[tri-med] Re: constipation

On Thursday, October 23, 2003, at 10:19 AM, Nicole Jones wrote:

> Sierra's is not like toothpaste for sure.  It is as hard as a rock (I 
> thought the enulose was a stool softener) and no kidding are about 2 
> inches around.  It's no surprise to me that she screams - the poor kid 
> is in pain.  That is why I think something else is going on.  It just 
> doesn't seem right (low tone and all) to have something like that.  It 
> reminds me of when someone is impacted (I used to be a CNA) and it was 
> like the pipe was clogged and it would just keep building up.
>
Lovely, vivid picture, isn't it? LOL :)  We deal with constipation with 
Keren, too.  Fortunately her PT has experienced this with kids and 
assured us that sometimes the suppository a day is the only trick 
(obviously not for all kids, but when it does work...).  She was the 
first person to explain to me about how the bowels, when constipated, 
just build up the waste (compacting it), so when the kid finally is 
able to go, the bowels are still in that enlarged shape and will fill 
up again till emptied (Thus a good reason why we try to empty them 
every day...).  I was thankful to find that out and felt terrible that 
we had let Keren go for days in the past!  Not that she's able to go 
every day yet, but she's doing better.  Here's a funny solution we've 
had in the last few weeks:  Maalox.... Go figure!  We were giving it 
too her after her stomach bug a few weeks ago and the irritated stomach 
lining and discovered it was a sure-fire poop pusher.  Now the question 
I have to pose is, "Is it okay to continue giving this to Keren?"  It's 
also almost completely eliminated her spitting up.

Loren (wife to Kraig, mom to Keren, T18, 1 year and counting! :) )
Southeast Michigan
http://webpages.eng.wayne.edu/~ad6075

                  Building ___ooOOoo__ Rainbows
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