Yeast infection

[landamom]

Hi all, we spoke with Dr. B today and he thinks my dd8 has a yeast infection based on the fact that she has really ramped up ticcing with no apparent other issues, and her "private part" itches like CRAZY! Has anyone else seen this in their daughter? He said yeast can definitely cause a pandas flare and that external yeast issues can signal internal yeast problems. He has prescribed Diflucan and we just had the first dose tonight.

 

Now for the questions...

- is a yeast infection the same as a yeast overgrowth?

- how well does Diflucan work?

- can I expect some herxing from the Diflucan?

- can we still take Sach b. while she is on Diflucan or will it be counter productive?

 

Thank you everyone!!

[dut]

Hi - did they swab? I would, only because I read a study that found that something like (and this is from memory) 80% of itching in girls under 12 that is assumed to be yeast, is in fact a vaginal strep infection. I was super surprised by this number. So if it hasn't been swabbed It seems like it may be a good idea just in case....

 

As for the yeast... when ds was treated with diflucan we got some herx type stuff from day 3 until day 10 or so. He was tired, extra crabby, some aching flu-type symptoms. We did lots of probiotics and sach b. The florastor literature says not to take when on antifungals. I suspect cos it negates some of it but we did it anyway. Thought it couldn't hurt even if some was killed off.

 

Hope you see some relief.

[landamom]

Thanks Dut!

She is on Zithromax and Augmentin ... Wouldn't that treat any vaginal strep? I guess I could get her a culture. I never really thought about that... Can you culture for yeast, too I wonder?

As for the Sach b. I just wonder if that contributes to a yeast infection to begin with. I don't know enough about yeast to know the differences between good and bad yeast. It's so confusing!

[dut]

The idea with sach b is that it is a non pathogenic yeast and so it doesn't cause any problems. The only exception that I've seen is that it shouldn't be used in people with a central line as there have been infections in central line patients via the central line itself.

 

The sach b competes with the candida albicans for space/food etc and thus should help battle yeast. It is also useful for c-diff where, I believe, it lowers c-diffs ability to attach to the gut somehow.

 

The rider on that is that some PANDAS kids seem to react negatively to some probiotics. I suspect that's because the gut biome affects the immune system and that PANDAS kids can be exquisitely sensitive to immune system stimulus. Both my kids have always done well on Pharmax, Culturelle and Custom Probiotics probiotics and Florastor without any negative side effects, so far

 

You can culture for yeast. Our ds has had it show up a couple of times on a throat swab culture.

 

Good luck..

[beeskneesmommy]

DS6 is alaso a pt. of Dr. B's. He has been on Azith and Augmenting daily since 7/11. He recently had a 35 day run of Diflucan. He did very well. Some herxing but overall improvement during the Diflucan run.

[LNN]

I don't have a medical reason to explain it but my DS10 doesn't do well on Sacc B. We've tried it for two extended trials and both times, he had excessive anger, impulsivity, age-inappropriate behavior - the very same symptoms he gets with yeast. When I've stopped the Sacc B, the issues resolved. So we just avoid it. I have links to sites about how good Sacc B is but for us, it just doesn't pan out. So we use a blend of different probiotics and take them at bedtime, 2-3 hrs away from abx.

 

For yeast, you may very well see a die-off for the first week - an increase in the behaviors. You may want to look into garlic or GSE as a preventative once you're done with the diflucan. Otherwise, the yeast can just come roaring back. We've been using garlic for 10 months (one 1000mg ordorless pill/day) and haven't had any yeast problems since, despite 2-3 abx at a time (DS has Lyme).

[Hopeny]

DD (also pt of Dr. tested very high for an indicator of yeast (arabinose sp?)with an integrative MD we saw. She went on Enhansa for it.She had a large red area on her bottom that I wondered if was strep that cleared up right after starting the Enhansa so I am assuming that was yeast too. My 3 yo had a bright red diaper area with bumps and I asked them to swab for strep which they did and it was negative. They gave me a steroid cream that cleared it up.

[dut]

Yeh, like LLM said yeast can be terrible to get rid of. My mom has had years of yeast issues. She did a starch/yeast free diet which she followed for 4 weeks, religiously, 4 weeks of diflucan and back filled with really high quality, good range probiotics and sach b. 3 weeks after stopping the diflucan and starch free diet it all came back just as bad as before!

 

It seems no matter what she does she just can't kick it. She's recently started supporting methylation and maybe seeing some improvement. Fingers crossed....