Oh boy. I could write a book here. I'm game because after crashing in January (reacting to inhalants - either chlorine or ammonia or some kind of breakdown product from them), I ordered "all" my supps, many of which I had been out of for a while, but I'm still not feeling better! SO what piece am I missing? Probiotics, of course. Just ordered CP 6 strain for myself. CP1 did me lots of good, but I also noticed a reduced amount of plaque when I took some of dd's Klaire Infant powder w/salivarius so i decided to get the 6 strain for that. I think per cfu, CP is the cheapest. I have decided that I am worth the investment. All the better if I can manage to get dd on it. I have had spectacular results with it and since hindsight is 20/20, I think it has been the most important part of my puzzle. I am sure PBX are most important for dd, too, just haven't managed to get the progress I want yet.
Dd, age 4.5, gluten, dairy, soy, egg, apple, coconut intolerant, main intolerance symptoms rash, poor feeding/growth, severe constipation, spd:
As of right now and for most of the last year- she takes Kirkman's bifidus, 1/day - the only thing that has helped and not caused wicked die-off such that she couldn't poop
Tried in the past, from most recent:
2010: MegaFoods MegaFlora, CP1, Pharmax Intensive, Pharmax Mindlinx, Klaire Infant Powder
2009: Klaire Infant Powder, CP1, Biogaia, Culturelle, Pharmax High Potency
2008: Natren Bifidus, PB8, UAS DDS Plus
2007: Natren Bifidus, Primadophilus something
The highest I have gone with dd would be the full dose of Kirkman bifidus - 15 billion cfus, and Klaire Labs infant powder full dose - 10 billion. These are the only 2 she has tolerated - or should I say these are the only 2 I could tolerate her taking. I saw no effect from anything pre-Klaire Labs which I started giving her in the spring of 2009 I think. The main problem has been dealing with die-off, she gets extremely constipated even with mag & SA, and gets a full body rash and then of course doesn't want to eat or sleep. Most recently, I tried her on CP1 and the Pharmax products with as low a dose as I possibly could. I put the smallest amount of powder in water to dilute and gave her a portion of that and she still couldn't poop with just that. I haven't pushed through since I become a very bad mother when I don't get any sleep, I still haven't caught up from the first 3 1/2 years of dd's life when she didn't sleep. I had set goals for trying again: getting her into her own room so at least dp can sleep if she has problems sleeping, get her back on enzymes to help reduce die-off load, reliably get supps into her to make sure pathways are functioning. These are done and so I suppose I will try again with the 6 strain.
Another note: dd also gets extreme die-off from any protease-heavy enzymes. She has been fine with Klaire Labs chewables and Enzymedica Digest. Her poop tends to be on the firm to pebbly side even on a "good" day. She poops, on average, once a day, 28 out 30 days. Broth/juice/smoothies help a TON, but she won't reliably drink/eat them. Smell ranges from compost pile stinky to ammonia. Generally more yellow than brown.
We have done daily veg ferments for close to a year, often before that. Kimchi, pickles, sauerkraut, and other fun stuff in the summer when I have the garden. Been doing 'bucha since last August, very slowly worked up and dd does a shot with each meal. I did make coco yoyo for a year or two before dd's recent reactions to it. Water kefir ended very badly for us - I never noticed anything from it, but the only way I could get dd to try it was with juice and oh boy she can't do that much sals or sugar or something. Looking at our history, I actually felt the best digestive-wise when we moved to MN and I had access to raw milk and I was drinking about a qt of kefir/day. Dd was still reacting then but mood, skin, and growth wise, she was better than she is now and I was a healthier weight, my hair wasn't falling out and prematurely turning grey, etc like it is now. The worse problems came when I got a parasite (I think giardia) in August of that year (2008) and had diarrhea for about 10 days - I lost a TON of weight (I am skinny to begin with) and dumped a toxic cesspool into dd through my bm, and also completely disrupted my gut flora. Between August and December of 2008 is when dd mostly stopped eating (just wanted to nurse), completely stopped pooping on her own, didn't sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time, stopped growing, etc. It was in December that I started reading about celiac (and even pm'd you then, PB!) and decided to pull gluten, which was the point when we started to improve somewhat. Or at least trade one set of symptoms for another, more tolerable set?
Ok, I did write a book, and I might come back and delete some of this.