new member intro

[Guest guest]

Hi. My 10 year old daughter has had constipation issues since birth. She didn't

poop much in the first couple weeks, but we thought that it was due to some

breastfeeding issues. Once we got her nursing well, she improved and grew just

fine. But, at 18months, even though she was still being breastfed, she had her

first major bout with constipation and withholding. From there, throughout

toddlerhood, we endured rounds of constipation where our family life would shut

down because everything became focused on helping her to go (I'm sure that many

of you can relate). Our GI ruled out HD with a barium enema, then put her on a

maintenance of MOM. But, even with MOM daily, she still would get backed up and

withhold. By then, we had changed to a new pediatrician who had done a

fellowship in GI before switching to peds. He said that he did not like MOM

because of the risk of magnesium toxicity and that he had personally seen kids

have to be hospitalized for this if they were withholding while taking MOM. He

instead highly recommended Miralax. But, I didn't switch for a while, thinking

that the GI should know, but after realizing that the MOM was NOT working for us

at all and that my daughter was truly able to hold in several days' worth of MOM

liquified stool, I thought that we would make the switch. The Miralax worked

great. It made her go, she no longer held, and we were able to get on with our

lives. But, that was when she was still very young. Fast forward a few years

to the present, and this year, she began to miss a lot of school due to

generalized " stomach " aches. I finally took her to the doctor, same

pediatrician, and he said that she was most likely constipated. My guard had

been down, since I thought that we had the problem pretty much under control.

But, with varying schedules, lots of homework in 5th grade, etc., for whatever

reason, this year she was having her same old trouble. Then, most recently, our

regular family routine was thrown for a loop when we had to travel for 3 weeks

unexpectedly due to a death in the family out of state. I was way busier than

usual, and that has traditionally been the times when she would get backed up---

when I wasn't paying attention. So, for two weeks, she has been nauseous,

headache, tummy ache, etc. She was still pooping for the first few days we were

back home, though not good quantities, but she felt sick to her stomach. I took

her to the doctor for confirmation, and they ordered an abdominal xray to assess

how much was in there. She was loaded in the whole colon, both sides, so he

said to give her Miralax everyday until it worked and then go to a maintenance

dose for a few months. At one cap, it took 3 days to produce, but even though

she felt relieved, she still felt sick to her stomach. So, I thought that maybe

it was the medicine and cut back on the dosage. Well, that was enough to back

her up again, and she went several more days without going. Back to the doctor

to see if we needed another xray, or to see if something else was wrong. He

felt her tummy, and this time found stool only in the descending colon, so it

was an improvement. He thought that she had only been cleaned out half way, so

he upped her dose and said to wait. If she is not better in a couple of weeks

and still feels sick to her stomache, he wants to start looking around to see if

there is more going on. She went yesterday and felt better, but now today,

nothing. After I give her the dose, which is 1 1/2 caps now, she feels worse.

When it finally works, she feels better, but until then, she feels very bloated

and uncomfortable. I have not noticed any behavior changes like I have read

about here, but she has not been on it for more than a couple of months at a

time.

I'm really at a loss for what to do. Fruit, fiber, water, etc. just don't seem

to have the same effect on her like it would on a normal kid. If even MOM did

not work well, shouldn't that be a red flag? I don't think that she is still a

holder, at least not consciously. When she was going regularly on her own this

year, I noticed that it was often a round ball about the size of a baseball, but

she didn't ever complain of pain when passing it. Now, I need to get her

through this crisis and get things moving again so that we can try harder this

time to regulate her with diet. She absolutely doesn't want an enema. And, I

don't really know what else we can do. I hate the fact that she is taking the

Miralax, but I need to get her cleaned out before I can figure out how to manage

it.

Sorry this was so long. I don't know of anyone else with this issue to this

extent, so I've never really shared my frustrations. Any thoughts anyone?