Monday, February 20, 2012

The low down....and dirty

Get your mind out of the gutter!!  Dirty, hmm.  The only dirt I am referring to here is the soil, because the latest and greatest on us involves the soil!  Well, sort of. 

**SEE UPDATE FROM SEPTEMBER 14, 2018 BELOW!

Mud pies and probiotics 

I believe there is a reason kids make (and eat) mud pies!  lol  Their body instinctively knows more than us germ-a-phobic parents!  Soil contains the very organisms that used to enter our body on a daily basis.  I know you are thinking, "but what about the parasites??"  Well, if you are ingesting certain microbes along side the parasites, those parasites have no chance of survival!  And chances are, if the soil is loaded with these beneficial bacteria, the bad guys are probably non-existent anyway.  Ahhh, mother nature....Now, I am not suggesting you run out back and make yourself a mud-pie for lunch, because today you can get those same bacteria in a capsule.  They are targeted to certain microbes and yes, they are parasite-free, haha.

Remember your grandmother talking to you about growing up on the farm?  I know mine did.  She raised animals, played in the dirt, rode horses, and ate foods grown in that very soil.  They didn't use anything but water to rinse those veggies too!  Today it's so eloquently referred to as "farm to table" and it's highly under-rated.  Before we tarnished our soils with pesticides, fertilizes and chemicals (be it natural or not), we had soil full of micro-organisms very beneficial to just about every aspect of our body chemistry and while they aren't natural residents of our intestines, they SHOULD be regular visitors!

These micro-organisms prevented the growth of anything harmful in the soil and ironically, they can do the same in our bodies!  The data is overwhelming and I will share a few links below, in case you want to read more, but before we get to that.  Let me share the results of our last five weeks using SBOs (soil-based organisms). 

We started them on very low doses on a Friday so that we could spend the weekend observing.  We didn't need to observe much though, because their uncontrolled yells, fighting and screeches could be heard from anywhere in the house.  We are no stranger to die-off and anything that results in die-off usually tells me that we are on the right track, but holy cow!!  But just like any other successful intervention, we also saw TONS of improvement.

Why the new probiotic? 

Just prior to starting the SBOs, Grayson had been going downhill, symptoms resembling his dark Clostridia-riddled days.  It was slow, but it was mounting.  He had begun to wake grumpy and irritable and this was quickly appearing to be the new norm, the OCD was trickling in and he had a new snort-tic, which we were trying to determine, if it had been related to the mold exposure he had at school (yeah, nice right?  A topic for another day, we are now homeschooling).  The symptoms were picking up speed and intensity.  Gavin on the other hand, had become a handful long before this.  Things had been going SO well, then suddenly we felt like we were hit by the pathogenic school bus from hell again.  I was increasing their three-times-daily natural anti-microbials without success.  Vague memories of Clostridia creeping back in, giving me nightmares!!  So we started the biofilm program back up and included Lumbrokinase this time.  It was going fairly well, but we were creeping back up the hill to better.  It wasn't fast enough for me.  I like to run when there is a hill on my horizon! 

In my usual nightly research mode, I came across a probiotic that was similar to some mentioned in our FB groups here and there.  I was intrigued, to say the least, because intertwined in the overgrowth madness, I felt like all I was doing was killing (the microbes, not the children).  This seemed to spur massive oxalate dumps.  Was it the chicken or the egg.  Were the pathogens causing the oxalates to build up or was the oxalate dumping causing the PH shift enabling the overgrowth.  Regardless, I needed to find out how to encourage the growth of the good guys.  Maybe in this way, we could salvage the few oxalabactor formigenes (the specific bacteria solely responsible for degrading oxalates from the diet) we have left.  Feed them, let them grow!!  If we can't buy them and put them back into our intestinal terrain, we needed something to protect the ones we have left.  I had personally begun to have oxalate dumps in this time period too, which had me seriously reconsidering the role of killing off microbes daily, even with the natural stuff, because this didn't start for me until I began the same regimen my kids were on.  I never had problems with chocolate, nuts, or carrots before.  But it wasn't long before I too was following in their footsteps.  Anytime we are killing off massive amounts of anything, we should question what else could be impaired in the process.  I knew it was the lesser of two evils at the time, but now I can say that I know differently.  But how would we do this successfully with such overgrowth challenges in the picture?

Jagged path to the finish line

As with anything else that sets our body straight, we experienced a healing crisis in the first weeks on the SBOs, plus to muddy the waters, we decided that giving the anti-microbials was counterproductive and would kill off these essential bacteria, so we stopped everything other than their supplements, camel milk, Lauricidin and nightly probiotics.  While ramping-up the SBOs we had incredible challenges.  There were days I was running toward the kitchen cabinet that holds our natural anti-microbials....running.  My husband had to stop me!  Thank goodness he had done as much research as I had done on the SBOs and believed in the science behind them.  He was much stronger than I in the moments of question.  As we foraged through the "symptoms" it began looking more like we were seeing a healing crisis, as defined here.  Here is a description of healing crisis from Shirley's Wellness Cafe -

"Healing Crisis: As with all true natural cure, the road to better health may begin with a healing crisis. As you move toward better health with natural healing programs and better nutrition, healing begins to occur. As part of the healing process the body will begin to discard toxic residues which have built up in your body over the years. The healing process usually does not occur without repercussions. During the initial phase of healing, as your body begins to clean house, (detoxify) and your vital energy begins to repair and rebuild internal organs, you may experience headache, uneasiness, flu like symptoms and fatigue. This is called a healing crisis. You may feel worse before you feel better. As you continue to improve, you may begin a process called retracing. For example, if you used to get skin rashes, the rashes may reappear or get worse for a period of time as your body eliminates toxins through the skin. You may also experience an initial increase in urination, or you may feel more nervous. In actuality, you are not getting worse, you are actually getting better. Eventually you will reach a plateau of better health. During the healing crisis, it is important to not suppress these temporary symptoms with drugs or the healing process may become interrupted."

and this

"One crisis is not always enough for a complete cure. The person in a chronic "locked" disease state will often have to go through cycles of healing crises, with each one improving the condition some. It has taken time to develop a chronically diseased state, and time is required to let go of the "locked" energy, piece by piece. It's like peeling the layers off an onion.

Often the crisis will come after one feels their very best and most energized, setting the stage for the elimination. The whole body gets into action. Most people feel an energy boost at the beginning until the toxins start dumping into the blood stream for elimination. Go as slowly as your body needs so your elimination is gradual and comfortable.

With a more serious condition, there may be many small crisis to go through before the system can become healthily balanced. Everything must be considered and given its proper place in the build-up to a healing crisis. One should expect it and work with the body, not resentfully against it.
"



What did our healing crisis look like?  In this order...
  • Better connections with both kids, but more-so with Gavin, including significant eye contact
  • Spontaneous singing from Grayson (who is normally extremely shy when it comes to performing in any way)
  • More affection
  • Grayson's snorting and Gavin's defiance significantly increased in frequency and intensity
  • Sensory defensiveness increased then fluctuated off and on for a few weeks
  • Anger and irritability
  • Both became clumsy, knocking things over, bumping into things and hurting themselves
  • Disproportionate reactions to anything frustrating
  • Yeast symptoms including: hyperactivity, mood swings, emotional liability, anxiety, sensory seeking and defensiveness
  • Many bowel changes (I won't gross you out with the details)
  • Repeated hiccup episodes, from both boys
  • Familial awareness in Gavin that never existed before (ie - one night he wouldn't let me in the kitchen while he surprised me with cleaning off the entire kitchen table from dinner, he's only 3)
  • Longer periods of the boys playing together
  • Gavin lost two chunks of hair from the scalp which is smooth where the hair was
  • Lack of focus
  • Explosive behaviors
  • Pain in ears for both (severe, like ear infections) which only lasted a day for each
  • Lethargy
  • Incredibly fidgety
  • Grayson began exhibiting tics we haven't seen in a while like head-tilting, jaw stretching and ear and head swatting
  • More irrational anger and hyperactivity
  • Gavin randomly experimenting with unknown foods and eating veggies
  • OCD in Grayson
  • Increased cooperation with both boys listening to me without argument
  • Increased hitting from Gavin
  • Bedtime routine more streamlined, less frantic
  • Sporadic sleep disturbances (not able to fall asleep, waking in the night, early waking)
  • Moods becoming more consistently happy with less of the above intermittently
  • Physical symptoms coming and going in Gavin: significant bloating, increased keratosis on arms, red spot like an inflammation under one eye, very dark circles under the eyes, broken blood vessels in one eye which increased when dose was increased, and eye pains for about a week
  • Grayson's tummy remaining flatter than ever
  • Increase in die-off symptoms appearing 45 minutes after dose, this increased to an hour and then it went away completely
  • Still seeing disproportionate irritability in Gavin and randomly with Grayson
  • Unsolicited report from school about Gavin having a "great day" and he's never really had a bad day
  • Grayson's snorting decreasing after going through a clear runny nose that burned his nose and lips for days
  • Increased cooperative play between the two boys
  • Grayson's mood consistently improving, only appropriately proportionate moments of frustration which diffuse easily
  • Gavin's BMs still changing, but many great ones in between
  • Gavin responding well to our requests
  • Intermittent yeasty signs coming and going, but since adding in Allimax (liquid garlic) this has tapered off quite a bit
  • Sensory defensiveness in both is gone
  • Intermittent bloating as doses are increased for Gavin
  • Old scar on Grayson's face fading, not as pink as before
  • Still seeing some random die-off symptoms, but less frequently and shorter in duration
  • Gavin expressing himself more vocally and clearly
  • My requests are met with a simple, "ok"
  • Consistent happiness all day, in both
  • Appropriate irritation for age of boys and tied to specific events
  • Gavin's keratosis is slowly clearing up 

So what does this mean exactly?  Well first I must say that we have gotten past many of the above symptoms.  Considering we've spent over a month with our children off of anti-microbials completely and we've seen incredible improvements says a lot more than my words can ever spell out here.

** UPDATE - To see our OAT results after a month and a half on these probiotics (with NO antimicrobials or antibiotics), click here.
  
Now I would like to share some links with you about SBOs.


Soil-based organisms and immune function


22 Ways soil-based organisms build dynamic health


Collective writings of SBO probiotics by Dr. Rosthschild


I've chosen a particular brand (Body Biotics), because of it's pure ingredients.  There are only a handful out there to begin with, but many are made with maltodextrin (made from corn and I would guess probably GMO), and contain traces of soy and dairy.  Some contain ingredients like chlorella and spirulina which are unsafe for mercury toxic people.  Body Biotics is the brand that Jordan Rubin used to heal himself from death's door, when Crohn's Disease had taken the best of him.  He went on to create his own product, but Body Biotics remains to be the purest formula my research has found.  
My husband and I have also been using this product with great success.  In fact, it's recommended that all members of the family at least use a maintenance dose since pathogens are shared and will just pass back and forth, reinfecting each other.  I am also off all of my anti-microbials!! =)

**UPDATE September 14, 2018 - I have since found a probiotic that we like even better than the Body Biotics. You are free to try whichever brand resonates with you, of course, but if you have a child with potential histamine issues, Body Biotics will aggravate things, even though they bring healing, as well. We have been using flourish by Entegro which is never frozen, freeze dried or powdered.  This probiotic is also a consortium like Body Biotics and it contains soil based organisms, but the kicker with this one is that it doesn't contain any histamine.  When I contacted the developer, Jarod Work, to ask about histamine, he informed me that they had third party lab testing done to confirm that there are no detectible histamines in this probiotic! This was quite evident to us when for the first time, we were able to give a probiotic without ANY negative effects.  We went slow with the introduction, because historically, my kids have always reacted to probiotics (as many kids on the spectrum do) and I have since learned that this may be related to histamine. They don't tolerate fermented foods well either. My husband and I began to notice subtle changes that were happening pretty early on. We saw this immediate calm come over both boys, their edge was gone!! They weren't fighting and bickering constantly like they had in the past. Their hyperactivity calmed significantly and even more impressive was the focus and maturity that we witnessed as we began to increase the dose to the recommended dose. I was so impressed with this probiotic that I have decided to become a consultant for the company (it's free to sign up as a consultant, btw!).  You can find these amazing probiotics here.  You can click on this link to join my Facebook group to learn more, as well as hearing about special promotions that they run frequently.

**UPDATE January 2019 - Since having conducted a handful of UBiome tests on myself, I have discovered that the only probiotics to sway health from an overall perspective, is flourish!  My testing spanned the timeframe from June 2017 to January 2019 (so far, as I have another in the pipeline, pun intended!).  In that time, I methodically changed things to see how the testing would respond.  Three tests were conducted while taking various probiotics and my test in May of 2018 even had me taking 4-5 SBO capsules, Seeking Health histamine blocker probiotics AND a prescription strength Oxalabacter Formigenes probiotic!  The only testing that shows improvements in my bowel disease ratios and bacterial diversity are the tests post-flourish and it began within just months of taking flourish.

























This test is from three months before starting flourish.  You can see that my gut condition was souring into the red zone!  This meant my microbiome was prone to bowel disease and at the time, I was having some abdominal pain randomly, especially after eating.  My stools were inconsistent too. 



























This test was conducted less than 2 months after starting flourish and you can see the incredible improvements already documented!  I had dropped all the other probiotics I was taking and had started dosing flourish slowly so for the first month I wasn't even at a full dose!


























And here we have GREEN!  Two of the markers are in the green!  Under 5 months on flourish.  



















June of 2017 levels of Akkermansia 



















January 2019 levels of Akkermansia!

























We can all use a little GABA.  My mood has been incredibly consistent since starting flourish.  I can be a better parent now that I don't explode over every little thing!

































Did you know that probiotics produce nutrients that are absorbed in the colon which effects systemic vitamin levels, as opposed to supplemental vitamins which are absorbed in the proximal part of our small intestine? It has been proven that probiotics produce a huge number of vitamins, such as:

  • Vitamin A
  • Vitamin K
  • Vitamins B1-B3, B5-B7, B9, B12
  • Essential Fatty Acids
So perhaps the need for B-vitamin supplementation is really a call for proper probiotic colonization. The importance of B-vitamins in our health can’t be overstated – they activate our genetic pathways, produce energy, enhance detoxification and allow our cells to survive.

Additionally, probiotics also increase the digestibility, bioavailability and processing of a large number of nutrients, including:



  • copper
  • calcium
  • magnesium
  • iron
  • manganese
  • potassium
  • zinc
  • proteins
  • fats
  • carbohydrates
  • sugars
  • milk
  • phytonutrients
  • cholesterol
A tablespoon a day can keep the doctor away (wink)


My probiotic levels only reached "moderate" after starting flourish!








































To read more about flourish - https://jessica.entegrohealth.com

To join my Facebook group where I post a lot of studies and members share their experiences - https://www.facebook.com/groups/letsflourishjessica/



28 comments:

Casey said...

I'm so glad SBO's are working for you guys! I finally got on the camel milk bandwagon this week and we are definitely having some die off symptoms (increased hitting, irritability, sleep issues) so I'm hoping it's a "healing crisis". It's always hard to tell when you're in the middle of it and I have made the mistake of giving up too soon.

I actually ordered some bottles of Body Biotics yesterday (found it for $36/bottle at GreatVitaminPrices.com‏), am hoping we see the same successes here.

Fabi Hart said...

Hi, I was refereed to your blog by my friend Andrea. I was going to try your protocol to kill yeast and clostridia at the same time, but then I was talking to a friend about how my son (he is 3 and has the ASD diagnosis) had really sandy poop, really smelly that looks like muddy. I thought the sandiness was from him not absorbing his supplements, but then my friend told me those were oxalate crystals. Then I remembered his test results did indicate high oxalate, but his doctor didn't really tell me this is what it was. Basically I didn't connect the dot until this friend told me what that was. Anyway a few weeks ago I took my son off all his supplements to try to start over and see which one was making my son's poop so smelly and creamy. He was taking massive doses of vit C among other things. So I took all that off and then his poop started actually coming out formed with good color and the weird "methane" smell was gone too. But I still had crystals. Not as bad. My son was on hemp milk so I switched to flax milk and it got better. But now I am struggling with how to treat the yeast and clostridia + the high oxalte. After reading your post I am wondering if the sandy poop was what you were calling the "oxalate dump" and if the sandy poop was actually a good sign. I am so lost. Not sure what to give him at this point. I have a prescription for nystatin to kill the yeast and I have been giving him "ultimate probiotic" from swansan's right now. But I wonder if I should just switch and try this probiotic you are talking about. Would that tackle the 3 problems then? Sorry, I know you don't know me or my kid, but I am just not sure what do to at this point. I don't want to leave him off the supplements. He is very irritable and OCD + struggling with his expressive language, doing a lot of echoing. What would you do if this was your kid?? I am on Facebook. I will try to find you. My name is Fabiola Esteves-Hart. Thanks!

Jessica said...

Hi Fabiola,
I will try to find you on FB since it will be easier to communicate there! But the gist of it is yes, you are right, you have high oxalates, but I want to talk to you about the OCD and irritability too, I hope to find you there!

Anonymous said...

Hi, Your blog is so informative. Thank you for all the time you spend sharing the information you have learned on your journey. I was wondering if you feel that the SBO's are able to work through the biofilm and destroy the bad bacteria and pathogens. I am starting to try the SBO's you recommended for my son who has overgrowth of yeast and clostridia. We haven't tried the biofilm protocol yet. Thanks, Ann

Jessica said...

This probiotic is reported to address biofilm and will definitely fight yeast and clostridia, our testing has proven that. It heals in a method of retracing. We are still in the early stages of using this probiotic ourselves, so we don't have a huge head start on you, but we've seen various stages of healing and regressing, then healing....two steps forward, one back....the story of my life, lol. I'm very hopeful, but this path is so new for us too, I don't have much more than that to offer, haha. I hope you will keep me and the readers posted on your own progress!

CECE said...

After reading Bodybiotics in your blog, I went ahead and purchased one for my 3 yr old son who's been told to have candida and parasites. the symptoms of your sons "Yeast symptoms including: hyperactivity, mood swings, emotional liability, anxiety, sensory seeking and defensiveness
Many bowel changes", perfectly describe my son. May I also add extra silliness/giddiness like a drunken person.

On day 1 of taking Bodybiotics, his symptoms were worsen. He was all over the place, moody, said inappropriate stuff, had very little control of his own body. I am scared because I feel like he's going down a wrong path here. Now he's on day 3 and takes 1/2 adult capsule 2x/day. What would you recommend for him?

on another topic, did your son(s) have behavioral issue more in a crowded/classroom setting than at home? my son seems to have less control and less composure in a crowded environment. i don't know if he exhibits some pyschological disorder or his candida/parasite causes his bad behavior. I see that he's a gentle kind child, but when he loses control over his own emotions, I feel like he's a different child. I am sure you know how I feel.

I'd appreciate your input.

Jessica said...

Cece, what you are seeing is normal, it's yeast die off. It will get worse before it gets better. It proves that you are killing off the pathogen. His body has to filter these toxins from the dead pathogens before he can feel or behave better. GO SLOW. And yes, my kids used to be worse in public places, it was like an anxiety, this is also pathogenic and will reduce with treatment. Just keep his dose at a manageable amount and SLOWLY increase as he tolerates it.

Anonymous said...

Hi,can I give with soil..... another supplements(vitamins and minerals),camel milk,probiotics or lauricidin?many thanks for your blog.

Jessica said...

Yes, the soil-based organisms can be taken with other supplements. It should not be given near anything that kills bacteria like GSE, OLE, etc and oil of oregano can kill them regardless of when they are taken so they should never be used together.

Anonymous said...

While receiving the SBO-probiotics should not take GSE,OLE,OoO and...? Or they can be taken 2-3 hours after taking probiotics?

Jessica said...

You should not take OoO with it at all, but the others can be given 2-3 hours away from the SBOs, if desired. When you get to a high enough dose, you shouldn't need any of them any longer. =)

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I was wondering what you ate for fermented foods during all this. Thanks and thank you for your blog as well.

Jessica said...

My children don't tolerate many fermented foods. There was a time when I made water kefir, but we have to avoid all strep strains, because of the PANDAS. Now, we really like KeVita which has very specific strains of bacteria, rather than wild strains.

Jessica

Anonymous said...

Hi

I was wondering if the capsules of body biotics that you gave your children were the adult capsules or the children capsules. Thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi

I was wondering if you gave the body biotics capsules in divided doses throughout the day or one large dose. (if it was one large dose was it in the morning or evening?) Thanks so much

Jessica said...

Initially when we introduced them, we started out giving 1/3 of a capsule before each meal, then we eventually gave full capsules and for the first 4-6 months, we split all of our doses into three doses (before each meal), but now, we don't need to give them daily and when we do give them, they take their dose all at once. Like tonight I actually gave my older son two, just before bed. It's random now that we don't need them daily.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jessica

I apologize for the number of questions I am about to ask...please know I really appreciate you taking the time to answer them. I gave my son an OAT test and found he is high in Hippuric and 4-Cresol. I worked with a practioner who recommended the scd diet with low fodmaps and some antimicrobials. This seemed to help quite a bit for the first two weeks as my son's stomach was no longer bloated. Unfortunately, now its creeping back and he is starting to get gasy again.

1. After six months of the body biotics did you taper the probiotics down or just switch to giving them as needed?

2. Did you notice most of the die off reactions mostly in the first month and a half or were there symptoms for the full six months? Did you notice any permanent negative symptoms? My son struggles with easily getting frustrated and hitting (not hard but still completely inappropriate)

3.Did you have the boys on low oxalates during the time you were treating with body biotics? Did you find that their oxalate issues improved with the probiotics. My son has issues with oxalates...I find the oxalate crystals in his urine.

4. Were your kids able to eat any grains (like gluten free oats etc) and fodmap foods such as avocado while doing the probtiocs?

5.did you increase by a 1/3 of a capsule each week or every few days?

6. I give my son camel milk but was thinking of adding some colostrum in for gut healing purposes . I have read however that colostrum can also have an antibacterial effect on the gut. Do you think it would be better to add the colostrum until after his OAT shows the bacteria are in check

7. I saw in part of the die off description that your son lost some patches of hair....did these grow back?

8. My son has eczema...I was wondering if the probiotics flared your son's eczema at all?

Jessica said...

No problem, I will do my best to answer your questions. Keep in mind that my responses are based on what I would do, but I am no doctor, so please run everything by your practitioner.

1. I tapered the SBOs and eventually used muscle testing to determine that they didn't need them regularly any longer. Now, we give them as needed only.

2. Most of our symptoms were in the first few weeks, but every time we increased, we also saw symptoms again. There have been no permanent negative symptoms.

3. We were on the low oxalate diet for two years before we began the SBOs. The SBOs should improve the oxalate issue a bit, because the beneficial bacteria can help degrade some of the oxalates.

4. My boys can handle oats in rotation. We don't do them frequently, but about every other weeks we allow it. Avocado is a staple in our home too.

5. I honestly can't say I remember how often we increased, because it was based on how they were handling the current dose. I only increased when they were able to handle what they were taking. Sometimes raising the dose was premature and I would back off for a bit. The zig zag approach was helpful at keeping die off under control.

6. We never used colostrum, so I can't comment on this. I never felt the need for it.

7. His hair took a long time to grow back, but it eventually did. It are back in a slightly different color, which is interesting.

8. Avoiding dairy and soy fully and thoroughly was the key to eliminating my son's eczema entirely. It never came back as long as we avoided his trouble foods.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jessica

My son showed high 4 Cresol (c.diff) on the OATS test. Have you heard of the body biotics being effective against this strand?

Jessica said...

I only know that it has worked for myself and others who had clostridia markers on OATs, but not necessarily which strains we were dealing with. It certainly can't hurt to try! Good luck.

Anonymous said...

I was wondering if your sons experienced green stools while on the probiotics

Jessica said...

For us, green stools have always been clostridia, and while cleaning out with the SBOs you should see signs of the different microbes moving out of the body, so yes, this would be a normal experience. The stools should slowly shift to dark in color and perfectly formed.

Anonymous said...

Hi Jessica

I saw that you give your kids wheat grass juice. I was wondering what brand and where you buy it from. Thanks

Jessica said...

I love this brand!
https://www.dynamicgreens.com/?id=You-are-what-you-eat

Anonymous said...

Hi Jessica

I have had my son on the probiotics for eight weeks....I just got him worked up to the 6 capsules a day dose. His constipation has improved and for a week or so I saw improvement in his behavior but now the defiance and hitting is back. I was wondering If after eight weeks this could still be detox....did it take longer than eight weeks for these behaviors to decrease with your boys? I know the probiotic is helping it’s just I am feel defeated at the moment any words of encouragement would be great. I should also note I added in a multi vitamin and trace minerals and am wondering if somehow those are making these behaviors come out

Jessica said...

A multi vitamin and trace minerals can definitely be the culprit depending on the methylation genetics you are dealing with, so if it were me, I would probably remove those first and then begin going down in dose on the probiotics. For us, we didn't stay at the high dose for very long, we started decreasing the probiotics after a clean out and eventually went off of them (in terms of regular or daily use). Now, we only give them when we see signs that they need them, like with sickness or behavior changes.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for responding. I will try those things and see if it works. Did your boys continue to improve as you decreased the probiotics over the course of months or were they pretty much better after the initial clean out?

Jessica said...

Yes, significant improvement. Now we don't need them regularly.