This Board (Trust but Verify)

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The information on this board is anecdotal at best, detailing the experiences of parents with their particular child. We all came here seeking a way out of giving our children Miralax everyday for possibly years. Being confronted with all the reports of the negative side effects can and should be scary, especially if you have witnessed those same symptoms in your own child. However, I do not think that any one on this board is a medical expert so one must take all the information with a grain of salt and discuss what you have learned here with your physician(s). Trust, but verify!!Unfortunately, most of us have experienced the resistance of our pediatricians and/or GI's or GPs to consider another solution, failing to listen to our fears and worries and

consistently pushing Miralax as the ultimate solution, without really even trying to address the root cause of our child(ren)'s constipation issues.In the end, we have had to be our own best advocates. Personally speaking, I have found this board to be enormously informative and it is with the font of information and support I found here that I was able to successfully take my DD off Miralax and put her on the path to wellness and health.I began by saying that the information here is anecdotal at best (i.e., no one has done a scientific medical study to figure out the effects of Miralax on our children or if in fact Miralax is safe to use with children, which the manufacturer does not claim), but what lends the information on this board some weight is our collective albeit anecdotal experiences that intersect in several places, causing some of

us to have moments of clarity about what may be going on with our own child. Without this board, many of us would have happily gone on administering Miralax to our child (a miraculously easy solution to a terrible, terrible problem), not realizing that the tics and outbursts and rashes and burns and encopresis, lack of growth and weight gain, etc., were things that our child was probably born with or naturally prone to. I was scared witless when I first joined this board and learned that I could be literally slowly poisoning my child, but I would rather that than be made to feel utterly comfortable by my pediatrician who would have been happy to have me continue my DD on Miralax until....whenever (her word)...or until it was too late.Still, I consulted the same pediatrician before taking my DD off Miralax, but when she tried to convince me to stick with the Miralax, it was the information I had gathered from this board that

gave me the strength to stand my ground and say no against her expert medical advice.Sorry for the long post, but I felt empowered by coming here and finding out that I was not alone and that there was light at the end of the tunnel for my family. I hope that you (and any others here) find the same salvation that I did.Thanks for listening! :)LilluTo: miralax Cc: tughela@...Sent: Tue, November 9, 2010 10:20:26 AMSubject: Re: Re: Son on Miralax for almost

4 yrs... eliminate milk!!!

Amen...be very careful what you read. No one in this group is an

expert.Quoting TUGHELA : Hi ,My son was on movicol

for about 1.5 years until we realised the cause of the constipation was milk. The reason we missed it at first is because he got constipated before he had

ever had cows milk, he is obviously prone to getting constipated, but now that

we have removed all cows milk from his diet he is a different child. He goes

either everyday or every other day with normal soft stools. In order to test

this you need to go two weeks without ANY products containing cows milk.He

was on movical when we did this test, but it was clearly working as his stools

were so so soft and regular. Once we realised the milk was the problem we weaned

him off the movicol gradually as per recommendations. He hasn't touched movicol

for 6 months.If there are any signs of his stool hardening he just has a

couple of prunes (this never worked before)If you haven't already tried

this, try it . I really hope it works. This discovery has changed our lives. There was actually a medical study which is what convinced me to try ithttp://www.wholewoman.com/drupal-6.16/node/2906We now have a normal happy family.By the way , this yahoo group

nearly pushed me over the edge, at a time when the worry was really killing me. I ended up taking him off the movicol from one day to the next which is clearly

going to cause problems as you have to wean your children off them. I think

there is a lot of scary but unsubstantiated stuff on here. I never noticed any

side effects, but I wanted my son off long term medication, I joined the group

looking for solutions but only found a lot of fear. Be careful what you read,

especially when you are feeling desparate.Tughela> >> > Hi! I'm new on here and just looking for some help. My son has had

> > pooping issues since he was about 2--at 3 they put him on

Miralax. He > > just turned 7 yesterday. We just took him off

Miralax 6 days ago. We > > were researching it after our last GI

appt. because I just felt like > > we have gotten NO answers and

they just keep having us up the dose. > > For the last 6 months he

was on Miralax and Exlax every day and still > > having trouble. After reading all the side effects etc.. we realized > > that he was

showing so many of the symptoms--behavior changes, > > tremors of

his fingers, headaches etc.. But now, we're not sure what > > to

do--if any one has any suggestions I would really appreciate it. > >

We sit him on the toilet 3-4x a day and have upped his water intake >

> alot. His poop is very pasty and is stuck to his behind--Someone >

> mentioned this could be from the Miralax--not sure. He has to be >

> homeschooled because of the accidents etc.. We tried twice to put him > > in school and ended up pulling him out as he was constantly staying

> > home or coming home in new clothes from accidents. We feel so

bad for > > him and just want to figure out what will help him. Thanks> >>