Thursday, March 19, 2009

Major Digestive Mystery REVEALED!

OK, I haven't posted much about this on my blog, but for the longest time, Kibi's been struggling with a problem that I have no choice but to call The Great BM Mystery.

For long stretches at a time (5, 6, 7 days) he will have what looks like diarrhea, but it doesn't have quite the, um, volume that's consistent with diarrhea.  It's more like a "splatter" in his diaper.  And it happens frequently, as in 10 to 12 times a day on a typical day.  When it gets really bad, he'll double over in pain when it's happening and announce that he's "pooping" or that his "belly hurts".  Which just kills me, as you can imagine.  

It's been like this, almost NON-STOP, since about the beginning of this year.  And what's worse, when he has these episodes, naturally we change him like mad, which means lots of wiping, which in turn means lots of diaper rash (he has especially sensitive skin) and then he hates being changed, it becomes like torture, and so on and so forth.

Well, I was going nuts, wondering if it was some obscure food allergy (he's already been tested, and has only shown very mild allergies to milk, and tomato - so mild that the allergist said it's not worth changing his diet over) or something worse.  

My pediatrician was also stumped, so she sent us to a pediatric gastroenterologist at Children's National Medical Center.  And, right away... she SOLVED the mystery!

He's got encopresis.  Which you can also read about here, and here.

Phew!  What a relief to know we don't have to worry about allergies or other, scarier problems.

So we've been given an OTC stool softener, which we begin tonight, for the first step of treatment: the "cleaning out."  Fun, fun!  But at least it means my poor little guy will be one step closer to being bellyache-free.



3 comments:

CDB said...

I'm so glad you got it solved!
And I'm passing on this info to my sister; my nephew sounds like he has the same exact symptoms (though, he's 5.)

BigBi said...

Actually, CDB, that (5) is a more common age for this condition. It mostly occurs in 4-5 year old boys, the sites said.

Sweet Pea Chef said...

So glad you figured it out...it is tough when you are at a loss for something affecting your child! Glad it isn't anything horrible...

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