Don't Know What Else To Do

[hapy4dolphins]

HI,

My son, now 4, has been dealing with chronic constipation for over 2 years. So much that he has a bit of prolapsed rectum happening and he more often then not, bleed with a bowel movement. The rast test came back neg, and his celiac test came back neg again (he's been tested 3 times in the last two years). So, we have taken out dairy and most gluten, even though hubby isn't sure he needs that. The gastro doc said to decrease dairy, so that's where I got that idea from. What else can we do?

Nicole

[kbtoyssni]

It wouldn't surprise me if he's celiac and has negative tests. They notorious for false negatives in young kids. Why not try a 100% gluten-free diet? You probably won't see much difference with a mostly-gluten-free diet so maybe try fully committing to it.

Lactose is digested by lactase which is produced by the tips of the villi. If the villi are damaged, they won't produce lactase and you won't be able to digest dairy. That's why so many celiacs can't tolerate dairy at first. After healing, many can add it back into the diet with no problems.

[Nic]

My son is a celiac and is dairy intolerant. I just want to point out that when constipation is the symptom, as with my son, it takes a little longer to see good results. Don't forget, you don't get backed up in a day. It was weeks before saw improvement. And now if he gets glutened or dairy, he gets a stomach ache but the constipation can show up over a week later. So don't get discourage too quickly if you try the diet 100%, give it about a month.

Nicole

[mamaloca2]

Did his docs put him on a stool softener of any kind? My daughters gastro specialist put her on Miralax (it's over the counter.) It has no flavor and helped tremendously. We had to use it every day for a few months so that her bowel could get back to normal. You really need to keep his stool very soft for a long time since it sounds like his have been traumatized.

I also want you to know that she tested neg. for Celiac disease but I tried gluten-free anyway. In a week she greatly improved, and within a month, she was completely normal again. Now whenever she gets gluten, she is constipated and very emotional for a few weeks.

Hope you find the problem soon.

Stacy