[Desiree Blackburn]

Okay, so I'm turning to forums to try and help me figure out my son's digestive problems.

Let me begin by saying that when he was an infant, he couldn't tolerate any formulas and was diagnosed with acid re-flux. He would also throw up frequently. Nobody wanted to feed him because they didn't want to get thrown up or spit up on, because it was nearly every time he was fed. This continued, even when he started solids. He kept throwing up. The problem continued.

He is now 2 and his whole life he never passes any solid waste. To be honest, he may have solid stool maybe only once or twice a month. It is all essentially diarrhea in consistency. He also throws up about 3 to 4 times a month for no reason. For months now, he also gets woken up from sleep with severe stomach pain. Now it is several times a week. He wakes up and screams bloody murder, and he is in such severe pain that he is actually shaking in pain. It passes in a few minutes and he goes back to sleep.

As for tests, he has seen several doctors. His pediatrician did blood tests to check for celiac and other allergies, including tests to check his nutrient levels. Those all came back fine. He was then referred to an allergist who tested a large number of allergies. My son has no allergies, according to those tests. It was then recommended to remove all dairy from his diet for 2 weeks. We did that, but there was no improvement.

What's the next step I should take? And does anyone have this problem with their child or know what could possibly be the problem? I just can't handle this anymore. I feel like a bad parent when he wakes up screaming in pain and want opinions from others before I go back to his doctor, who will try to wave me off and tell me it's not a big deal.

 

[tummyrumbles]

If he's 2 then he's old enough to just eat solids with no dairy or wheat, at least for a few weeks to see if there's a difference. It could be a non-gluten wheat sensitivity which means this doesn't show up on tests. It's a very real food intolerance though. I can't eat grains at all and I think a lot of people on these boards are the same. I'd suggest cutting out all grains - which is all food made from flour, whether wheat, rice, corn etc. You will need to get a dietician's advice as this diet is high in animal protein and fibre, because animal protein meat, fish and eggs and vegetables are basically all you're eating. An exclusion diet is really the best thing to try because if there is a genuine food intolerance then you should notice almost immediate results if you exclude the offending food. At this stage you don't know what that offending food is. Because the most toxic food for most people here are grains, grain-free for a week or so would be a very good place to start but it will be a tough diet for your little boy if he's used to sandwiches, cakes, biscuits etc. These are all starchy food, which not only feeds bacterial pathogens (he could have SIBO) but all starch is essentially glucose, so fills us up. Meat fills us up too, but due to the fats. I'd like to know the outcome if you could try this and post if there's an improvement. If he's not used to high fibre this needs to be introduced very slowly and carefully, maybe by boiling up his vegetables for a long time. He could have a FODMAP intolerance as well, so go easy on the fruits. No more than one banana a day might be a good start. A lot of people here can't absorb FODMAPs all that well either, so look this up on the web as well.

If he only has solid stool once or twice a month, what was he eating the day before? This is how we work out how to solve our IBS symptoms. We keep excluding foods until we get to a stage of producing normal stool. I'll be watching this forum if you want to ask me any questions. I have solved my IBS puzzle by the way, by excluding grains and high FODMAPs but it's a very tough diet - basically soft boiled eggs with lightly steamed carrots and beans for breakfast, low FODMAP salad for lunch: carrot, cucumber, olives, lettuce, tomato with salami (he could have chicken with skin on - any meat or fish). Dinner is meat or fish with red potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, green beans and for sugar cravings and also to help me fill up dark chocolate which is low in fructose but fairly high in good fats.

All grains can cross react with wheat, by the way, in case you're wondering why all grains are excluded.

Read the PaleoMum series on Paleo Autoimmune diet, this is basically what I'm on. She explains things very well. Also look up the FODMAP diet and the specific carbohydrate diet.

 

[Varius]

Hi, sorry to hear about your son's digestive problems, it seems like a very difficult situation.

I would also recommend taking out other foodstuffs for sometime to determine whether your son's problem is food related. My suggestion would be to take out out all animal products and oil from the diet for sometime to see if that helps. A doctor I have great respect for and consider to be a great man called Dr. McDougall recommends a particular diet called an elimination diet for people who have intractable health problems to determine whether their health problems are food related and what foods are causing the problem. It takes out certain plant-based foods that could be causing problems in addition to animal products and oil. Here are some pages that provide information on the elimination diet:

https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/health-science/common-health-problems/allergic-reactions-to-food/

http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougall/021200pudiet.htm

Also here are some videos that discuss studies that have shown improvements in people with inflammatory bowel disease from reducing animal products:

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/achieving-remission-of-crohns-disease/

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/treating-ulcerative-colitis-with-diet/