Failure to thrive -Help

[kcchater]

Hi all
My son was diagnosed with HFI at 18 months of age. He is currently 13 years old and we have managed his HFI perfectly having no episodes in the hospital.. We have followed a very strict diet and only in the last 6-9 months has Coopers weight and height started to fall off the charts. He has had multiple gastrointestinal episodes that landed us in the hospital for 9 weeks. It present a with crazy diarrhea, awful tummy pain., failure to thrive. We’ve had endoscopy, colonoscopy, not colitis, crohns, blood work alll coming back clear. Yes including many many Covid tests. We were on TPN (IV food) and nothing by mouth for weeks and the systems get better the moment we start introducing foods we start to head down that path again.
Our Bio chemical doctors say it’s nothing related to out HFI issues as all kidney, liver functions, ultra sounds have all been good.

They have labeled it like IBS, but something isn’t right and it not sure what it is.
Does this ring a bell with anyone?
Help or suggestions would be good thanks from a tired momma

[nancy]

He could have a candida (yeast) overgrowth in either his stomach or small intestine. For four years I have had the same thing, and my doctors were absolutely no help. They label everything IBS, if they can't figure it out. I dropped 30 pounds when all this started but have gained back 17. I read a journal article about a woman who had the same issues. She had candida overgrowth in her small intestine. The doctor found out by doing a culture of the fluid from her duodenum and it turned out to be a type of candida. I have tried a lot of things to get rid of the candida, and they helped some but not enough, and I don't like the prescription antifungals because they can affect the liver. By coincidence, I started taking the B vitamin, biotin 5000 mcg twice a day for my hair, since it was coming out. Well since then, my diarrhea has stopped and my stomach pain is mostly gone. I also take Sunfiber for my intestines. It's a fiber supplement made from partially hydrolyzed guar gum. There is no sugar in it and it too is good for candida overgrowth. When I researched biotin, I read that it could get rid of candida. A functional medicine doctor had used it on one of his patients for that and it had worked. She was taking 20,000 mcg a day. Biotin is needed by the body to metabolize carbohydrates, fats, and amino acids, and it is a water soluble vitamin so any excess that the body can't use will be excreted in the urine. I use the Nature's Bounty biotin. I hope this information helps. You could give it a try and see if it helps. It certainly won't hurt him.

[nancy]

One other thing that might help with the stomach pain is an over the counter product called FDgard. It contains menthol oil and caraway oil. Menthol oil is antifungal and antibacterial and caraway oil is an antispasmodic. My gastroenterologist actually recommended it. I took it for a while before I found out about biotin and Sunfiber.

[ukbill]

Ok what are his blood results and what is the state of his liver?
Have you checked the "strict diet" against the safe foods list we have and is attached below?
Where do you live?
Do you know the MAXIMUM daily amount of fructose from all sources has to be less than 2g a day.. for an adult?

Get back to me on this asap and I will see what I can do and find out for you.

Kind regards

Bill A.

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