Common upper respiratory infections can cause a significant relapse. Still, prior gains should return within a few weeks of recovery—no need to change the doses since they had proven previously that they were strong enough. Changing any doses could just further confuse the situation.
When recovery stops and maybe even regress, one must decide if this is a plateau or a drop in blood pressure from a physical stressor such as a sinus infection or dental problems. The triggering of a plateau from the failure or rifaximin doesn’t tend to have a regression, just a lack of progress over a few months. Sinus infections and dental issues can cause an increase in aggression and anxiety, which are often viewed as a regression.
Once recovery begins, a wide range of imbalances can present themselves and manifest as new abnormal behavior that might be misconstrued as a regression. I have even seen young adults in their 20’s seeming go through their “terrible two’s” as they recover. Parents need to anticipate that their children’s emotional maturity generally will not match their physical age during recovery. They may have an autistic child who is six, twelve, or twenty-four years old but behaves as if they are a two-year-old child. They must do their best to be patient during this difficult time because in six months a child who behaved liked a two-year-old child may begin behaving as if they are three or four years old. In another six to twelve months, they may progress to the behavior of a five or six-year-old. This maturation process will continue on more or less over time.
I believe it is not safe and is ineffective.
I am frequently asked what else might someone do to speed the healing. I tell parents to think of the brain repair process like someone wanting to speed up the recovery of their broken arm. A broken arm will not heal any faster by doing anything “extra.” It is the same with brain recovery.nnBone tissue, like brain tissue, has its own naturally determined rate of recovery, and there is no known way to improve upon the natural rate. I also tell parents not to compare their child’s behavior today with yesterday, but instead, compare them today to how they were one or two months ago or when they first started the protocol. Keeping a longer timeframe for assessing recovery is important because it prevents a parent from getting distracted by some of the common ups and downs in the recovery process.
Fortunately, the developmental gains realized with the protocol will not relapse, but gains from repair of cumulative brain injuries often relapse similarly to adults. The most common symptoms associated with cumulative brain injuries that might return in children include hyperactivity, anxiety, aggression, increased hunger and thirst, poor focus, constipation, and insomnia.
I expect treatment is going to be for the next many years at least, and here’s why: The bacterial overgrowth in the intestine leads to the production of propionic acid (causes autistic behaviors- loss of eye contact, strange behaviors, suppression of cognition) and the leakage of LPS (a fragment of the ‘fish’ bacteria from the colon).nnLPS migrates to the brain and triggers a priming effect in microglia (white blood cells) within the brain. The primed-microglia cause a permanent and long-lasting inflammatory response that prevents proper pruning (causes developmental delay) and brain repair (causes cumulative brain injury).nnStopping inulin will cause a relapse of bacterial overgrowth again and renewed production of propionic acid. Reduction of inulin and fish oil will increase the abnormal inflammatory response within the brain from the primed-microglia.
It is complicated to say whether some, most, or all will recover with my protocol. We know that a large majority of children with autism and other developmental issues will suddenly begin the process of obvious improvement within a few days to weeks of starting the protocol. The protocol results is a healthy shift towards a normal cellular development, repair, and neuronal pruning throughout the entire brain, and what I observe is that if any portion of the brain is improving, the repair process is occurring throughout including the variety of areas in the brain that are required to function for speech. As long as continued improvement occurs in other areas, stick with the regimen, and the speech will come eventually.
Some studies indicate that developmental delay recovers at about two to three months for every calendar month that brain inflammation is lowered. Some children may recover this fast while other children take considerably longer. No matter the age of the child, the most important factor to consider is whether the protocol has increased the rate of improvement compared to the pace of any gains prior to the protocol.
Potential any food item can trigger an allergic reaction resulting in a rash, but it is very, very uncommon for inulin, fish oil, olive oil, or rifaximin to cause such a reaction. If something like this does occur, it is typically not from an allergic reaction per se but from leaky gut due to inadequate control of bacterial overgrowth.nnIf this occurs to one of my patients, I consider switching from inulin to monthly rifaximin. If they are on monthly rifaximin, I would suggest increasing it up to continuous rifaximin.