Well, we've been home from the hospital for a week now (seems longer- it's always busy trying to catch back up after being in the hospital!).
Last Sunday, we went to the pumpkin patch, Little man was having a rough sort of day- he enjoyed playing but was tiring easily. We suspected it was from not getting his TPN the night before. Big mommy and daddy mistake, part of being in the hospital for a week- no milk in the fridge for the other boys’ breakfast; and no tubing for his TPN administration. We hadn’t realized we were short! We had the TPN bags, but the wrong tubing was sent! It was a weekend, we didn’t expect that anyone would be able to get us the tubing we needed until Monday, so we upped his formula intake (of course) but we were unsure how that was going to work out for him.
By Monday morning, it was becoming more clear that something wasn’t working out for him- but now we had a few things in the differential. A water bottle on Friday, found to have “gunk” in the sip valve; missed TPN for 2 nights, a line that wouldn’t flush the antibiotics through and we had to “push” it through (potentially putting bacteria into his system- not enough for full sepsis but…), or was worse yet- was he reacting to something like his new brand of hemp protein powder. Ah, the fun times of FPIES guessing games. A delayed food allergy, you have to look at a minimum of a 24hr.window. It gets muddy sometimes!
He had labs drawn on Monday, and my concerns grew as his labs confirmed that something wasn’t right. I continued to watch him through the next day- I was concerned that he may be heading downhill. I contacted his doctors and decided to continue to watch him through the day, and get his Thursday labs done on Wednesday to help assess- and make a plan if needed.
Thankfully, by Wednesday he was showing improvements and his labs confirmed this. We still don’t know for sure what caused this, but just thankful it was short-lived and his body re-cooped quickly. Thursday and Friday, he began to be more and more himself. He is still getting IV antibiotics 2x/day (morning and night). This will continue until the 26th; and then we will get cultures to see if the long treatment of intense antibiotics has worked to rid his blood of the bacteria. Good signs are that he is looking good, acting well, and his line that had redness around it now does not. I pray this treatment has worked.
One other thing noticed in his lab work is that his hemoglobin, that was dropping last week, has started to climb up….for the first time on its own- the numbers are going UP! I’m puzzled by this, an am remembering some research I have done on “iron loving bacteria” and wondering if that was happening to him. Well, now he is on IV antibiotics and his hemoglobin is going up- on its own. Coincidental? Maybe. Maybe it is a silver lining amongst this sepsis cloud. Everything does happen for a reason, that I do know.
The next step is to start some probiotics. Antibiotics kill bacteria in the body- good and bad. It may be helpful if it is killing some negative bacteria that is iron-loving; but regardless, his body still needs the good bacteria. Probiotics are found to be helpful during antibiotic treatments. Maybe this is the time when we get ahead of his gut dysbiosis that we know has compromised his gut health and complicated his FPIES?
Showing posts with label probiotic homeostasis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label probiotic homeostasis. Show all posts
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
Gut Homeostasis
The functioning of the gut is important to our overall health. I've been doing a few posts on this: Nutrigenomics, Probiotics, GI immune system.
Indeed, we now know that intestinal flora plays an important role in health: stimulating the immune system, protecting the host from invading bacteria and viruses, aiding digestion and assimilation of food. Yet, the importance of these bacteria in the gastro-intestinal “GI” tract has been neglected for a long time, while the focus was merely placed on enteric pathogens and other factors leading to gastrointestinal "disorders".Custom Probiotics
Gut microflora is specific to each individual, established at birth- resident flora does not change substantially from birth. However, many things in life can change the density,numbers/concentration, and ratio of good to bad microflora. These things include: diet, antibiotics, illness, stress, infection, the list goes on but these are the main effectors. To achieve homeostasis, there needs to be a balance of good gut flora to bad. "Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria, should predominate, presenting a barrier to invading organisms. Around 85% of the intestinal microflora in a healthy person should be good bacteria and 15% bad bacteria. The greater the imbalance, the greater the symptoms" Custom probiotics
You'll notice my above links, a fellow FPIES mom shared the link in her search for probiotics for her child. I typically don't quote websites that are also selling something and proceed with caution with their information (as I just need to re-research it to be sure it is medically sound information) but the above information is good information from their site, which I found easy to read through (although they are selling something and although it looks like a promising probiotic, as always check with the manufacturer for safe ingredients first!). The reason I have bookmarked their site is because they have a GREAT illustration of the intestines and it's tie to the immune system. So, if you'd like a look at that- visit this site and scroll down the page a few paragraphs.
It shows the villi and crypt of the intestines. The villi and crypt can be damaged in severe/chronic FPIES inflammation, therefore causing further cascading problems of illness from increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut) due to the inflammation opening "holes" in the intestine, thereby causing further damage, deficiencies and mostly allergies/intolerance's as proteins "leak" into the blood stream (via the lymph). Villi damage can also lead to nutritional deficiencies and weight loss as this is where nutrients are picked up from the broken down food molecules.
Intestinal flora forms a natural barrier to pathogens and also work together with the GALT (intestinal immune system within the GI tract made of lymphoid cells), comprised of Peyer's Patches (which facilitate the beginning of the immune response in the GI tract), Paneth cells (control microbes) and dendritic cells (micro flora communication). When the antigenic presenting dendritic cell (where micro flora have their role) activates the lymphocytes, it leaves the mucousa via the lymph and enters the blood stream via the thoracic duct. The activated lymphocytes then travel back to the gut and can colonize in the same mucousa or other mucousal sites along the GI tract. This is where the Tmemory cells are then stored and activated upon re-exposure to trigger (antigen) proteins (and likely why the re-exposure can be a more intense response because of the recognition from previous activated lymphocytes.
Probiotics can help manage that balance once it has been established (past infancy). Probiotics have antimicrobial effects (pathogens, toxins), maintain intestinal epithelium (barrier), and regulate the immune system via the GALT (inflammatory responses to allergens and other inflammatory substances).
It is clear the balance (homeostasis) of micro flora in the gastrointestinal tract is important to immune responses.
Indeed, we now know that intestinal flora plays an important role in health: stimulating the immune system, protecting the host from invading bacteria and viruses, aiding digestion and assimilation of food. Yet, the importance of these bacteria in the gastro-intestinal “GI” tract has been neglected for a long time, while the focus was merely placed on enteric pathogens and other factors leading to gastrointestinal "disorders".Custom Probiotics
Gut microflora is specific to each individual, established at birth- resident flora does not change substantially from birth. However, many things in life can change the density,numbers/concentration, and ratio of good to bad microflora. These things include: diet, antibiotics, illness, stress, infection, the list goes on but these are the main effectors. To achieve homeostasis, there needs to be a balance of good gut flora to bad. "Lactobacilli and Bifidobacteria, should predominate, presenting a barrier to invading organisms. Around 85% of the intestinal microflora in a healthy person should be good bacteria and 15% bad bacteria. The greater the imbalance, the greater the symptoms" Custom probiotics
You'll notice my above links, a fellow FPIES mom shared the link in her search for probiotics for her child. I typically don't quote websites that are also selling something and proceed with caution with their information (as I just need to re-research it to be sure it is medically sound information) but the above information is good information from their site, which I found easy to read through (although they are selling something and although it looks like a promising probiotic, as always check with the manufacturer for safe ingredients first!). The reason I have bookmarked their site is because they have a GREAT illustration of the intestines and it's tie to the immune system. So, if you'd like a look at that- visit this site and scroll down the page a few paragraphs.
It shows the villi and crypt of the intestines. The villi and crypt can be damaged in severe/chronic FPIES inflammation, therefore causing further cascading problems of illness from increased intestinal permeability (leaky gut) due to the inflammation opening "holes" in the intestine, thereby causing further damage, deficiencies and mostly allergies/intolerance's as proteins "leak" into the blood stream (via the lymph). Villi damage can also lead to nutritional deficiencies and weight loss as this is where nutrients are picked up from the broken down food molecules.
Intestinal flora forms a natural barrier to pathogens and also work together with the GALT (intestinal immune system within the GI tract made of lymphoid cells), comprised of Peyer's Patches (which facilitate the beginning of the immune response in the GI tract), Paneth cells (control microbes) and dendritic cells (micro flora communication). When the antigenic presenting dendritic cell (where micro flora have their role) activates the lymphocytes, it leaves the mucousa via the lymph and enters the blood stream via the thoracic duct. The activated lymphocytes then travel back to the gut and can colonize in the same mucousa or other mucousal sites along the GI tract. This is where the Tmemory cells are then stored and activated upon re-exposure to trigger (antigen) proteins (and likely why the re-exposure can be a more intense response because of the recognition from previous activated lymphocytes.
Probiotics can help manage that balance once it has been established (past infancy). Probiotics have antimicrobial effects (pathogens, toxins), maintain intestinal epithelium (barrier), and regulate the immune system via the GALT (inflammatory responses to allergens and other inflammatory substances).
It is clear the balance (homeostasis) of micro flora in the gastrointestinal tract is important to immune responses.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)