Signs of a yeast problem or Candida in children

Pediatrician Jerry Kartzinel, MD, shares advice for parents on the signs and symptoms of a yeast infection in children to watch out for and explains what the best treatment to treat a yeast problem is
Signs Of A Yeast Problem Or Candida In Children
KidsInTheHouse the Ultimate Parenting Resource
Kids in the House Tour

Signs of a yeast problem or Candida in children

Comment
64
Like
64
Transcription: 
Yeast issues are a very common problem in my clinic. How do children even get yeast? Yeast lives in all of us. It's under our arms, on our groin, and on our feet. It is an opportunistic organism. That means that it is always on us, but our immune system keeps it in check. That's okay. That's not a problem. But when it grows, it becomes a predominant culture, a predominant organism, it can wreak havoc with our children. Children who have been exposed to multiple antibiotics, say for a recurrent ear infection, sinus infection, or lung infections. Constant exposure to antibiotics changes what grows in our GI tract and those natural protective organisms that keep yeast under control are wiped out and the yeast will flare. Children with excessive yeast growth, typically demonstrate very strange behaviors; giddy, laughing, laughing in the middle of the night, hanging upside down, wanting to jump from the couch to the floor on their kneecaps. They can be crying. They can be irritable. Just a mess. What can we do? We can culture the stool and see if there is any yeast issue. This is all laboratory things. Then we can put them on an antifungal. We've been using antifungals on children now for many years. They are very safe. Then you look for a clinical response. You look to see if the child stops laughing in the middle of the night, no longer trying to run away, elope, trying to drop to his knees. The child improves. The problem is that if we don't fix what's going on in the internal environment that allowed the yeast to grow, very often it recurs. That can be very frustrating for parents. They say, "Why can't you kill this yeast?" I say, "Well, it is part of all of us. His own or her own immune system needs to keep it under check." We can do several things to help that, such as, give them natural antibiotics, natural things to keep yeast from growing. And, of course, probiotics that crowd out the environment and make it a very hostile environment for yeast to grow.

Pediatrician Jerry Kartzinel, MD, shares advice for parents on the signs and symptoms of a yeast infection in children to watch out for and explains what the best treatment to treat a yeast problem is

Transcript

Expert Bio

More from Expert

Jerry Kartzinel, MD

Pediatrician

Dr. Jerry Kartzinel is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He specializes in the recovery of neurodevelopmental, chronic neuro-inflammatory diseases, and hormonal dysfunctions. After receiving his medical degree at St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his residency in pediatric medicine in the Air Force. Following Desert Storm, Dr. Kartzinel practiced general pediatrics in private practice for 10 years until his fourth boy was diagnosed with Autism.

A nationally recognized speaker and New York Times Best Selling Author, Dr. Kartzinel has presented medical interventions that work to improve the lives of his patients who suffer from many types of medical conditions that include: autism, allergies, inflammatory bowel disease, chronic constipation, chronic diarrhea, sleep cycle disruptions, and hormonal imbalances. He regularly teaches Continuing Medical Educations courses on children's health issues to physicians and other health professionals.

His clinical approach is to treat the whole patient by carefully obtaining a full and complete history and based on this history, obtaining very detailed laboratory evaluations. Individualized plans are implemented integrating the very latest medical interventions that include both traditional and complimentary medicine approaches.

More Parenting Videos from Jerry Kartzinel, MD >
Enter your email to
download & subscribe
to our newsletter