In such situations, children need antibiotics or else they may suffer not only more pain but irreversible injury and possibly death. My patients on inulin just stay on inulin, they may relapse a little temporarily but bounce right back afterward. My patients who have been previously treated with rifaximin sometimes just need a reset with rifaximin again if they don’t bounce back within a week or 2 after the antibiotics. It is important to realize that children may be greatly harmed if certain infections are not treated with antibiotics. If you are hesitant to give them, nicely ask the prescribing physician if there is any other way to treat the condition. On some occasions (e.g., upper respiratory infections without ear infections), the physician may say waiting to see if it ‘clears up on its own’ might be an option.

Probiotics are not needed to offset the potential negative effect of antibiotics. The probiotics might potentially even worse the disruption of the gut bacteria by the antibiotics.

If a child is on a course of antibiotics, I generally suggest parents delay starting the next monthly round of rifaximin until the other antibiotic is finished, and the infection is successfully treated.

Rifaximin is a unique antibiotic and some researchers have suggested that it be put into a new medication category called “eubiotic.” This term is suggested because rifaximin is felt to be the only antibiotic that does not cause permanent damage to the intestinal bacterial microbiome.

Dr. Nemechek hosted a live Q&A event in August 2023 in which he reviews the the four possible causes of anxiety and aggression:n1) Norepinephrinen2) Low Blood Pressuren3) Road Ragen4) DiscomfortnAs well as tips on identifying which is the root cause of your child’s issues, and even more importantly, he shared the best ways to improve things for your child. We recommend that you review the video which can be found in the Parent Chat feature of the Nemechek Navigator under the Live Q&A Events forum. nn