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Antibiotics and Behavior
Being sick can have a dramatic affect on your child’s behavior, especially for those children with communication issues. Everyone has noticed that when their child has a cold, they struggle to attend. But what about a cramping stomach ache that causes aggressive behaviors? An ear-ache causing self-injurious behavior? A fever causing an increase in impulsive behavior? In addition, kids who are sick illness miss sleep, are lethargic, and have a decreased appetite, all of which dramatically alter stable functioning in child and caregiver.
Most pediatricians will prescribe a general antibiotic for treatment which can result in side effects such as bloating, lethargy, diarrhea, and/or constipation. With some bugs requiring multiple courses of antibiotics, the balance of good to bad bacteria in the child’s gut can be drastically thrown off as the drugs attack blindly. For many of our children, this can have devastating effects, resulting in long term behavior changes as well as their ability to fend off infection. Imbalances in the gut often result in painful symptoms such as chronic bloating, constipation, headaches, fatigue, etc.
What many pediatricians fail to realize is that a prescription of a probiotic product in addition to the antibiotic may in fact remedy this concern. Probiotics, usually known as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, or collectively called "Acidophilus" are responsible for maintaining the health of the human digestive tract and gut. These super friendly bacteria can be ingested through cultured milk products, such as yogurt and kefir, as well as over the counter dairy free products for those with allergies. This combination allows the antibiotic to get to work on killing the bad stuff without worrying what it might be doing to the good stuff. Researchers have recently begun publishing studies that explore the gut-brain connection in behavioral disorders such as Autism.
Sources: Horvath, K., Perman, J. 2002. Autistic disorder and gastrointestinal disease. Pediatrics. 14(5):583-587.
