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Stepdaughter And Constipation Issues

brandyburl

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brandyburl Apprentice
brandyburl
Posted

I'm currently in the process of revamping our diets. I'm doing it slowly so that we can adjust without too much rebuttle from the four kids in our house, one of whom is autistic and eats constantly. 

 

Anyway, this post is about my step daughter. My husband and I got married in December and they moved in with me. SD has always had constipation issues. Complaining of stomach aches and not being able to have a bm.  My husband (single dad with full custody) solution and that of his grandparents was just to pump her full of apple juice. If she still had problems, they'd just give her more juice. Mind you her diet consisted of those damn kid cuisine fried chicken meals. I hate kid cuisine with a passion. I think it's total crap. That's beside the point. She was never made to eat the meal that was cooked and the grandparents who babysat her most of the time didn't make her eat vegetables. She would occasionally eat bananas and maybe some apples here and there. DH would feed her spaghettios most of the time he was responsible for her evening meal. 

 

So when they moved in I took it upon myself to determine the cause and eliminate this constipation issue she is having. I'm cooking wholesome meals with at least one vegetable. Limiting juice to once a day if that. Eliminating processed and prepackaged foods from our home. Providing fresh fruits and veggies for snacks and yogurt. We are not a gluten free home yet as I am getting ready for testing and I would like to have my biological children tested. I do cook gluten free. I eat it about once a day just so there is still some in my systerm. The kids still ingest gluten at school and at their visits to their other parents'. 

 

I've resorted to giving her a fiber supplement twice a day (generic of benefiber) to keep her pooping. It's working but if she misses it for a weekend while she's visiting she's constipated again. I really think we're just treating the symptom and not the cause. Someone suggested we try totally eliminating dairy from her diet. I do remember personally giving up dairy for a time period and instead of one bm a day I'd have 2 consistently. I'm wondering if this could be the culprit. 

 

Advice or suggestions? Are the fiber supplements a bad idea? 

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Juliebove Rising Star
Juliebove
Posted

For my daughter, eliminating caffeine helped.  The caffeine was causing a problem of urinary irritation.  Then she wouldn't drink because it burned when she peed.  She was just short of dehydration and that caused constipation.  She stopped the caffeine and drank more water.  I have never allowed her more than one serving of juice per day and she didn't always have that.

 

My MIL can not eat dairy or bananas because they cause her to be constipated.  In my case, dairy gives me the big D.

 

We had a neighbor girl who had it and her Dr. said to give her a small amount of Kern's Aprictot Nectar.

  • 1 month later...
Bella001 Explorer
Bella001
Posted

I had horrible issues with it until I got rid of dairy.  As soon as the gluten and dairy went away, so did the constipation.  Orange juice actually helps with it.  It draws water into the matter and helps it pass.  I have a big glass of OJ every morning when I get up!

mommida Enthusiast
mommida
Posted

Has SD had a physical recently?  It would be nice to know that thyroid or anemia isn't an underlying cause.

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      High DGP-A with normal IGA

      By knitty kitty · Posted

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    • rei.b
      High DGP-A with normal IGA

      By rei.b · Posted

      Okay well the info about TTG-A actually makes a lot of sense and I wish the PA had explained that to me. But yes, I would assume I would have intestinal damage from eating a lot of gluten for 32 years while having all these symptoms. As far as avoiding gluten foods - I was definitely not doing that. Bread, pasta, quesadillas (with flour tortillas) and crackers are my 4 favorite foods and I ate at least one of those things multiple times a day e.g. breakfast with eggs and toast, a cheese quesadilla for lunch, and pasta for dinner, and crackers and cheese as a before bed snack. I'm not even kidding.  I'm not really big on sugar, so I don't really do sweets. I don't have any of those conditions.  I am not sure if I have the genes or not. When the geneticist did my genetic testing for EDS this year, I didn't think to ask for him to request the celiac genes so they didn't test for them, unfortunately.  I guess another expectation I had is  that if gluten was the issue, the gluten-free diet would make me feel better, and I'm 3 months in and that hasn't been the case. I am being very careful and reading every label because I didn't want to screw this up and have to do gluten-free for longer than necessary if I end up not having celiac. I'm literally checking everything, even tea and anything else prepacked like caramel dip. Honestly its making me anxious 😅
    • knitty kitty
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      So you're saying that you think you should have severe intestinal damage since you've had the symptoms so long?   DGP IgG antibodies are produced in response to a partial gluten molecule.  This is different than what tissue transglutaminase antibodies are  produced in response to.   TTg IgA antibodies are produced in the intestines in response to gluten.  The tTg IgA antibodies attack our own cells because a structural component in our cell membranes resembles a part of gluten.  There's a correlation between the level of intestinal damage with the level of tTg antibodies produced.  You are not producing a high number of tTg IgA antibodies, so your level of tissue damage in your intestines is not very bad.  Be thankful.   There may be reasons why you are not producing a high quantity of tTg IgA antibodies.  Consuming ten grams or more of gluten a day for two weeks to two months before blood tests are done is required to get sufficient antibody production and damage to the intestines.  Some undiagnosed people tend to subconsciously avoid lots of gluten.  Cookies and cakes do not contain as much gluten as artisan breads and thick chewy pizza crust.  Anemia, diabetes and thiamine deficiency can affect IgA antibody production as well.   Do you carry genes for Celiac?  They frequently go along with EDS.
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      High DGP-A with normal IGA

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      I was tested for celiac at the same time, so I wasn't taking naltrexone yet. I say that, because I don't. The endoscopy showed some mild inflammation but was inconclusive as to celiac disease. They took several biopsies and that's all that was shown. I was not given a Marsh score.
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