Reaction to the abx?

[zazuk2010]

My Ds 6 has been on zith since we found out he had a co-infection with mycoplasma 3 months ago. He was diagnosed with PANDAS in May 09. Until then he had been on Augmentin and we did 1 IVIG last Oct. He was deffinitly better after the IVIG, but not anywhere near baseline. Finally, the zith has worked incredibly well and I can now say that for the last month he is 100%. He even had a bad cold last week and not one sign of PANDAS (that has not happend since all this started).

 

Night before last I noticed he was breathing somewhat fast in his sleep. I put my hand on his chest to feel his breathing and felt a very irregular heartbeat. It was not slow or fast, just random. It had no pattern at all. 2 beats then 4 then 3 then 5 then 2 it was all over the place. Needless to say I stayed up all night watching him sleep. Took him to the doctor first thing in the morning. The doctor heard it too and is now sending us to a pediatric cardiologist.

 

I am hesitant to look on the internet until we see the doc as I know I will just scare myself to death but I did look up possible side effects of zith. Yep, irregular heartbeat!

 

Wondering if anyone else has noticed this, heard of this, etc. Also wanted to post so that if you are on long term abx you might want to check it out. This might have been going on for a long time and I did not notice. I never even considered checking my childrens pulse. FYI- my other son also 6 is on long term Augmentin. Of course I listened to his heartbeat too and it is normal.

 

I will let you know what happens at the doctors this afternoon.

 

Best, Kari

[zazuk2010]

Just wanted to let you know that we saw the cardiologist and while he does have an irregular heartbeat it is nothing to worry about (at least that makes one less thing to try to fit into my already overflowing worried mind). Very relieved.

 

Interestingly he has seen 4 kids with PANDAS just in the last month. Their issues were not related to PANDAS but it was clear to him that this is widespread and growing.

 

He did not feel my sons irregular heartbeat was caused by the antibiotics although that is, in fact, a rare side effect. Just something to watch out for and check out if need be.

 

Best,

Kari

[Megs_Mom]

Thanks for the update - glad he is ok!

[justinekno]

Great news. Thank you for the head's up too.

[philamom]

Kari-

Relieved to hear your son's appt went well!!! Did it take two months on the zith before you saw improvement or did he gradually improve over the three months?

[Fixit]

Kari-

Relieved to hear your son's appt went well!!! Did it take two months on the zith before you saw improvement or did he gradually improve over the three months?

 

i have the same question????

and thank you for the update...all the little details add up..thanks

[zazuk2010]

He gradually improved. Then it seemed suddenly he was completly better. I am not sure if that is because of just the zith finally working or because several things happend at that time. Most notably I had an eye infection and went on a z-pack. At that point I had to consider that it was not coincindental that I went on Abx and he got better. I have since gotten a bunch of blood work done and am waiting for the results. Have stayed on the abx just in case I have been the culprit all along (I had been tested for Strep but nothing else such as mycoplasma). The other two things I did differently were that I took him off all yogert products because of the Strep they have in them. He was addicted to Keifer. I mean he could drink a pint every day if I let him. The other thing I did was take him off all nut products because I read that they were not recommended if you have mycoplasma (and he did) and I had been giving him a lot of peanut butter over the summer.

 

Not sure what made the difference exactly. But, I can tell you that while I am still holding my breath every day (hour) expecting the other shoe to drop (or in our case the other shoe to get thrown at me from across the room when I say no to something he wants and he has a horrible tantrum) he is like a different child. We are going to re test him for mycoplasma again to see if he is over it. I do plan to keep both kids on the abx for some time to come.

 

Hope that helps

 

Best,

Kari

[philamom]

Kari- did he have a positive Mycoplasma IgM & IgG? Glad to hear both kids are doing well!! Melinda

[zazuk2010]

Hi Melinda, It was a Positive IgM. we tested for Mycoplasma P. back in June of 09. Both kids were negtive. When we tested again we tested for the original test that I guess was not the IgM and the IgG because the original came back negative again but the IgM was positive in one son. He was the one who was not reponding to the IVIG as well (although he did respond alot and things were much better). We then put him on Bioxin but after about 30 days he seemed to be more aggresive and we believed that was a reaction to the Bioxin so we switched to the zith liquid. 240mg per day (he weighs 48 lbs.) And that is what we will continue on with. Kari