Kids With Encopresis

[Phasmid]

After SIX YEARS of dealing with my son's encopresis, on top of the PANDAS stuff, we think we have figured it out. I am ANGRY, sad, frustrated, very upset that three specialists, two colonoscopies/endoscopy, countless specialty blood tests, visits to psychotherapist, and years of family strife, not to mention my son's suffering from shame, guilt and embarassment failed to uncover something relatively simple-- lactose intolerance. My husband has had issues for as long as I have known him, and I recently convinced him to GO OFF MILK entirely. Well, guess what. His symptoms have disappeared. So, I took my son off ALL DAIRY, including cheese, not just milk. It has been about one week. I have not had to soak one pair of underwear. Also, I have added one or two rice cakes per day- the popcorn flavor is excellent (doesn't taste like you're eating paper) which is a great fiber source which also helps things.

 

Though not necessarily related to PANDAS, I know some of you have kids who also struggle with this. Wanted to mention in case you haven't already been down this path. I had to read more about it, and glad I did, because I had the inaccurate impression that one could still consume yogurt/kefir, which I never had cut out before.

[butterflymom]

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Edited February 3, 2016 by tampicc

[butterflymom]

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Edited February 3, 2016 by tampicc

[amyjoy]

phasmid that is so great to have found a piece of this puzzle for your DS!!! congrats!!

[Kiera]

Hi Phasmid,

We did have our son off all dairy for over a year, with no relief from constipation, due to his colon being so dilated and damaged at that point, so we had to go on to more drastic treatments. But dairy is a known constipating food, so avoiding it in your son's case might just do the trick, so stick with it. Also, our son failed to gain weight that year off casein and fell off the growth charts so we resumed it. So glad to hear of your son's improvement, hope it continues!

[Kiera]

P.S. Did you get my last pm message?

[swim]

When our ds was between 4 and 5 years old, we had to deal with sudden onset of soiling. Our ped tested for parasites, but tests turned out neg. We then turned to lactose intolerance. Removing dairy worked immediately for a few weeks and we thought problem was solved, but then it started again when he was still on no dairy. He would eat something harmless like an apple and have an accident. We ended up treating for systemic candida (yeast overgrowth) and problem cleared up. I never want to put a damper on something when it seems someone has found an answer, but I just wanted to toss this out there in case you see the problem return.

Edited March 7, 2011 by swim

[Phasmid]

No worries, always good to throw stuff out there.

 

Regarding yeast, we did treat him for yeast when this first started- that was his first treatment, Nystatin. Yeast may be involved, and Nystatin is so safe that I do dose him now and then with my constant stock of it in my fridge (i use it too!)

 

Actually, when his explosion of OCD and tics began in 2004, his doc (we flew to Wisconsin and he was seen/treated by Bruce Semon, MD in Milwaukee. He believed it to be Tourette's and said that chronic infection/overgrowth with Candida albicans, the yeast that lives within every person, causes this. I had nothing else to go after, so we followed his treatment with Nystatin and diet change. You can find this at Wisconsin Nutrition Institute (Google it). The symptoms decreased right away, and we thought he was fine. But things got worse later and the next time I used Nystatin, it didn't work magically as it had the first time.

 

I still don't know what to make of that "cure" from Nystatin. I did recently start doing some research and found out that Nystatin is effective against Mycoplasma pneumoniae! So, if this was in his gut, then the Nystatin certainly could have worked on that. Who knows...