I have a case I wanted to run by you because I don’t typically see kids. But this nine-year-old daughter, this is a nine-year-old daughter of a coworker, so I was trying to help them out. This nine-year-old has a history of GI issues for as long as her mom can remember. She was born by C-section, difficult time breastfeeding, complained of tummy issues frequently after eating for years, and she’s always had a very sensitive skin or dry skin. So Megan advised them to go gluten-free and dairy-free in the past year, and this has made a really big difference with her GI upset. Mom thinks she’s about 75 percent better in terms of frequency. Recently, however, she had a recent bout of what I call gastroenteritis for several days, and she still sometimes complains of extreme abdominal pain and nausea after eating. I ran a Doctor’s Data CSAPx3 on her and got the results back yesterday. Key points are 4+ of all beneficial bacteria except no growth of Lactobacillus, many yeast on all three microscopy samples, lysozyme, 679, which is just mildly elevated because the upper limit of normal is about 600. So my questions, number one, could the high lysozyme be due to the yeast overgrowth alone? Number two, my plan was to treat the yeast with A-FNG since she can’t swallow pills. Or do you ever open the capsule of Yeastonil and sprinkle it on food for kids? Would you include anything else for that? Third part of this question, treat the Lactobacillus insufficiency with Clara Labs, their biotic children’s chewable probiotic, which is multiple strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, maybe also include Prescript-Assist. I want to make sure I’m treating her sufficiently, but she is a very picky kiddo who might balk at over-supplementation. Fourth part of the question- My plan was to treat her for 21 to 30 days and see how that goes.

Dr. Amy Nett:  It probably could. You would want to think about are any other foods triggering her? So is she eating soy or eggs a trigger for her, or gluten-free grains a trigger for her? But I think it’s reasonable that that degree of yeast overgrowth could be causing the high lysozyme. So you could treat the yeast and then repeat it.  What about Lauricidin because lauricidin is actually really small? So I would think about opening up some of the capsules for that Yeastonil, I don’t know. So start with A-FNG and Lauricidin because those Lauricidin pellets are really small. The other thing to consider is possibly InterFase Plus. It would be nice to get a biofilm disruptor in there, and Saccharomyces boulardii is also really good for yeast overgrowth. And those you can open up, mix into a little bit of applesauce or dairy-free yogurt type option. So I would at least get in Lauricidin and see if you can get a biofilm disruptor in there as well with Saccharomyces boulardii.

Agreed. I think it would be good to get some probiotics in there. I would probably favor the Saccharomyces boulardii in this case. If you want to do the chewable with Lactobacillus, that’s fine. Remember to increase levels of beneficial bacteria in the gut. It’s often better to get the prebiotics on board. So can you get partially hydrolyzed guar gum, that PHGG in there somewhere, which is a powder? Can you mix it in anything that she eats? Because remember, PHGG has been shown to increase levels of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. So when you take the probiotics, what we think as the Lactobacillus passes through, it’s going to be performing beneficial functions. But it’s not necessarily going to be setting up residence in the GI tract. So that’s where the prebiotics come in. So what does her diet look like? Is she getting prebiotics from foods? Can you get PHGG in there? Because I agree, you want to be cautious with over supplementation, but you definitely want some probiotics in her treatment.