Encopresis

[sugarspicenpuppytails]

I want to answer to a question posted about Encopresis. How do I go about this?

[sugarspicenpuppytails]

My son is 6 years old and was diagnosed with encopresis two years ago. I read the messages about encopresis with great interest. I have tried many of the suggestions and many more. Idon't want to discourage anyone but nothing has worked and I don't know what else to do to help my son. We have tried laxative pills (can't swallow / when he chews they burn his mouth), milk of magnesia (gross tasting), mineral oil ( he notices it: I don't know how!), Colyte (gross tasting), Fleet enemas (worked great but gave him major cramps which scared him and there's no way we can get anywhere near him with another one!), 2 tsp. Senokot in chocolate milk (helps a little but not enough). In the last week, after a trip to emergency for major stomach pains, we've convinced him to take microlax enemas for the last 6 days - no poop! We have met a specialist and have been in group therapy (not much help). I'm now at the point where i'll be looking into herbal remedies. Apparently papaya enzyme might help. We'll see. I'm really glad many of you have had successes with what you've tried and for those who are discouraged I hope it helps to know you're not alone! This is definitely a huge challenge but I can't give up for my son's sake!

[stitcher45]

Sugarspicepuppytails

How is everything going with your son? I have been thinking about him a lot lately-don't know why he popped into my head one day- my heart tells me that God is asking me to pray for them when he sends them into my thoughts

And how are you doing? I know it has to be a big strain on you and your dh. How do your other children deal with his having so much attention?

I truely hope things are going well for all of you.

[sugarspicenpuppytails]

Thanks for your prayers! My son is fine. He still doesn't poop while on the toilet but he will sit on it once in a while to try. We're going to try again to have a "sit on the toilet" schedule but this did not work well in the past. My son doesn't eat a whole lot and is only ever hungry for small amounts at a time so sitting on the toilet after a "meal" hasn't produced any results so far but we'll keep trying... Taking the laxatives was the biggest challenge and when we found the Exlax with senosides that was that - no more fighting over taking medication! That was the biggest hurdle because at least now he gets relief from his severe constipation. We're told that this gets sorted out with time so as parents we'll keep being patient and be as supportive as we can be.

As for my other child, she will be 3 at the end of October and she requires more attention than he does for sure. I don't think she's aware that anything is "abnormal". I'm blessed to have the two great kids I have and I thank God every day for them. They both seem to be happy well-rounded children.

Anyway the Encopresis which was a big focus in our lives over a year ago has - for better or for worse - gone to the backburner. You may have read in my other posts that I lost my Mom in a car accident last October and that my husband started dialysis at home the same day. Amazingly we're all doing fine -God and my Mom in Heaven have helped me get through it all so far and will keep doing so.

Again, thanks for your thoughts!

[DDawnH]

Hi, My sister had the same problem with one of her boys. It was finally suggested to her by a P.A. to use diabetic gummy bears. I think she gave him 5 or 6 a day, to start. You don't want to give him to many as they can cause them to have diareah. She did this for about a year and he is fine now. Good Luck

[Lisa Fields]

I was just reading about your dear son. Poor guy! I don't know if this is something you have tried or not but 2 years ago we cared for my nephew that had encopresis and his doctor prescribed a glass of Metamucil every single morning. That seemed to do the trick. It took a few days before we noticed that the stools seemed softer. You can get some orange flavored Metamucil that is not too bad but the trick is you have to be able to get him to drink it pretty quick or it thickens up.

**Another thought, it may be more technical than this but what about trying good old fashioned prunes?

[sugarspicenpuppytails]

Hi Lisa and Dawn. Thanks for your replies. I'm not sure how this thread ended up on the "new messages". That post was my first on this site and that was back in March! As you can see however I did any replies until now and thank you for your thoughts and advice.

The "Colyte" stuff is like Metamucil and I did try prunes from the time he was a baby. Prunes did not do the trick unfortunately and he wont drink the Colyte. I think the medication is mostly solved however and our next challenge is actually getting him to go on the toilet. He will sit on it but nothing ever much happens - which means he's 6 ( 7 in December ) and still in Pullups! It's also a concern that he not have embarassing moments at school and so far we've been very lucky. We give him the laxatives at night and he usually goes (if he goes) at night when he's at home. The problem is he's taking the adult dosage of laxatives and it's just not strong enough even though he doesn't even weigh 40 lbs yet! He usually poops little bits at a time. Ideally he'd get a Microlax enema as well but we've tried that a few times and it's a battle everytime. Anyway, I see the doctor again on Wednesday and I"ll see if we can up the Exlax dosage.

Thanks again!

[spacedup]

Sugarspicepuppytails ,

Our son now 14, has had encopresis since he was 4. This is NOT a good thing. His doctor told us at the age of 4 his colon was the size of a adults colon. When he was 8, his colon was super-sized adults colon. NOT GOOD AT ALL !!

I have to say this even tho I might hear back from some as to 'you have no idea what you are saying'. Well, I do.
The doctor he goes to is NOT going to FIX the problem BECAUSE they get money out of his problem. IF they fix him...NO MONEY !!

Our sons doc had him on medication that would cause this problem to get worse not better. Our family doc is the one that saw this and told me. I confronted the specialist and she said, yes but he has to take it. She had him on 9 different medicines at one time...for different things back then. He never got better until we took him off ALL the meds.. Six weeks to the day he was doing much better. He still has to be careful with the dairy, but heah, we can live with that.


We tried every thing we could get our hands on and then the specialist told us she wanted to re-construct his colon at the age of 8. I said, NO ! There must be a better way of dealing with this problem. Well, after several hospital stays to clean out his colon (no fun, days in hospital and very painfull) , he went into sugery at age 9 to have a MIC-KEY inserted into his colon. This little devise is like a beach ball plug and you have a machine at home to hook up to on the week ends to flush out the colon, thus, keeping him out of the hospital. It did NOT work well. He could not do anything for the whole weekend and he didnt' want anyone to come over and see him in that shape.

The doc use to call his bowel movements 'elephant poop' to make light of this problem for children. I was to stupid at the time to know any better and thot it was cute...NOW I'm mad about it. That doctor knew all along what was causing his problems but, did not tell us.
**He is VERY lactose intollerant and that is all it is that was causing the encopresis all these years. **

I advise you to take ALL the dairy products away for 2 weeks. Give him NOTHING dairy and have him drink a LOT of water. When the 2 weeks are up see how he has done...keep track on the calendar. I sure hope this is all it is with your son too because that is easier to fix than other things.

When the 2 weeks are up if there has been no change, let him go without for 2 more weeks. Then after the 2 or 4 weeks give him just a little bit of dairy, but have him drink a lot of water or juice with each meal and for a snack. You might try giving him tomatoe juice too...it usually helps our son. There is a juice on the market (I forget the name..been to long ago) that is high in fiber (about 14 grs. per bottle) see if you can find it at a good drug store and try it too. Fresh fruits and veggies are the best thing, berries of any kind are high in fiber...figs (fig newtons are good), potatoes work well for our son. He will usually have a bowel movement the next morning after eating mashed potatoes (no better or milk..that is dairy).

I really feel for you and your family as we have been there too. I know what a time he is having. It will not get any better at school and the kids WILL make fun of him...our son had that problem. I just hope for the whole families sake, he will not have to ever have surgery.

Good luck and if you'd like to talk more you may email me.
Marcie in IN.. spacedup@iquest.net

[Kris T]

I read these posts and felt my stomach drop to my shoes. What were the symptoms of your children with encopresis??? My 41/2 yo has been having diarhea like stools for almost 2 months now. We recently went to the pediatrician who told us it was non-specific childhood diarhea- however he knows he has yet to ever go on the potty, he prescribed Citricel 2xs a day- yet we have been doing that for a week and still nothing remotely normal---- What have you all done and does this sound like encopresis....

[spacedup]

Hi Kris T,

The symptoms of encopresis are constipation. I mean severe constipation...can NOT have a bowel movement at all, can't ahve one for months (this is what our son did...8 months without one) or can't have one correctly (as a normal person would have one).

Your son, has just the opposite of this. I don't know what it is called, but it isn't good either.

I'm NOT a doctor, but you still might try the dairy thing as in my last posting. Take it away and see what happens. to me this problem your son is having sounds like an allergy to something he is eating...drinking.

Good luck,
Marcie in IN..