Ben Age Two: Glutathione and Probiotics

The first supplements we were advised to give Ben were Glutathione and therapeutic strength Probiotics. We used Essential GSH Glutathione which our "DAN!" doctor rightly called "Speech Fuel" and how it works is what made me better understand why some of these kids aren't talking. Our bodies naturally make Glutathione to help detoxify. The word "toxic" is something the parents of children with ASD become very familiar with as you begin to learn just how toxic our environment is and how these little children's immune systems are overtaxed by trying to detoxify too many things while their immune systems are already compromised. Toxic overload is the reason why you'll hear parents of Autistic children worry about things like food dyes, chlorine in swimming pools, and fluoride in water and the highly debated hot topic of vaccines. At any rate, one of the tests Dr. Udell performed on Ben during his evaluation was a muscle strength test. He lifted Ben up by the arms and Ben couldn't show the resistance to keep his arms horizontal. They flew vertical and I did this test on him every day for a while as well as with my then 7 month old who had the strength to to resist that his 2.5 year old big brother did not. We gave Ben the Essential GSH and slowly but surely he started speaking. His first word was "eat" which was super exciting for us because NEVER in his entire life had he said the word or even signed or indicated that he was hungry. Up until this point, we knew Ben was hungry when we presented him with food and he ate it. Or because he climbed in our lap and tried to eat off our plate or started "breaking down" and getting cranky and whined or cried a lot. So it was WONDERFUL, to say the least, that Ben now, sometimes, would tell us when he wanted to eat. Soon after he learned that saying the word "eat" meant he got to sit in his high chair (and watch Franklin or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while eating) he started saying "eat" when he woke up crying at 1 in the morning or at 9:30 at night when we were trying to put him to bed. The little stinker wasn't actually hungry during these times because when we offered him food he'd just sit there and watch his show. It was at this point we removed the little tv from the kitchen and during meal times. 

Ben still wasn't consistently sleeping through the night at this point and would wake up several times screaming and would gulp down lots of water and be covered in sweat. We think this was his body trying to detoxify since we've read that the body naturally goes through it's cleansing period between 10 pm and 9 am.

On top of the glutatione that helped his body start flushing out toxins in his system we started Ben on IFlora multi-probiotic for kids which is a probiotic with 7 Potent Strains of the good bacteria that makes up a healthy gut flora. Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus are the two bacteria that I refer to as the "king and queen" of good bacteria. This brand has 8 billion viable cells per teaspoon. After a few weeks on IFlora we put him on a supersonic strength probiotic called VSL3 which can only be picked up with a prescription. This probiotic we felt was either too strong or might have caused too much "die off" because Ben's immune system crashed while on this probiotic. He got sick (which may have been coincidence) but had a runny nose non-stop, sporadic fevers, he got really dark circles under his eyes, lost his appetite (which is normal when you're sick too though) and the few new words he had gained during the weeks on GSH and IFlora (like "Up" and "Papa" and was even just starting to try and put two words together like "Out" and "side") so we stopped the VSL3. Our DAN! doctor felt that when these kids start acting unlike themselves or stop progressing it's due to a yeast overgrowth so he prescribed Diflucan and that was a scary / wondrous experience which I'll share in the next post.

In this post though, I want to make two little clarifications.  One: Again, I am a mom, and I am sharing OUR EXPERIENCE in hopes that other parents might learn from our situation as to what did and didn't work and what to expect if while UNDER THEIR DOCTOR'S CARE they should experience the same thing. Two: Florastor is the most common, #1 recommended "probiotic" by the traditional pediatrician. I'm not sure why it's even allowed to be called a probioic because it doesn't contain the beneficial bacteria that makes up a probiotic. Florastor contains Saccharomyces boulardii lyo which isn't even a good (or bad/ dysbiotic) bacteria. Saccharomyces is a YEAST and as I've already mentioned in my previous posts, we already had a concern about the high levels of yeast in Ben's stool test so to learn that the probiotic our pediatrician's office recommended to us wasn't actually a probiotic of beneficial bacteria but of a yeast, I was confused and upset. From what I've read, this yeast in Florastor isn't even naturally found in a humans healthy gut flora. It's foreign and deliberately ingested and in theory it will kill off / eat the bad yeast that grows out of control while on antibiotics. I have a few problems with that theory and only want to reintroduce the good strains of bacteria that are essential for a healthy gut flora which is why I will NOT recommend Florastor to any of my family or friends nor will I use it for my sons. Additionally, before I knew what to look for in a probiotic (and was just trusting what any doctor suggested before doing research) I gave Florastor to my at the time 7 month old Jonathan, because he had been on two consecutive rounds of very strong antibiotics and had developed 8 explosion diarrhea's in a single day as well as a spotty leopard like diaper rash that wouldn't go away after every butt cream on the planet. The three times I gave Jonathan Florastor he vomited violently for hours afterward. I'm not sure if he was puking up the yeast or if he had a reaction to the wheat / dairy that might have been in the probiotic. Regardless, I had a BAD experience with it so do your research on any antibiotic or probiotic you are about to start your child on and AS ALWAYS speak with your physician before changing or supplementing your child's diet. I am a mom, not a doctor!