Think Healthy

The issue of regression comes up quite often in my practice. Specifically I’d like to cover the issue of regression following antibiotic use or antifungal treatment. For example, your child has recently been on an antibiotic or antifungal prescriptions like Nystatin, Diflucan or Nizoral or herbal treatments like oregano oil or grapefruit seed extract and instead of improvement in behavior you see regression. And specifically you see a worsening of behavior in regards to greater irritability, aggression, self injury and withdrawal. The most common cause is some type of underlying bacterial issue.

Clostridia is a common bacteria present in many children on the spectrum. There are quite a few different forms of clostridia bacteria, one form called clostridia dificil can cause a form of inflammatory bowel disease, We are not talking about that form when we talk about the regression seen in these kids although its toxic byproducts could be responsible for some negative behaviors. But we are generally covering the broad family of clostridia, not just one strain.