# Advice please, my 3yr old son has chronic C



## 17431 (May 15, 2005)

Hi all, if you have any suggestions that may help my little guy, i would be so thankful. My son Alex has such terrible bm's, he used to get on all fours and wouldnt let anyone near him. Now he is using the potty, but still has a very hard time. It is usually very big,hard,and has blood on it, not in the stool, just around it, like it may be from hemorrhoids. He is on a prescription called lactulose, i give it to him daily, but doenst always seem to help. Tried to switch him to soy milk, but he didnt like it. He seems to eat a lot of fruits and veggies already, and is drinking more water, but no change. Give me your ideas and advice. Also, I have taken him to his doctor about this, he gave us the Rx. Do you all think i should take him to a GI doc? Let me know. TIA


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## cookies4marilyn (Jun 30, 2000)

Hi Carrie,Yes, I would take him to a GI to rule out any physiological problems to make sure there is nothing physically "causing" him to have these problems. Though, it seems like you are doing everything right - Rx, fluids, veggies, etc.If the blood is bright red, then most likely it could be from fissures (tears in the anus) from straining - then the pain of it causes him to most likely "hold it" because he remembers the pain from going before - and of course, the more one holds stool, the drier, more compacted and harder it becomes and even more painful to pass.There are publications about kids with this problem, or you can contact the organization below for more info. I have included an excerpt from their link for you below. Hope this helps.------------------------------------http://www.aboutkidsgi.org/ Some gastrointestinal (GI) disorders in children are rare. For example, in the U.S. about 200 new cases of intestinal psuedo-obstruction are diagnosed in children each year. Hirschsprung's disease occurs in about 1 out of every 5,000 live births. Most children with Hirschsprung's disease and intestinal pseudo-obstruction are best managed by a multidisciplinary group of physicians, nurses, social workers, and others due to the complex, rare, and chronic nature of the problems.Some GI disorders are relatively common. Constipation and/or encopresis account for approximately 10-25% of children who are referred to a pediatric gastroenterologist.The occurrence of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) in children is similar to the rate in adults (5% to 20%). Symptoms sufficient for a diagnosis of IBS were noted in 17% of high school students and 8% of middle school students. [Hyams J., et. al., Journal of Pediatrics, 1996]Three common functional GI disordersâ€"infant regurgitation, functional fecal retention, and functional dyspepsia (recurrent abdominal pain)â€"each affect about 10% of the pediatric population


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## 17431 (May 15, 2005)

Thank you so much for replying to my post. Thanks for the site, I will check it out.


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