Please help...so confused

[ForyouCG]

Hello to all, I need some advice on what to do with this situation. My son was experiencing an exacerbation of ocd and some tics, he's also been more irritable than usual. I was so scared again, I QUICKLY called Dr. T for help and I was told to put him on the Augmentin XR 2000 mg right away. I was also concerned about the yeast as he so easily gets Candida everytime he's on antibiotics, even if he takes probiotics, so Dr. T told me to give him Diflucan at the same time. This will be the second day and he has only taken two dosages and I have seen the irritability decrease, he seems more relaxed but everytime I give him the antibiotic, his ocd (repetitive phrases that he wants me to repeat) skyrockets and it will last for an hour or two and at times throughout the day. He also becomes more anxious and the seperation anxiety increases. I guess my question is how do you know when the Augmentin XR starts working? What am I to look for? I worry when within one hour of the antibiotic, I see he gets more anxious and can't stop repeating phrases and pacing. Is this a side effect to the medication? Does this mean it's working? After all of this then eventually comes the calm with ocd and anxiety decreasing just alittle.

Is there a possibility that they can get worse before getting better on the AugmentinXR? Do I give him the Diflucan at the same time I give him the Augmentin XR? I know I should of asked Dr. T at the time, but my son was having a moment and my mind was on overwhelmed so please forgive me. I just want to help him get well and not suffer another episode, we've been through so much since March. Please God no.....

One more thing, I mentioned this before...my son is challenged with autism so he's very sensitive to all medications, especially antibiotics. He has gut issues which I treat with enzymes, probiotics and natural anti-inflammatories. Want to do what's best for him, but I have to treat both..the PANDAS and the Autism and not cause harm. Please.. any advice and answers to my questions would deeply be appreciated.

Thank you all and God Bless..

[pathfinder]

My ds has same symptoms as yours when he is in exacerbation. I have to say what he wants me to say and asks me same questions over and over again until I answer correctly. He improved so much with clindamycin his ped prescribed I knew then pandas was right path for us. We are not out of woods yet but here is what I went through with my son during his exacerbation. He did not get better right away on antibiotics and it took him almost 10 days to see initial improvement. A few weeks ago my son was having, it seemed, another down fall with controlling OCD so we put him on augmentin XR 2000 a day and again he stabilized only after almost a week (with activated charcoal on board this time )

---My ds somehow used to get worse while he was on short term antibiotics when pandas was not in the picture.

I do not know above infor is helpful to you or not but I know that in my all heart you are doing the right thing by caring and loving your son.

God bless you

[tired mom]

So sorry you are going through this. I also had the repeating phases and it drove me crazy. Truly I never thought it would end and years of cbt never resolved it either. My dd is currently taking zithro and did 60 days of biaxin and I have not had to repeat myself. It took a few weeks with the antibiotics before I saw major improvements. Augmentin did not seem to work for my dd.

If you forgot to ask Dr. T just e-mail him and in subject line write URGENT!! He has responded quickly to me in e-mails. Hope this helps. It does get better...

[kimballot]

I guess my question is how do you know when the Augmentin XR starts working? What am I to look for? I worry when within one hour of the antibiotic, I see he gets more anxious and can't stop repeating phrases and pacing. Is this a side effect to the medication? Does this mean it's working? After all of this then eventually comes the calm with ocd and anxiety decreasing just alittle.

Is there a possibility that they can get worse before getting better on the AugmentinXR? Do I give him the Diflucan at the same time I give him the Augmentin XR? I know I should of asked Dr. T at the time, but my son was having a moment and my mind was on overwhelmed so please forgive me. I just want to help him get well and not suffer another episode, we've been through so much since March. Please God no.....

One more thing, I mentioned this before...my son is challenged with autism so he's very sensitive to all medications, especially antibiotics. He has gut issues which I treat with enzymes, probiotics and natural anti-inflammatories. Want to do what's best for him, but I have to treat both..the PANDAS and the Autism and not cause harm. Please.. any advice and answers to my questions would deeply be appreciated.

Thank you all and God Bless..

 

It is GREAT that you are seeing some positive changes with medication! It is always hard to know what to look for when you start, but any it sounds like you are seeing less irritability and that is good. I would not get TOO nervous about some temporary increases in symptoms shortly after taking the antiiotic. It is interesting that this is happening one hour after taking the medication each day. I am wondering if this is some sort of Herxing, which happens when there is die-off of bacteria (I beleive it also happens with die off of yeast) and toxins enter the blood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herxheimer_reaction) Chemar has made some good suggestions of things to do to help with herxing - see http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...art=#entry68890 .

 

Regarding diflucan and augmentin - I've wondered about that myself. I believe it is OK to give them both at the same time (others may have heard differently and it would be great to hear that)... but right now I am separating them when I give them to my son. From what I understand (and this is limited) the important thing is to separate the probiotics from the antibiotics by several hours as the abx can reduce the effectiveness of the probiotics.

 

I think you mentioned in a previous post that you were going to see a DAN! Doc. Have you been able to do that yet? Would post and let us know what the DAN! doc says about this when you hear. I would love to find out. It sounds like you have a very good picture of all the gut issues and your son's specific sensitivities- he is a very lucky boy.

 

Finally... please be sure to journal your son's behaviors. Sometimes I have trouble "seeing the forest for the trees" ...and I get so caught up in each behavior that I do not realize that the overall trend is moving in a positive... or negative direction!

[ForyouCG]

My ds has same symptoms as yours when he is in exacerbation. I have to say what he wants me to say and asks me same questions over and over again until I answer correctly. He improved so much with clindamycin his ped prescribed I knew then pandas was right path for us. We are not out of woods yet but here is what I went through with my son during his exacerbation. He did not get better right away on antibiotics and it took him almost 10 days to see initial improvement. A few weeks ago my son was having, it seemed, another down fall with controlling OCD so we put him on augmentin XR 2000 a day and again he stabilized only after almost a week (with activated charcoal on board this time )

---My ds somehow used to get worse while he was on short term antibiotics when pandas was not in the picture.

I do not know above infor is helpful to you or not but I know that in my all heart you are doing the right thing by caring and loving your son.

God bless you

Thank you, your response is very helpful, your support means so much. So glad your son is doing well on Augmentin XR and may he continue to do so. God Bless you and your son....

[ForyouCG]

So sorry you are going through this. I also had the repeating phases and it drove me crazy. Truly I never thought it would end and years of cbt never resolved it either. My dd is currently taking zithro and did 60 days of biaxin and I have not had to repeat myself. It took a few weeks with the antibiotics before I saw major improvements. Augmentin did not seem to work for my dd.

If you forgot to ask Dr. T just e-mail him and in subject line write URGENT!! He has responded quickly to me in e-mails. Hope this helps. It does get better...

Thank you, I just emailed Dr. T "URGENT", in these situations you want to do the right thing and know that while in desperation to help prevent PANDAS symptoms in your child, you are doing and taking the neccessary steps to help. A mother's heart can never go wrong and I truly believe when our children are in danger or sick we are "Mother Warriors", we will do what it takes to save and heal our children. To walk by faith especially...

Did you use probiotics or an anti-fungal for your dd while on antibiotics?

[ForyouCG]

I guess my question is how do you know when the Augmentin XR starts working? What am I to look for? I worry when within one hour of the antibiotic, I see he gets more anxious and can't stop repeating phrases and pacing. Is this a side effect to the medication? Does this mean it's working? After all of this then eventually comes the calm with ocd and anxiety decreasing just alittle.

Is there a possibility that they can get worse before getting better on the AugmentinXR? Do I give him the Diflucan at the same time I give him the Augmentin XR? I know I should of asked Dr. T at the time, but my son was having a moment and my mind was on overwhelmed so please forgive me. I just want to help him get well and not suffer another episode, we've been through so much since March. Please God no.....

One more thing, I mentioned this before...my son is challenged with autism so he's very sensitive to all medications, especially antibiotics. He has gut issues which I treat with enzymes, probiotics and natural anti-inflammatories. Want to do what's best for him, but I have to treat both..the PANDAS and the Autism and not cause harm. Please.. any advice and answers to my questions would deeply be appreciated.

Thank you all and God Bless..

 

It is GREAT that you are seeing some positive changes with medication! It is always hard to know what to look for when you start, but any it sounds like you are seeing less irritability and that is good. I would not get TOO nervous about some temporary increases in symptoms shortly after taking the antiiotic. It is interesting that this is happening one hour after taking the medication each day. I am wondering if this is some sort of Herxing, which happens when there is die-off of bacteria (I beleive it also happens with die off of yeast) and toxins enter the blood (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herxheimer_reaction) Chemar has made some good suggestions of things to do to help with herxing - see http://www.latitudes.org/forums/index.php?...art=#entry68890 .

 

Regarding diflucan and augmentin - I've wondered about that myself. I believe it is OK to give them both at the same time (others may have heard differently and it would be great to hear that)... but right now I am separating them when I give them to my son. From what I understand (and this is limited) the important thing is to separate the probiotics from the antibiotics by several hours as the abx can reduce the effectiveness of the probiotics.

 

I think you mentioned in a previous post that you were going to see a DAN! Doc. Have you been able to do that yet? Would post and let us know what the DAN! doc says about this when you hear. I would love to find out. It sounds like you have a very good picture of all the gut issues and your son's specific sensitivities- he is a very lucky boy.

 

Finally... please be sure to journal your son's behaviors. Sometimes I have trouble "seeing the forest for the trees" ...and I get so caught up in each behavior that I do not realize that the overall trend is moving in a positive... or negative direction!

Thank you for your response, so glad you told me about the die-off reaction, it can be a possibility. For die-off reactions I give him epsom salt baths and Ibuprofen. I'm alittle skeptical about giving him charcoal tablets because he is on Intuniv 2mg which is a time release med to help with the tics and impulsiveness. Can the charcoal tablets affect the intuniv med in anyway? You mentioned you seperate the diflucan from the antibiotics, how many hours apart do you wait to give the diflucan? And do you also give a probiotic while giving Diflucan? As far as the DAN doctor, yes I have an appt within two weeks...so looking forward to seeing this doctor. He also addresses PANDAS as well as autism. Expensive..ouch..but hopefully and prayerfully worth it. I will definitely keep everyone posted on the treatment and outcomes. You are right about keeping a journal, I do write daily about everything..positive or negative. This is so important for us to see progress or not and the doctors to see it also, it helps to put the pieces together.

I have another quick question..I'm noticing my son's allergies are acting up so far since the exacerbations..congestion, runny nose, sneezing, itchy nose, etc. This can also be a possibility that he's been having exacerbations right? Strep can live in the nasal passages right? Virals or allergies can cause exacerbations also and can also cause the BBB to open right? So what about an anti-allergy med. Do you or anyone know about Singulair and how heplful it can be? Again so sorry with the questions, but I trust that you all are sooo helpful and informative, thank you.

You're son is also very lucky to have you for his mom...God bless you and your son..