Help us heal! dd always sick, & I have "issues"

[kellykins]

Where do we start?
dd (3.5) has been sick with one thing or another for months and months now.
We've been through ear infection after ear infection,(which led recently to tubes), colds, stomach bugs, h1n1, you name it.Most recently, it was ear tubes in, then a few weeks later a tummy bug (vomiting for 3 days) and as she was recovering from that she got a cough and is currently suffering with a nasty cold/cough/stuffiness/fever.



I'm looking to you all for help! Where to start????

[Marnica]

Well...when she is ill how do you treat her symptoms?

My DS is sick alot too...I am looking into allergies as being a root cause.

[Serenyd]

[kjbrown92]

You never said what your issues were...
Have you tried taking her completely off dairy to see if that helps?

[LauraLoo]

My first thought was that you've likely used antibiotics for the ear infections. Have you tried probiotics to get her gut flora back in check?

Chronic ear infections can be caused by untreated allergies - food or environmental.

Is she in daycare or preschool?

[sbgrace]

My son kept getting sick and we're working on boosting his immune system with colostrum, Vitamin D3, epicore, zinc, and florastor probiotic along with other probiotics. To prioritize in your circumstance I'd do probiotics first/most important (florastor for sure and if you need dairy free Klaire labs makes an S. boulardi that is dairy free and a good general probiotic as well), Vitamin D3, Zinc (optizinc is the best form in my research), Sodium ascorbate, and then if/as you can either epicore or colostrum.

For my son it's not allergies nor was it antibiotics. But his IGA immune system levels took a hit with another infection and we just kept piling on after that.

[kellykins]

DOH!
OK, well, I gotta kinda laugh at the irony here...
Part of my "issues" is the noted increase in ADD symptoms- (I SO got distracted and hit "post!"
The rest are pretty TMI... I think they are gut related though... I think maybe warranting thier own post? Anyhoo- I had ds in July- really intense waterbirth - followed by a LOT of bloodloss. (Was transported to the hospital and almost transfused blood.) Ever since he was born, I have had fairly significant "bathroom issues". I have crampy horrible diarreha (sp) (told ya tmi!) at least once a week, and horrible, embarrassing smelly gas pretty much all the time. I've also noticed more recently that I have a pretty bad case of B.O. which really grosses me out-- I can apply deo twice a day and still stink like the gym. GROSS.

Anyhoo-
Back to Katelyn- we ran her on a few different antibiotics- for fear of her hearing being permanently damaged, honestly. She was cupping her hand around her ear to hear and always leaning in to hear, etc.... She is allergic to Cillins, so these were all non-cillins. I hadn't thought about the abx damaging her gut at the time-- had I known she'd be sick with everything else....
She did react to dairy when she was BF, if I had cheese even, she would react, but (I thought?) she grew out of it??? How do I tell? Her brother is worse than she ever was, I tried a little blue cheese/greek yogurt dip last weekend and was still "paying for it" on wednesday....
And yes, she is in Montessori school which she started this past summer.

What is the best probiotic for her?

She also used to be an awesome eater, she would eat LOTS, at every meal, and now it is a fight to get her to eat....

And her sleep.. ugh... She fights sleep.

I really appreciate your patience with my niaeve self! Trying to learn!

[sbgrace]

For you (and maybe her if you can) I'd recommend a metametrix comprehensive stool analysis. It has been so helpful here. They will DNA analyze for parasites, bacteria overgrowths, yeast, and look at digestion, celiac markers in the stool, immune system levels in the GI system (which plays a roll in the whole body including allergies), and other stuff. We had to pay up front and then insurance reimbursed most of it. It's very, very likely to find your GI problem source and then recommend a treatment. If you go to their website they can tell you doctors in your area that work with them/order their tests. If you have a cooperative doctor he/she can do it too. That test is incredibly helpful.

[BarnMomma]

I would start with the basics: check your diet.
-No processed foods
-No foods with nitrates/nitrites, preservatives, sodium benzonate, corn syrup, hydrogenated oils,
-Organic produce
-healthy pastured meats and foul
-wild fish
-whole grains
-try raw dairy

Cut things like sugary juices, sodas, carbonated beverages

Then try to remove drugs and non-natural topical things like personal body care products.

All of this can build up in your system over time and just make a person sick or weaken their immune system.

Then try adding probiotics, vitamin C, vitamin D fish oil

Gets lots of outdoor time, even in cold weather! invest in long johns

If you feel OK with it, stop vaccinating.

I think health is never a quick fix, and whenever I begin to feel not 100% I always reasses my diet first. That's usually the culprit. And I don't even mean bad things liek fast food I mean maybe I'm not eating as much yogurt or leafy greens as I should be. I'll feel it instantly.