At GetzWell, we focus on getting to the root cause of our patients’ symptoms with the goal of helping them to become truly healthy in every way–physically, mentally, and emotionally.
The following is the story of Ava, a 5-year old girl who over just a few short months went from being a mainstream kid to having extreme behavior issues and being kicked out of two different kindergartens!
Ava and her parents flew in from Texas to see me this past December–that’s how hard things had gotten. When I met them, Ava was having violent meltdowns which were making home life extremely challenging and school life impossible. Her parents were desperate for help. Spoiler alert: Ava’s case, while dramatic, also turned out to be straightforward. She began improving quickly once I interpreted her symptoms through a functional medicine lens.
Ava had always been a bright kid who enjoyed learning. She was kind, made friends easily and was generally happy at home. Ava definitely didn’t have any behavior issues beyond the typical and occasional age-appropriate pushback, but everything began to change last fall when she started physically acting out in class and having violent meltdowns at home. Her parents described fits of biting and kicking as if she were “possessed”–her dad was the only one strong enough to contain her in those moments and she seemed not to remember them.
A counselor they sought out suggested Ava had both ADHD and ODD (Oppositional Defiant Disorder) and recommended medication, but they definitely didn’t want to medicate her. A special education referral was recommended but her parents were convinced these diagnoses didn’t fit given what they knew about their child and they were convinced special ed wasn’t the answer.
As the weeks ticked by, Ava’s parents became more and more challenged and found themselves walking on eggshells because they had no idea what to expect from her at any given moment. Fortunately, Ava’s parents found a case study on our website that echoed what they had been experiencing and they called the office.
A couple of significant points in Ava’s history struck me: she had bad breath (which isn’t normal at this age) and she often laughed in a silly, weird way just before she had a meltdown. Even though I had never heard a patient actually say this, one of the textbook descriptors of intestinal yeast overgrowth is that it can cause drunken, silly behavior. I immediately thought yeast could be in the mix. However, yeast overgrowth is always secondary to something else causing “stress” in the gut: a food sensitivity, too many antibiotics (which Ava hadn’t had), or mold exposure (which seemed unlikely). Since her mother had said this began after Ava started eating the public school lunches which were highly processed and devoid of nutrients, I considered what they could change in Ava’s diet that might have an impact.
After collecting test samples, I instructed Ava’s parents to eliminate gluten from her diet. Within a week of eliminating gluten and before we even had test results back, Ava was meaningfully less oppositional. Within about 2 weeks of following a gluten free diet, she was able to restart a new kindergarten and hadn’t had any meltdowns at school. Her tantrums at home had dropped off dramatically, both in number and intensity. Meanwhile, we got the test results back–as I had suspected, they showed a very high level of intestinal yeast. Ava then started an antifungal treatment protocol in order to bring her microbiome back into balance.
Ava’s case proved to be very straightforward, and the quick and dramatic results of one change–eliminating gluten–were incredibly gratifying. Not only is Ava well on her way to better physical, mental, and emotional health, but she and her parents are getting their life back, without psych medications or other challenging interventions!
If a member of your family is dealing with a complex medical problem, please reach out to us, we’d love to be able to help.