Lizzie's Journey

I'm cross-posting this here and in my "old" blog, so that I don't lose my history when I move the site over.... (just in case you find this twice :P)

Lizzie has really been struggling with yeast infections over the last 6 months or so, and too be honest I’m losing my mind. I just feel so bad for her and so frustrated that I can’t “fix” it. The last few infections started as thrush, and then a few days later she shows signs of a vaginal infection. What toddler (unless breast feeding) gets thrush at almost two?!?! I’m sad to admit it, but this is one of those things that I’m a little less natural minded about. Yeast is no fun, and I just can’t stand to see her uncomfortable ya know? The first sign warrants a call to peds and a Nystatin script. It’s just a battle I can’t win naturally thanks to those pesky antibiotics. But I’m working at changing that. Will I be successful? Who knows, but what can it hurt? I’ll still run for Nystatin, at that first little blister, but it certainly can’t hurt to try and stop it before it gets to that point.

Over the last few months, the yeasties seem to be getting more aggressive. The infections come closer and closer together, and I am starting to see the effects on her health. For one, she is always uncomfortable. How sad is it when “my booty hurts” is one of your kid’s first sentences? LOL Another concern is that her immune system seems to be affected by the constant infections and constant antibiotics. She just seems to always catch one bug after the other.

So what am I going to do other than whine? I’m embarking on a new adventure, and yeah, I said embarking, and I’m calling it an adventure. The goal…. basically overhaul her diet. It’s overwhelming… abnormally overwhelming to me for some unknown reason, but it’s almost Spring and Spring is the time of new beginnings. Not too mention that the garden is calling. It so much easier to eat healthy when you can pick it fresh. It’s the nature of the beast.

Lizzie has pretty much always been on a pretty low sugar diet but now it’s time to do the limbo… how low can we go? Her yeast is obviously worsened by it, but I don’t feel comfortable cutting fruit out of her diet. She’s becoming such a picky eater, and fruit is our fall back guy. When she won’t eat anything else, he saves the day. So the goal will be to eliminate all of the other sugars that we can (without losing our minds in the process) and slowly cut back on the fruit and see if there is any change. Wish me luck. I’m a little more concerned about mutiny from the men in the family than I am Lizzie! The boys like their sugar!

The next step is probiotic consistency. I give her probiotics randomly when I remember, and when we can afford it… which reminds me I should get on line and find a cheaper probiotic! But I digress… I need to be consistent and keep better journals of both the foods that she eats and the probiotics so that I can be more scientific about the results. I mean what is the point of doing it if you can’t figure out if it’s really helping? We were actually told by both peds and uro that probiotics were basically a waste of time and money because the antibiotics will kill off any good bacteria, making it a moot point (is that how you spell moot? Really?). After doing some research on my own, I still feel that if dosed at the right amount, at the right time, there is a chance that it may be beneficial not just with yeast, but also her immunity issues and constipation. So what can it hurt?

As for the yeast issue itself, I was a little surprised to find out that not as many kids deal with yeast issues as I would have thought while on prophylaxis for VUR. Maybe it’s just the people I know LOL, but in most of my “groups” it’s not been a big issue. I think I just assumed that it was pretty common.

My theory (which is worth a hill of beans) is that she has a major yeast overgrowth due to the constant high doses of antibiotics she received that first year (like 10 rounds). We have never been able to eliminate the yeast because it was followed by a constant low dose abx. I’m worried that unless we can find a more natural way to control the yeast, she may be battling it for years to come.

So that is the new project. We’ll see how it goes, and how she tolerates it all (along with the rest of us). We will be making some other adjustments in her diet as we learn more, but for now, high fiber - low sugar seems to be the goal. Sounds yummy huh? I know your just waiting for your dinner invitation….