UPDATE:Digestive disorders?

[crazygirl31701]

We are on our way to the ER. DS has been throwing up today. I know stomach flu season is in full swing but given his other symptoms and issues the GI wants us to go in. I hope I get some answers.

My 2 and half year old has been battling digestive issues since birth. He had reflux but the main issue we have been fighting is chronic constipation. He has been to a few GIs and tried a few things. We have changed things he eats with no help. We give him miralax daily with no help. They just tried him on a "cleanse" with magnesium citrate. We were hoping that would work but nope. They just did an xray after the magnesium and the results were that there was significant backup throughout his entire intestines. We are on another cleanse with high doses of miralax but Im just wondering what the underlying problem is. My ped mentioned something about one of the sections of nerves in his intestines may not be working correctly. Does anyone else have experience with any digestive issues. I will say that he has other symptoms as well but we dont really know what isd going on with him. Other symptoms are:

Speech delays
gross motor delays
low muscle tone
still drools a lot
still has a startle reflex
has balance issues and falls a lot
eartubes with constant ear infections
distended abdomen

Now I dont know if any of these symptoms are related in any way but it seems like there is a bigger picture here that maybe we are missing out on.

[UnderTheStars]

Has he been looked at for Hirschsprung's Disease? They suspected DS had it when he was a few months old and eventually ruled it out, but a lot of the symptoms sound similar. Our 2yo DS has been battling feeding/GI issues too, I feel your pain - I hope you are able to find some answers!

[mekat]

I have also found Miralax to be useless with my kiddo as well. This won't help with his current backup but I was wondering if you have tried giving probiotics regularly. I really don't know why but it seems when I give probiotics it helps with constipation. It isn't a miracle cure but if given daily and in combination with motility drugs and a special diet it seems to keep my son's GI tract more regular then just drugs and diet alone.

Hirschprung's is what your ped suspects from the whole "missing nerves" thing mentioned. It is actually one of the first things they suspect when a child has severe motility issues. They also suspected it with my son as a first diagnosis when in actuality he had a form of imperforate anus due to a thickened fatty filum, hemivertabrae and sickle shaped sacral spine. He was diagnosed with a full body MRI. I wouldn't get to worked up about Hirschprungs yet since there are a lot of causes out there for constipation and dysmotility not to mention these two issues are very common in children with neurological issues. Hopefully your kiddo is already seeing a pediatric GI and genetics to help get to the bottom of things.

Also, I don't know if will be helpful in your son's case (maybe something to discuss with the ped) but pediatric surgeons are usually very experienced in bowel management since they perform ostomies and reversals and deal often with children who have complex bowel management needs.

[walking-iris]

My ds has "complex bowel management needs"---what a lovely way to put it

This last summer it got really bad. We had a dr give him the citrate cleanse---nothing. He was having very little stools and lots of accidents and leakage daily, nightly.

We now have a pediatric gastroenterologist and he has us on a daily Miralax after we did a Miralax cleanse. He also gets daily probiotics and digestive enzymes. He has low muscle tone and his motility is really not the best. he needs a tight band around his waist to even respond to the urge to push while having a bowel movement.

Also I believe genetics plays a big role in this as my MIL has told me that she has something (wish I could remember exactly at this moment) wrong with her nerves in her intestine that she has to take anti diarrheals for years. Her father as well has bowel issues and I'm positive my dh has bowel issues that he refuses to acknowledge.

[crazygirl31701]

Small update.