Learned our lesson, again

We have been doing this for two years now and know our kids pretty well when it comes to what antimicrobials they need, the doses and when.  We have never intentionally stopped their antimicrobials with the exception of when my husband decided to test it out while I was away, which didn't go over well.  I can't lie, we often hope that they might not need so much to keep things maintained so when we are forced into a trial for something like the stool test we did with both of the boys two weeks ago, we have a secret, unspoken hope.  We hope that when going back onto the antimicrobials, they won't need as much and/or that the die-off won't be as severe, because that would mean we are seeing the ultimate goal, the BIG light at the end of the tunnel.  We also know that chelation is going to require 100-300 rounds for complete recovery, so the fact that we are only on rounds 46 and 22 means that this is purely wishful thinking on our part.

In this particular case, we truly thought we might have been out of the woods with the high doses.  They initially handled being without the antimicrobials REALLY well, then when we chose to only use partial doses of their antimicrobials, they appeared to still be handling it incredibly well, no severe die-off, but we began seeing the Jekyll and Hyde behaviors again, which you might remember from a previous post.  This always means that we are killing only some of the pathogenic load, so we see small improvements and then they relapse into more die off, almost constantly.  This means we need to increase until we see more consistent behavior.  The problem is when they have gone days without any antimicrobials, allowing the overgrowth to go unchecked, it means having to really hit them hard to get back on track.  Then die-off just sucks, plain and simple.  The symptoms creep up on us and the die-off lingers for longer than expected. Sometimes it means even doubling up on doses and increasing the frequency until we get to a better place again.  This solidifies our need to be consistent, because once we are there, life is good.

So now two weeks into having them back on the antimicrobials, we are still struggling with normalcy.  One thing for sure is I can definitely see what their yeast and bacteria symptoms are now, it's so evident when we go through something like this.  And what happens is we first see the yeast overgrowth, because that increases in an attempt to deal with the bacterial overgrowth, it masks it.  So when the yeast levels begin to come down enough, the bacteria overgrowth is exposed and the symptoms change.  Grayson has been itching a LOT, which sometimes confuses me, because it can be confused with tics.  He swats at his head and ears, but he is also rubbing his head, telling me his ears and head are itchy.  This is a major yeast sign for him and it's been pretty constant for the past two days....die-off!  Prior to that, he was exceptionally hyper, too happy, yup yeast.  Then today he came home from school spaced out, tired, grouchy and negative, bacteria.  I've noticed over the span of about three days now, he's lost his sparkle which is a trait Grayson has had his entire life, since the moment he was born, he sparkled.  It's times like these when I see how tragic it must feel for the parents who have more severely effected children.  When your child loses his smiles, his eye contact and his sparkle, you've lost everything.  They become an empty shell, staring back at you with blank eyes. This is also the part I wish my family and friends could understand about why we do what we do.  The only people who truly get it are us and his teachers, because they spend hours a day with him. 

Gavin is effected differently, his BMs started off horrendous.  He was having half constipated and half loose stools in one bowel movement.  Just a few days ago he passed the oddest looking thing, which interestingly I've seen with him before.  It's hard to imagine this thing could be duplicated which leads me to believe it was something of significance.  Without making this too gross, it was a string of "balls", for lack of a better word, all linked together with about a 5-6 inch fibrous some-thing-or-other.  Both times it came out with another stool, but it was completely independent of that part of the bowel movement.  I assumed last time that it was yeast related, but it's possible that it might have come out during a parasite cleanse, I'm not 100% sure though.  I have had a few people tell me it could have been a dead tapeworm.  One of those people said she has seen the same thing numerous times with herself, her husband and others who have had tapeworm infections.  Talk about being freaked out!  So I am researching that angle.  One thing I can say is that his behavior and bloating changed almost immediately following the passing of whatever it was!!  He also responds to die-off with increased screaming when he can't cope.  So instead of communicating with us when he is frustrated, he loses his ability to calmly communicate, he has outbursts all day when anything challenges him.

At a time like this when both are experiencing die-off together, especially when we've hit the bacteria stage, it makes for a great combination of screaming and anger, impatience and tears.  Let's just say that today I am glad to have my husband home from his business trip, because I need the break!