temporary (albeit recurring), our ped told us to focus on getting calories into him any way we could - supplement with pediasure to blance nutrition. If all he would eat is watermelon for 2 weeks - so be it - at least he's eating.

2) Don't relegate him to meal times. Let him graze and eat on his own terms. Keep the foods that were "acceptable" to him during that flare (and they changed EVERY time) on had and eaisly accessible to him any time he wanted, regardless of whether it spoiled his dinner. (Note: this is directly AGAINST our doctor's advice for dealing with picky eaters...but that's not what we were dealing with here)

3) Still offer him his regular meals, but don't push the issue. This was more to help us ease back into normal eating patterns when the flare started to subside. His dinner was there - but he wasn't even forced to come to the table if he didn't want to. We could always tell when he was starting to get better because he would at least sit in front of his dinner plate - even if he still couldn't eat any of it because it was "broken" (which would have been too much otherwise).

 

This plan works for us, although the 1st point was the hardest for us to concede to. Letting him eat WHATEVER we could get into him was hard - especially when his choice wasn't healthy (like the donut month!) I know you said you're trying to keep her low sugar - but maybe letting her chose food items that you'd normally not let her have free reign on might at least break the cycle?

[philamom]

I have no idea if your 8 year old would be willing, but Alka Selter Gold (has to be the Gold) is my new favorite thing.

I just started minocycline and some new herbs last week, and feel nausea and blah.

The Alka Seltzer Gold really helps- (maybe you could add stevia to it?)

Does the Alka Seltzer Gold help with the nausea?

[SSS]

For me, YES!

I have also recently finally tried the lemon squeezed in room tempature water- good too.

But for the nausea, the Alka Seltzer Gold.

I don't enjoy the drink itself, but it is fast (4 oz water)

[philamom]

For me, YES!

I have also recently finally tried the lemon squeezed in room tempature water- good too.

But for the nausea, the Alka Seltzer Gold.

I don't enjoy the drink itself, but it is fast (4 oz water)

maybe i'll see if my daughter can tolerate the gold mixed with stevia & lemon.

[Hopeny]

Thanks everyone. We are on day 8 of no power so this is my first login to my computer. i am going to ask for DD to have another thyroid workup. I can try the alka seltzer gold but she refuses even to take motrin so it may be a tough sell. What's interesting is that in what I now know as one of the Lyme years DD had a voracious appetite for sugar, i was actually starting to worry about diabetes as she was literally begging for sweets. When we started amox/doxy the sugar craving went away, so I attribute that to Lyme which I have heard from others too. I do give her some sugar stuff (donuts etc) but try to limit to a couple of times a week. What I am seeing is she is either not hungry and/or gets full from very little. When this happened before on Aug/biax she did not have any significant weight loss but it was only a 2 month period. Now she is on this and we may add bactrim until at least May/June so I will try everything.