Fw: Our Miralax horror story

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----- Forwarded Message ----To: miralax Sent: Fri, September 16, 2011 6:09:50 AMSubject: Re: Our Miralax horror story

Thank you Kim

To: miralax Sent: Thu, September 15, 2011 4:20:42 PMSubject: Our Miralax horror story

When my son was four years old, he began having occasional episodes of encopresis (stool leakage that he is unaware of and cannot control). He also sometimes had a drop of blood on the wipe after he had pooped. When I told our pediatrician I was concerned about this, he said it was due to constipation and that we should give a small daily dose of Miralax and have him sit on the potty for five minutes three times a day. We used Miralax off and on for two years. Sometimes it didn't work and the doctor just kept telling us to give him more. This didn't feel right to me so I stopped using it and attempted to get help from alternative medicine. A chiropractor suggested removing dairy from his diet but my son was unwilling to give up his favorite cheesy foods and milk. With Christmas and his birthday coming up, I didn't want him to miss out on all the treats his family and classmates would be having. We tried lots of different vitamins and

supplements. I

also had my son start a daily exercise program and drink lots of water. This seemed to help temporarily but then it got worse and he was having poop accidents several times a week. I went to a GI specialist and told her that I didn't think it was appropriate for the pediatrician to prescribe Miralax without first doing a full exam and ruling out food allergies and other disorders. She did a full exam including many blood tests and found nothing wrong. She recommended a "clean out" using Ex-Lax and four capfuls of Miralax three days in a row. A clean out was something I had not tried before and it seemed to make good sense that trying anything new with the diet might not show any positive effects if there was a backup of stool. So, I agreed to use Miralax again. I felt this was our last resort and we were desperate to try something that would work. After the clean out he was on a daily dose of Miralax and over the next two months he became very irritable

and was aggressive toward his brother. He was having severe tantrums, which is unusual at age 7, and had a couple episodes of rage. He also compulsively cleared his throat and licked the palms of his hands. A family member came to me in tears saying this is not the same child they once knew and that something was terribly wrong with him. I went back to my journal and realized the tantrums had begun to happen regularly at the time we did the clean out with Miralax. It was then that I remembered all the terrible things I'd read about Miralax side effects. I went to this Yahoo group and quickly found a reference to the FDA notice at http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/CDER/ucm171059.htm warning that Miralax is known to cause all of these side effects in children. I immediately stopped giving him Miralax and within a couple of days all of the psychological

issues, hand-licking and throat clearing stopped. I am so angry that my pediatrician and GI

specialist did not inform me of these possible side effects. It was then that I remembered that the chiropractor suggested removing dairy from his diet. I tried it and within a week his constipation and encopresis disappeared. They come back whenever I try to reintroduce any form of dairy (including Lactaid milk). I asked the GI doctor why the blood tests did not show a milk allergy and she explained that he has an intolerance, not an allergy. My son is currently taking magnesium, Benefiber chewable tablets, drinking lots of water and sitting on the potty 2-4 times a day for five minutes. He never needed any medication and I'm horrified to think I unnecessarily exposed him to that horrible drug for all that time.Kim