pellet-like bowel movements?

[cristy]

Hello all, this if my first post, I'm excited to be here..

My son has been on the gf/cf diet and I give him enzymes before
eating something astray from this diet.
Lately he seems to be having trouble with his bowel movements,
they're painful and take a long time and look like pellets.

Please anyone, do you know of this? can you help us? I hate seeing him in pain like this...he's also telling me more often that his head hurts.
Please someone help, thanks soooo much if you can..

[Lisa S]

Hi Cristy,
It sounds to me like your son may be constipated. Some people do not drink enough water in the hot weather. Some foods are more constipating than others. When a person has to strain to produce a BM, it can cause his or her head to hurt. You could try making sure your son drinks more water and offering him more fruit like oranges, tangerines, plums, apricots, cherries. If he still has difficulty passing stool, assuming he doesn't have other medical issues like kidney problems, you could give him an over-the-counter stool softening laxative like Milk of Magnesia, which works by causing more water to be retained in the stool.

If this doesn't help or if he does have other medical problems, then take him to see his doctor. Chronic constipation can lead to encopresis, which needs more drastic treatment for a longer time. Hope this helps.
Lisa

[cristy]

thank you Lisa

[puzzleman]

My son got encopresis now he has to take miralax twice a day and get x rays once in awhile to see if the blockage is going away. From the last x ray it shouldn't be to much longer.

[Lisa S]

My daughter has encopresis also, Puzzleman. There is a message board that is a sort of support group for encopresis. Here is a link to it:

http://www.aboutencopresis.com/

Good luck to your son. I hope it is over as quickly as you think it will be.

How is your son doing now, Cristy? Why don't you look at the board also if you want to? It has lots of useful information about constipation and encopresis.
Lisa