Many kids come into my practice with a laundry list of symptoms and many parents are surprised to find out they have yeast growing in their digestive system. You can imagine many parents are angry, they ask me “why was this not ever considered by our family doctor or pediatrician?” Let me first defend them, they don’t know that this exists, nor are they taught to look for or treat this epidemic. Many have long since graduated from medical school and unless they keep current with the functional medicine aspects of disease they wouldn’t know about it. Eventually parents find their way to someone that addresses the functional medicine aspects of children and POOF we find the culprit.

The special needs children are the hardest hit by Yeast, Why?
These kids have weakened immune systems and abnormal detoxification systems that are fragile. Many have had tens of rounds of antibiotics to treat their recurring illness. There are many reasons a child may have yeast, the most common way a child gets yeast is by antibiotic use. The antibiotics go in to the system and eliminate all the good and bad bacteria, leaving an imbalance in the gut. The yeast then multiply and populate the digestive tract and growth can take years to become symptomatic, in many cases the children I see have had it for most of their life when we trace back their symptoms and medication use.

How common is this?
This is an epidemic I see in practice with over 75% of kids tested show positive for pathogenic yeast.

What are the symptoms?
The symptoms range upon age, exposure and other underlying medical issues. Some symptoms may include bloating, gas, constipation, foul smelling stool, inappropriate laughing, eczema, bed-wetting, intermittent aggression/poor behavior that is unexplained.

Most parents seek answers when the aggression comes on, complaints at school or inability to control them at home. Just know that the symptoms don’t have to be in plenty, they can have just one.

That is all for now. Stay tuned for Part 2, to be out by the end of the month. I will discuss labs, treatments and share some tips.

Be Well,
Dr. Brooks