Herxing

[Joyfulgreetings]

Hi all. I was wondering if anyone has found anything to help with herxing from antibiotics. DS was just put on a very high dose. First time. I believe he has had PANDAS since he was 3 but I just recently stumbled on to PANDAS and Dr Rao in Plano Texas is treating him. He isn't acting horrible at home but at school he is falling apart. I will take him out if I have to but he absolutely LOVES school. I hate to take it away. Any supplements or anything to help? Thanks in

Advance.

[Joyfulgreetings]

Hi, thanks for your reply. We are seeing Dr Rao in Plano, Tx. He was recommended on Pandasnetwork.org. He did do all ton of labs but I don't know which ones yet. We will get the results back in a week. However, he said based on his history he wanted to go ahead and start treating him. DS7 had his tonsils and adenoids removed this past summer. They were very enlarged and covering half his airway causing sleep apnea. Now I know they were probably enlarged from the pandas. He went NUTS the first week after the T&A but then he was my sweet boy that I remember from when he was 2. Then school started and about 2 weeks in, the monster came back. I was at wits end and started googling when I ran accross a post on this forum and thought it sounded just like DS7. I was shocked. It was classic PANDAS.

He is on Augmentin 600 twice a day. He's doing crazy things at school like pouring milk on his best friend's head, arguing with teachers, crying some, fighting with friends... When I picked him up from school yesterday he was bawling because he was so mad at himself for getting a note in his binder. He gets notes regularly but he had gone 2 weeks without getting one and he was so proud. It was hard to see that. But the craziness of yesterday was something his teacher said she hadn't seen in several weeks.

Dr Rao said to expect herxing for a few days up to 2 weeks. DS has only been on abx for 3 days so we will see. He said we could cut the dose if it gets too bad but I really would like to just get through it as fast as possible, ya know?

I hope I answered all your questions. This is a lot to understand but I'm trying to do my research and learn as much as I can. Thanks!!!

[rowingmom]

When we started treatment DD11's first herx was her worst one. It lasted a couple of weeks, and to make matters worse I knew nothing about detoxing, or helping the body to get rid of the toxins produced by her treatment. Epsom salt baths work well, as does lemon water sweetened with stevia. Keep the bowels moving with chia or psyllium. Some use clay or charcol supplements to bind toxins in the digestive tract to keep them from re-entering the body, but I prefer just to move things on out. Search "detox" and "herxing" in the lyme and pandas/pitand forums here. You will find a lot of information. Addressing inflammation caused by toxins is helpful as well. Many parents use motrin as an anti-inflammatory during flares.

Edited February 12, 2013 by rowingmom

[LNN]

Ditto Rowingmom - we used to use binders like clay or charcoal but now just rely on making sure we have daily bowel movements. You need to keep the waste moving out of the body. Two things that help are a magnesium supplement and psyillium husk capsules. We use 200mg magnesium every other day. But the best dose is the one that gives you a daily BM that's normal consistency. Too much will give you a loose stool and not enough won't give you a daily movement. So play with dose with that goal. The psyillium husk is something doctors recommend for middle aged and older folks for "regularity". It basically acts like a little sponge, drawing water into the bowels, keeping things moving and providing "fiber" to keep the colon clean.

 

The other things you can use fall into two categories - antioxidants that help your body's cellular garbage men clean up toxins and anti-inflammatories that help with behaviors.

 

Antioxidants include: alpha lipoic acid (we use 600mg/day) resveratrol, vitamin B6 in the form of P-5-P, vitamin C and E, milk thistle (aka silymarin) - which carries some risk of allergy if you're allergic to ragweed but my DD and I both take it without issue despite having a ragweed allergy.

 

Anti-inflammatories - we give motrin 2-3 times/day especially when impulsive behaviors cause problems, enhansa (which is tumeric)

 

Also, make sure you're using a probiotic. Taking antibiotics without also taking probiotics (at least two hours away from when you take the antibiotic) can lead to yeast problems and yeast can cause horrible silliness, impulsiveness, mood swings, anger and brain fog. The best is to use a probiotic that has a blend of strains instead of just one and my personal bias is to use the ones that are refrigerated at the health food store, not on a regular shelf in a grocery store. We shoot for 30-40 billion CFUs/day. Some people use much higher. Some people like Florastar or Sacc. Boullardis - which is a "good" strain of yeast that doesn't get killed by antibiotics. Not everyone can tolerate this kind tho. My son cannot - gets angry and foggy and aggressive. So we've settled on Theralac, Truflora and Ultimate Flora. I'd check with your local health food store to see what's available.

 

The other anti-yeast supplement we use is one odorless garlic pill every day. This plus probiotics has helped us stay free of yeast infections for a year, despite multiple antibiotics for Lyme.

 

Regarding motrin, one thing I found helpful was to get a doctor's note that allowed my son to go to the nurse every day after lunch for a dose of motrin from the school nurse. I'd give him a dose in the morning, then 6 hrs later, he'd go to the nurse's office, then he'd get a third dose at bedtime. We'd do this for about 2 weeks during a bad flare and it kept the ugliest behaviors from rearing their heads.