There is an issue with regression that comes up frequently in my practice. Oftentimes, this regression will happen following a course of antibiotic treatment or following antifungal treatments, and rather than improvement, you see regression. Antifungal treatments can include prescriptions such as Nystatin, Diflucan or Nizoral or herbal remedies like oregano oil, grapefruit seed extract, etc. If you see a worsening in behavior along the lines of irritability, aggression, self injury or withdrawal, you could be seeing signs of an underlying bacterial problem.

A common bacteria that many children on the Autism spectrum deal with is called clostridia. There are many types of clostridia bacteria, one type is called clostridia dificil and can actually cause one form of inflammatory bowel disease. When we talk about these negative behavioral changes and regression, we are not talking about this type. Although that form can produce certain toxins that could contribute to these negative behaviors but we are really talking about the broad family of clostridia rather that a specific form.

Great Plains Labs has two tests called the Organic Acid Test and the Microbial Organic Acid Test which look at the specific yeast and clostridia bacteria markers. HPHPA is the clostridia marker and a metabolic toxin that is picked up on these tests. That metabolic toxin appears to interfere with brain chemicals, which then can manifest in some of those behavioral issues we see with kids on the spectrum.

Yeast and clostridia live in competition with one another in the digestive tract. So that is why we often see regression with the use of antifungals. If you are not treating them both at the same time, when one is lowered then the other one can tend to flourish. So if you are treating a yeast overgrowth without also treating a clostridia overgrowth, clostridia can get worse because it has less competition from the yeast that is dying. You can also have an increase in clostridia following antibiotic use as that can kill off the beneficial bacteria in the gut which allows more growth for the opportunistic clostridia. If you see regression in your child following a course of antibiotics or antifungals, it may be wise to look into whether a clostridia overgrowth is the cause.
Autism really is treatable! Biomedical Autism treatments and therapies have resulted in many, many children improving, or even even losing their autism-spectrum disorder diagnosis.