Sweet Samuel saw the pediatrician today because he’s been having severe bowel issues — I know it’s tmi — but he’s terribly constipated. Finally, I got a doctor who agreed that this behavior isn’t normal, and that in fact, it’s making Samuel ill. Anyways she ordered a RAST test for corn, dairy protein and lactose, peanut butter and eggs. If these come back positive then we know that’s the culprit. Otherwise we’re off to a pediatric gastrointestinal doctor for further answers.
We’ve tried taking him off of wheat and it’s helped, however this still isn’t clearing up the problem. Also, if the RAST test for the other food is negative they’ll test him for celiac disease.
Any other gastro issues I should think of? The doctor is unsure why Samuel is having such issues.
Tell me what you know about food allergies/intolerances. Please?
Samuel deals with quite a bit of pain so I’d be grateful to hear your advice.
Thanks.
21 comments
I’m afraid I don’t really know that much about food allergies, but I will pray for him! I am sure what the little guy is going through isn’t fun. He is in my prayers though! ^_^
praying also.
I have a couple gluten intolerant people in our family. When they stopped eating things with gluten in them, things changed for them right away. I would say that you will notice a really quick difference if you change up the diet and that is the culprit.
I also have a friend who had major constipation issues with her children. She found that Culturelle Probiotics for kids helped her kids out a ton.
Oh, sweet Samuel! I don’t know much about this, but you guys are in my prayers. ((hugs!))
Why aren’t they doing a RAST for wheat?
My Samuel is allergic to wheat, dairy, egg, peanut, and tree nut. Caleb is allergic to all of those except wheat. I’m afraid I don’t know how frequently allergy symptoms present themselves gastrointestinally. My kids’ symptoms are mainly skin related, eczema…hives.
It seems odd that he would be constipated rather than the other way around but I don’t know too much about that.
You mention that it helped to take him off wheat. If you suspect wheat may be a culprit I would just make sure that he isn’t getting ANY wheat for 3-4 weeks if you truly want to see a difference. When I first suspected food allergies with Samuel I partially removed him from the suspects but wasn’t really aware of all of the fine print in ingredients. Modified food starch is one to watch for. You may know all this but I was pretty clueless and first;-)
I hope they are able to determine the issue quickly…poor little guy!
It’s my understanding that when a food-related symptom presents itself as a gastrointestinal issue, it is an intolerance and not an allergy. ( My little guy has actual food allergies and we have to carry an EpiPen. He has eczema and other skin issues caused by these allergies, too.) It’s also my understanding that RAST testing determines if there is an allergy to certain things, therefore I’m wondering if it will be of any help regarding intolerance. The good news is that you can always start a gluten-free diet to see if that helps and even if it isn’t Celiac’s, it isn’t going to hurt Samuel.
My grandson has issues with constipation, too. All of my kids did, but not always to the point of making them ill. My grandson’s pediatrician suggested a dose of Miralax in his sipper of milk every other day. I don’t like the idea of a laxative on a regular basis, but it is a minimal dosage and not given every day so I guess as long as it’s helping him…
I’ll keep your little guy in my prayers.
My niece is celiac and one of her symptoms was she couldn’t put on weight and she felt very sick after eating wheat products. Gluten is sneaky and can be found soy sauce all kinds of candy, chocolate bars, dried frut, nuts, ice cream, barley and the list goes on.
http://www.celiac.ca
http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/celiac
The above are two really good sites with a lot of information.
I will keep Samuel in my prayers and I really hope you find out soon. Oh yea, if you are going to have him tested for celiac then he needs to have wheat in his diet for at least 2 weeks before the tests are done.
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Food allergies are tricky because they can be hard to pin point but from my experience and our many trips to the allergy Dr. it usually doesn’t cause constipation but the other. Because it usually messes with the little hair like celia that line the intestines and it actually kills them off so over time they aren’t there to filter the food through and it just runs through. Maybe TMI-sorry
Analeigh actually had issues as a baby to protein in my milk nursing and we had to stop and go on a special formula-then she also had issues with milk. So we do rice milk with her still-she is almost 3. She can do things made with milk like cheese pizza because cooking it changes the chemical break down so her body processes it differently.
One of my best friends daughters is 7 and ever since she was a baby she has had constipation issues. They do Miralax in her milk or juice when she had gone more than a day without a movement and she just has to watch her diet-they had tests run and they couldn’t find anything so it is just the way her body works. She has told me though like things like peanut butter and lots of dairy and lots of carbs all in one day she can’t do. She has to give her fruit at least with two meals a day or once and some fruit juice with another meal. Just things like that to balance out what she has eaten and that works for her.
I hope you find out the answers you need to help poor little Sam. Praying for you-so hard when they can’t really tell you what is wrong too.
Our Dr. wanted us to try taking thing out of her diet one at a time for at least 1-2 weeks to see if it made any difference-that is the hard part-it can take awhile to figure it out.
In our experience too you don’t get accurate tests results unless they do blood work or both allergy testing and blood work allergy testing together if they are under 3.
Hope that helps some.
Your are in my thoughts and prayers.
Hugs
Jill
Poor dude! I was just celebrating because Matthew has had problems with that since birth and we’re finally getting it resolved and he’s now off the miralax and is going on his own. I will pray for you! I hope it’s an “easy” fix and you can move on quickly!
No advice, just prayers for sweet Samuel!
I don’t know anything about this but I just hate it so much for little Samuel. How very miserable!
Praying you get answers really quick!
Poor lil’ guy 🙁 Makes me want to give him a great big hug. Constipation in little people is soo hard.
A few things I know….when my son was constipated when he was little, we gave him Dr. Pepper and it helped ~pass~ things a bit better. We also took him off all constipating foods like bananas and cheese. Gave him a balance of fruits and regular meals with us.
Next, acidophilus capsules can be opened and mixed in with yogurt (if he can do dairy) or applesauce and he’ll never know he’s eating it. It will load him up with good bacteria in his stomach. I have gluten/dairy issues in our home and that has helped heal my tummy lots.
Also clearing up anything takes time. When I had severe reactions to eating gluten it would take days for it to come out of my system after I stopped eating wheat. It’s not as bad now. My body has healed a lot but in the beginning reactions were more severe and awful.
Btw, when I tested for food allergies they always came back negative, which I hear happens frequently. But I know that my body reacts within 1/2hr when I eat the wrong foods.
Oh I guess I could go on and on but suffice it to say you know him. Watch him. Record what he eats and all the reactions he has. I found this helped me as my memory would fail me when I needed to recall it all at the dr’s office.
Oh and when my son was constipated it took him a good 24 hrs before he’d go potty. It hurt him so much that he kept laying on his bed and wouldn’t get up. Each time he went to stand up he’d have to poopie so he’d lay right back down. We finally helped him and come to find out many years later he’s had food allergies.
“Lord please help this little fella to feel better. Relieve him of his pain and give him comfort Lord. Give his Mama wisdom and direction. Thank you Lord”
hugs Rachel, ~Cinnamon
p.s. thank you for your sweet comment.
I work at a peds office and we deal with these issues quiet often. rast testing isn’t as accurate as immuno-cap testing which is patented and only offered through Quest (so if your insurance company only lets you use LabCorp it makes it difficult to get this test). Also, most allergy docs want to do both skin and rast/immuno-cap testing because if done together it covers 98% of your bases, when done alone there is more room for error. The sad thing is, it is safe to say that all these tests could come back negative and you might just find the cure by trial and error. my cousin has a gluten and dairy intolerance (meaning no allergy ever found) and gets VERY sick if she has either food group. They did lots of testing, even an endoscopy and found nothing! She does great as long as she sticks with her diet! Good luck and I hope my comment helps you some how.
I haven’t read all the responses above, but read a few of them. Some very good advice.
I’m right on with JamieJoy. We have gluten intolerance in our family. Even if you get Samuel off the wheat, he could still have issues with severe constipation until you 1) get him cleaned out and 2) make sure he has enough of he right bacteria in his system. You could also have gall bladder issues. A surgeon wanted to remove a daughter’s gall bladder. I didn’t think that was right. Took her to a nutritional doctor. He took her off all gluten products and said her gall bladder should improve and her digestive system should too, if too much damage hasn’t been done.
That is why it is important to have Samuel checked out right away.
When the surgeon came in to our daughter’s room the next morning we told him we would not be having the surgery until we tried the gluten-free diet. He said, “Oh, you want to go that route. Ok, we have a gluten free diet sheet we can give you to follow.” I lost some respect for him right there – he never told us about that option before!
Our daughter was on the gluten free diet for 2 years and her system returned almost totally to normal. She can eat almost anything again.
BTW, two things for the bowels:
1) Fiber
2) Probiotics.
Jarro-Dohilus EPS is good or a product by Mannatech (name I forgot but can get you).
Note: I’m not recommending any of these products or selling them. I’m just sharing our family’s experience.
Praying for the little guy … and the parents. We watched our daughter suffer greatly (actually rolling around on the floor) and spend a couple of weeks in the hospital over this. It’s tough. Diet cleared it up. We pray the same results for you. wb
Some kids just get constipated for no reason. My nephew one of them. Ask your doctor about trying Miralax its FOR constipation. Then if that doesn’t work you could go to more drastic measures. Just an idea??
i’m not sure how i missed this one!
poor poor baby! hunter has a severe egg allergy and it exhibited itself with hives, rash, respiratory breathing issues and severe fever. i’ve never heard of it causing constipation.
i had crazy/weird/unexplainable stomach and bowel issues for two years. they thought it was celiac so i went on a gluten free diet (very healthy diet, by the way!) for a few months… didn’t help. turns out it was my gall bladder. and i was only 19! all that to say that health issues are so difficult especially when trying to pinpoint them and get a diagnosis.
praying for clarity and answers! and for you NOT to worry.
There is a book called “A More Excellent Way” By: Pastor Henry Wright. It deals with spiritual roots of disease. Basically what the ministry has done, is taken information from the medical field and compared it with the bible. What they have found is amazing, and SOOO many people have been healed of many diseases. Including cancer, diabetes, and multiple chemical sensitivity.
Constipation is a curse, I know from experience. I hate it for Samuel and will be praying for him. Here is what I found in the book… it was a short paragraph, but there is great information on the website: http://www.beinhealth.com
here is the paragraph:
“Do you ever wonder sometimes why constipation goes with fear or sometimes diarrhea goes with fear? Diarrhea and constipation are fruits of fear/anxiety. What I am teaching you is straight out of the medical community. This is what the medical community has found through years of research.”
I pray that Abba bring peace and healing to Samuel’s body, and to you and your beautiful family. I also pray that this ministry called “Be in Health” bless you as much and more then it has me. I completely recommend it as one who has not struggled with constipation for a long long time.
There may be allergies to food that cause the constipation, for me it was milk, but allergies are caused by fear.
Blessings, sweet one. I love you.
-Nat
I’m playing catch up on your blog and wanted to say that my Felicity get super painfully constipated when I give her too much milk. It took me about 15 months to figure this out and the doctor just kept telling me it was ok. But it was not. Now we do half milk half almond milk and she goes like a pro. I will keep you and Sam in my prayers.
Rachel,
It doesn’t look like you need one more suggestion or comment, so sorry if this is one too many. So, I’ll just share my daughter’s experience for what it’s worth. Since birth, problems with digestion. (Thought she was colicky.) Toddler/Preschooler: Severe constipation, then huge BMs (tmi?) and explosive at times. Pain. She learned to hold it in, because of the pain. Not good. Things which we’ve learned over the years: it’s an intolerance, not allergy. Bad things to eat: whole wheat, too much cheese, too much tomato sauce, anything carbonated, too much dairy…
We had trouble at every holiday, especially. Now that she’s grown, we’ve learned that things good for her are: The best thing that has helped her so very, very, very much, is taking acidophelus. She takes it morning and night (4 a day). She says that when she takes acidophelus, she can eat just about anything IN MODERATION (I think that’s a bit of an exaggeration), but when she doesn’t take Acidophelus she’s sunk. What I thought of as healthy: whole wheat, raw veggies, black beans, tomato sauce to flavor foods, definitely didn’t help her. Not too much dairy either. She eats fruit to keep herself regular. Suggestion: others have recommended soaking our grains (see book “Nourishing Traditions”)We have wondered if celiac was an issue, but haven’t checked it out yet, as she’s doing pretty well now with the acidophelus.
Praying you’ll find the answer.
Blessings,
Wendy
If you don’t find the answers you are looking for, I can tell you that we have some of the best pediatric gastroenterologists around right in Minneapolis. If you would like names, I’ll share!
Rachel,
I am no expert on the testing you are doing. My own experience is that when I went gluten free, then I had to go dairy free as well. Dairy seems to be the thing that changed everything for my hurting stomach and problems too many to mention. It even cleared up acne on my face. For my little guys, I have one (Caleb) that gets very constipated, and the culprit is always too much dairy. If I cut dairy out it changes everything. That is all I know so far. I will be praying for you friend!