Re: Our story...newbie w/3.5 yr old chronic constipation-long

[Guest guest]

forgot to add he is nowhere near being potty trained. And the past 4

months he has lost all sensation in bowels. He has no clue when he has

had one and will sit in a dirty diaper all day if was allowed to. He

wasn't like this 6 months ago, he was feeling his bowels and saying I

have to poop.

Janel

[Guest guest]

Wow. I had no idea this could be THAT bad! Our prayers will be

with you. As far as the potty training thing, our son is almost 4

and, while he has no developmental issues, he doesn't go #2 on the

pot. He just says " I'd rather go in my pants now and wait until I

turn 4 " (To which I want to tell him, THEN JUST GO...DONT

HOLD IT IN!)

Take care!

J.

>

> Well it all began when our son was introduced to solid foods at 7

> months old. He was still breastfed but also having some baby

foods,

> he started out not having bowels as often then it turned into once

a

> week and later turned to 1x a month he would have a bowel. At

under a

> year he was on several script laxes,otc,home remidies and nothing

> worked. They started (the GI specialist) to tell me my baby, my

less

> than 1 yr old, was stool with holding. At around 18 months nothing

> had improved so we started Miralax. The doctor said do enough to

get

> the bowels moving, eventhough on the bottle it say 17g 1x a

> day....doctor wanted us to give 17g 3x a day or more....well it

> wasn't working. Then we went through some power stuff at just

before

> age 2 where they placed a tube down his nose into his tummy pumped

> with meds and gave tons of enemas. That was so aweful he had every

> side effect imaginable (vomit,diharriah..etc), this was a regular

ped

> who did this in her office I should have sued but the head of peds

> stood up for her....

>

> Anyways fast forward to age 3. Poor thing still constipated having

> bowels on average every 21 days. We switched health plans and new

GI

> had us do magnissium citrate for a few days and miralax and we got

> blockage removed...then we were to stay on Miralax 17 g a day

until

> he's potty trained.

>

> Next, I took him off miralax and he immediately got constipated

> again. I went to a natropath doctor who gave him chinese herbs,

which

> didn't seem to help. So we went back to miralax and doctor said

start

> high 17g a day and then slowly make it smaller doseage. So we are

> down to that maybe less than a 1 tsp or so a day but still if he

> doesn't get the miralax for a few days he starts to get blocked

again.

>

> I'm sure all this has caused damage to him...it wasn't untill just

> recently that the poor lil guys tummy is no longer extended and

> bloated. He's always been developmentally delayed and we just

> recently found out he has mild cp and absence seizures. When he is

on

> high doses of the miralax his speech is more slurred and not

> understandable and his sensory deffensiveness is more present.

>

> Well thanks for reading our long story. My little guy is now 3.5

yrs

> old.

>

> Janel in Northern CA

>

[Guest guest]

Hi Janel--you've got a lot going on in your message, so I'm going to

put my comments within your text, with ***** marks preceding my

comments. Read thru till you see my signature...

> Well it all began when our son was introduced to solid foods at 7

> months old.

***** you should also check his shot record. I would not be

surprised if he had a series of shots right around this time

preceding the bowel delays. I can't remember if it is the Dtap or

Hib, I think it is the Dtap, but anyway, this sounds like my dd's

case-- it's as if the shots she got at that age just stopped her

bowels from working.

He was still breastfed but also having some baby foods,

***** it could also have been a dietary change that caused the

constipation, too. I wonder if the docs have ever tested him for

celiac disease?

> he started out not having bowels as often then it turned into once

a > week and later turned to 1x a month he would have a bowel.

***** as I'm sure you know, that's just way too long... please please

do not be afraid to use babylax liquid glycerin suppositories to jump-

start a bowel movement. They say, oh, you might create a dependency,

well, at this point, you can't worry about that--you've got to get

that stool out. It simply isn't healthy to keep it in you that

long. It's rotting food. Plus, because we had gone through my older

son's constipation, when it hit my dd we used babylax on her almost

nightly to keep it coming out, and there have been several times in

her life where I've given a combination of supplements that has

gotten her going, and I tell you, there is no dependency on the

babylax. Once the system is ready to go, and working, then the cihld

just " goes " .

At under a year he was on several script laxes,otc,home remidies and

nothing worked. They started (the GI specialist) to tell me my baby,

my less than 1 yr old, was stool with holding.

******* I know they say that. They said it about my dd when she had

her gi appt at about 8 or 9 months. Purposely stool holding is not

as common as they make it out to be, particularly in a baby. It can

happen with older kids who get into control and power struggle

issues, but in little babies... not very likely that they are

purposely trying to hold it back. They might try to if they are torn

and there is pain down there, but it's still not " the reason " for the

constipation. The constipation set in first...holding back can

happen as a side effect but it's not the cause of the problem.

At around 18 months nothing

> had improved so we started Miralax. The doctor said do enough to

get the bowels moving, eventhough on the bottle it say 17g 1x a

> day....doctor wanted us to give 17g 3x a day or more....well it

> wasn't working.

***** that's because that dose is way too high for a little body.

It's like he was slowly being poisoned with the stuff. The more

miralax we put into my son, the more that he no longer recognized the

urge to go have a bowel movement, and the more physical symptoms

showed up like poor motor skills, low muscle tone, and sensory issues.

I went to a natropath doctor who gave him chinese herbs, which

> didn't seem to help.

***** The herbs might have helped if they had been among the first

things tried, but after the colon and kidneys become so infused with

the polyetheylene glycol, those things don't work right away.

So we went back to miralax and doctor said start

> high 17g a day and then slowly make it smaller doseage. So we are

> down to that maybe less than a 1 tsp or so a day but still if he

> doesn't get the miralax for a few days he starts to get blocked

again.

**** Well, that is good that the doc advised working DOWN the amount

because again, even the 17 gram dose is an adult dose. So getting it

down to something that is more comparable to his body weight and size

is a step in the right direction. But as you see, the toxicity of

miralax does exist-- on the higher doses, your child could not

effectively " go " .

>

> I'm sure all this has caused damage to him...it wasn't untill just

> recently that the poor lil guys tummy is no longer extended and

> bloated. He's always been developmentally delayed and we just

> recently found out he has mild cp and absence seizures. When he is

on

> high doses of the miralax his speech is more slurred and not

> understandable and his sensory deffensiveness is more present.

******* absolutely! It's putting a strain on his body because SOME

small amounts of Polyethylene Glycol 3350 do pass through a " normal "

colon... now we're talking about abnormally functioning colons here,

which can have a higher degree of intestinal permeability than a

normal person and so even more of the PEG can pass through. In the

Files section on this board, there should be at least one study that

mentions the small amount of PEG that does pass through. Your child

was on 3 of the adult doses per day--that's too much for his little

body to process through, and so that could very well be related to

his issues.

W

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you for your imput.....

I've checked the shot records and the only thing that happened after

each shot was about a week later he developed cold

symtoms.....constipation started after food was introduced, like

immediately after even the Rice cereal or veggies came into his

system. Oatmeal was always a questionable one as well it deffentaly

seemed like things got worse after oatmeal.

> ***** it could also have been a dietary change that caused the

> constipation, too. I wonder if the docs have ever tested him for

> celiac disease?

He wasn't tested but I am looking into it now since I have suspected

for years a wheat allergy.

> ***** as I'm sure you know, that's just way too long... please

please

> do not be afraid to use babylax liquid glycerin suppositories to

jump-

> start a bowel movement.

All I can say is I wish it were that easy. Unfortunately

suppositories and enemas do not work on him. And he started to

develop a reaction to them now, he vomits after enemas.

Janel

[Guest guest]

Hi Janel-- talk to the doc about a milk and molasses enema. It

sounds like a weird combination but it is done because it just can't

be retained. The body WILL expel it.

The vomiting is happening because he is soooo backed up that the

introduction of the enema (or suppository) is causing some

peristaltic action in the colon, which is so backed up that it is

causing vomiting as a coping mechanism, i.e. trying to relieve the

distention in the colon by emptying the stomach contents. Vomiting

happens in kids who get very backed up, too, and can happen with an

enema for the same reason.

I would talk to the doc about trying the milk and molasses enema. If

I remember correctly, it is simply an enema of equal proportions

(using a kid-size fleet enema bottle (dump out the saline first). It

is slightly warmed milk with molasses stirred in. Then you talk to

the doc about how to do it for clean-out. When we did it, it was

something like two or three times a day, for three consecutive days

or so.

Then once you get the backed up stool out, then you should figure out

a maintenance schedule of using an enema or suppository periodically

until you can find something either medicinally or supplement wise,

that will keep stool soft and moving through. I remember for my son,

this took a while, i.e. we periodically had to use enema or

suppository on him but it's necessary. Without it, the colon walls

become so distended and lax and you have to keep things coming

through so that the walls can regain some muscle tone and return

towards a more normal size. It's why constipation is such a vicious

circle... with the blockage and backup the walls become stretched

out, then when you clean out, you've still got a larger than normal

size in there, so it is easier for stool to get backed up AGAIN. So

periodically doing a clean out is a part of the big picture to help

the child.

The only other thing I can think of with the vomiting after an enema

would be if the enema were water instead of saline. If using plain

water then you could upset the electrolyte imbalance if it were

retained for a long time, and that could cause the vomiting, so don't

use plain water. And to everyone reading this, don't ever use epsom

salts in water in an enema either because too much magnesium gets

absorbed in the rectum, causing a serious medical condition. Saline,

or milk and molasses, are safe.

If your doc gives a clean out procedure and still nothing happens or

there is still vomiting then talk to the doc about doing some

diagnostic testing to see if there is a blockage, where it's at and

how large it is. Because if nothing is coming out, then it might be

too large to come down and out and they'll need to do something

else. Going several weeks between movements, I would suspect that

could be a problem because the stool becomes so hard and pellety that

it gets jammed up. Think of cars on a freeway...takes a few cars to

get out of place and crooked and then you've got a 50 car pileup at

rush hour. There just isn't room for any more " cars " (i.e.

pellets/stool) to pass around the backup.

Please keep us posted Janel!! :-)

Let us know how the celiac testing goes. It will be important that

he consumes wheat for a good enough time period BEFORE they do the

testing because otherwise the test results will not be accurate if

you already remove wheat. The doctor can tell you all about that.

W

>

>

> Thank you for your imput.....

>

>

> I've checked the shot records and the only thing that happened

after

> each shot was about a week later he developed cold

> symtoms.....constipation started after food was introduced, like

> immediately after even the Rice cereal or veggies came into his

> system. Oatmeal was always a questionable one as well it deffentaly

> seemed like things got worse after oatmeal.

>

> > ***** it could also have been a dietary change that caused the

> > constipation, too. I wonder if the docs have ever tested him for

> > celiac disease?

>

> He wasn't tested but I am looking into it now since I have

suspected

> for years a wheat allergy.

>

> > ***** as I'm sure you know, that's just way too long... please

> please

> > do not be afraid to use babylax liquid glycerin suppositories to

> jump-

> > start a bowel movement.

>

> All I can say is I wish it were that easy. Unfortunately

> suppositories and enemas do not work on him. And he started to

> develop a reaction to them now, he vomits after enemas.

>

> Janel

>

[Guest guest]

This caught my attention right away because my daughter's

constipation started about when she was about 6 months old or so,

right around when we added solids. For us, it turned out to be

starches that were causing the constipation. Apparently, she was

deficient in thiamin and the starches constipated her since there

was not enough thiamin available to process them.

Eliminating all starches for a week while adding about 5 mg of

thiamin a day if your doctor approves(preferably in a B-complex

pill) would improve your son's constipation if he has the same

cause.

If he was very " colicky " as a baby or was really sensitive to loud

noises, I would say chances are it could be a thiamin issue.

~

>

> . . . I've checked the shot records and the only thing that

happened after

> each shot was about a week later he developed cold

> symtoms.....constipation started after food was introduced, like

> immediately after even the Rice cereal or veggies came into his

> system. Oatmeal was always a questionable one as well it

deffentaly

> seemed like things got worse after oatmeal.

>

[Guest guest]

Your story is so similar to my son's. I finally got my son off of

Miralax this summer --

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/miralax/message/1658

My son is now completely regular after YEARS of major-league

constipation -- correlated to the 8 week shots while still 100%

breastfed-- that's when it all began.

Here's what worked for us

1000mg + of magnesium (he is on maintenance dose of 250-400mg now --

a " normal " amount). Add 250 mg on day 1, 500 mg on day 2-4, 1000 mg

on day 5 + -- lower the miralax as you ramp up on magnesium. Don't

worry -- after a month or so on the higher dosage you'll be able to

reduce it -- their bodies are low in minerals -- inc zinc, calcium

and magnesium

1000 mg vitamin c

500 mg calcium citrate

digestive enzymes and probiotics. Keep experimenting/rotating with

types and brands --

add fish oil -- Nordic Naturals 3-6-9 is a good one -- 2-4 capsules

a day

Natural Vitamin E - 400 iu

Good multi like Brain Child - high Bs, with zinc.

keep up with the water and fruit fibers -- especially raisins,

apples and pears.

Homemade lemonade with honey. can hide the magnesium in it too.

try to eliminate wheat and dairy for a few weeks -- if you see

positive results keep it out of the diet as best as you can. Given

the timing -- there might be a rice allergy -- rice cereal started

at about 6 months???

Hope this helps.

>

> Well it all began when our son was introduced to solid foods at 7

> months old. He was still breastfed but also having some baby

foods,

> he started out not having bowels as often then it turned into once

a

> week and later turned to 1x a month he would have a bowel. At

under a

> year he was on several script laxes,otc,home remidies and nothing

> worked. They started (the GI specialist) to tell me my baby, my

less

> than 1 yr old, was stool with holding. At around 18 months nothing

> had improved so we started Miralax. The doctor said do enough to

get

> the bowels moving, eventhough on the bottle it say 17g 1x a

> day....doctor wanted us to give 17g 3x a day or more....well it

> wasn't working. Then we went through some power stuff at just

before

> age 2 where they placed a tube down his nose into his tummy pumped

> with meds and gave tons of enemas. That was so aweful he had every

> side effect imaginable (vomit,diharriah..etc), this was a regular

ped

> who did this in her office I should have sued but the head of peds

> stood up for her....

>

> Anyways fast forward to age 3. Poor thing still constipated having

> bowels on average every 21 days. We switched health plans and new

GI

> had us do magnissium citrate for a few days and miralax and we got

> blockage removed...then we were to stay on Miralax 17 g a day

until

> he's potty trained.

>

> Next, I took him off miralax and he immediately got constipated

> again. I went to a natropath doctor who gave him chinese herbs,

which

> didn't seem to help. So we went back to miralax and doctor said

start

> high 17g a day and then slowly make it smaller doseage. So we are

> down to that maybe less than a 1 tsp or so a day but still if he

> doesn't get the miralax for a few days he starts to get blocked

again.

>

> I'm sure all this has caused damage to him...it wasn't untill just

> recently that the poor lil guys tummy is no longer extended and

> bloated. He's always been developmentally delayed and we just

> recently found out he has mild cp and absence seizures. When he is

on

> high doses of the miralax his speech is more slurred and not

> understandable and his sensory deffensiveness is more present.

>

> Well thanks for reading our long story. My little guy is now 3.5

yrs

> old.

>

> Janel in Northern CA

>