Re: Re: blood in stools

[Guest guest]

Kathy,

Thanks for the reply. My GI is only giving him one week for the bleeding to

stop though, I have to bring in a sample on Monday. Is that unusual? I'm

not sure what he is going to do then, but I think he might scope him. The

only thing that really concerns me is that his stools turned black while he

was on Neocate, before that they were never black and I could always see the

blood. Does Neocate cause them to have a darker stool?

I'm glad Luke is doing so good, he sounds really similar to Chris. If I had

not noticed the blood, then I would have never known there was a problem, he

was gaining weight and all. When the blood first started ( or I first

noticed it) at two weeks, all the pediatricians said it was a fisher,

because he looked so healthy. Well, looks can be deceiving. I was happy to

finally have a real diagnosis, instead of the guessing that they have been

doing for the past six weeks. If I had not noticed the bleeding, he would

still be on Isomil and probably getting worse.

As to the insurance thing, I haven't tried to fight them yet, I am waiting

to make sure they keep him on the formula past Monday. I am ready for it

though, I am currently in law school, so they will have a fight on their

hands if they refuse coverage. I am in the process of getting a copy of all

our benefits, we moved recently and I'm not sure what I did with it.

When I go back to the GI, I'm going to ask about the Elecare.

Thanks again for you reply.

J.C.

> Message: 4

> Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 13:48:36 -0600

>

> Subject: Re: blood in stools of infant

>

> J.C.,

>

> I'm sure you'll get some great input from this group. My son (16 mos.

> old now) was diagnosed with colitis when he was 5 mos. and had become

> very anemic due to intestinal bleeding, caused by cows milk protien and

> soy protien " intolerances. " It took a VERY, VERY long time once he was

> put on Neocate for his issues to resolve. My GI told us that a lot of

> damage was done to his system and it would take several months to heal.

> Your GI will probably order stool samples from your son to make sure the

> bleeding has stopped. I'm always afraid I won't recognize " black "

> stools (after all, I never noticed them in the beginning). Luke went on

> Neocate 2/23/99 and the first negative for blood stool sample was taken

> on 3/9/99. He just had his first " normal " cbc about three weeks ago,

> where he was no longer anemic. Luke has grown and developed beautifully

> on the Neocate. He is in the 95% for his height and about the 50% for

> his weight - actually his height has even been off the charts a few

> times this past year. And he's very busy and happy! So, this is meant

> to help put some of your fears to rest a bit. I was a mess when all of

> this first took place! Luke never seemed uncomfortable throughout

> everything, hope your baby is the same. Does your baby have any skin

> issues (eczema)? Luke did, and once he went on the Neocate they

> improved significantly. Luke is still on Neocate until we can be sure

> his diet is varied enough to keep him growing. We have to avoid

> (still!) all milk and soy products which is REALLY difficult. He also

> appears to be allergic to eggs, sweet potatoes, and turkey (possibly the

> last two, definitely eggs). Luke's visible response when he eats those

> things is to throw up clear mucous and get eczema or hives on his skin.

>

> Also, as I have been discussing with this group, if your insurance

> company refuses to cover this very expensive Neocate, you should keep

> fighting them. Others in this group will be better for information

> regarding that process, though. They also told me of a newer, but the

> same, formula made right here in the US by Ross Pharm. called Elecare.

> I haven't tried it yet, but it's supposed to be just like Neocate only

> cheaper. Just a thought.

>

> I hope this was of some help.

>

> Kathy

>