Guest guest Posted July 9, 2001 Report Share Posted July 9, 2001 , The diet has helped my niece's constipation more than anything. She has been living with us since November. She is five years old and has suffered with this all of her life. Her mom has used Senakot for her since she was a baby. She has been on the diet at home since Thanksgiving, but continued eating school lunches until school was out May 17. This was to keep from doing it cold turkey. During her breaks from school we could tell that she was able to think more " clearly " and could respond to things more quickly. In March we took her to another specialist that gave her a prescription for Miralax. It is a powder laxative that is gfcf, odor free and tasteless. would drink it without any problem unless she saw me mix it in, then she wouldn't drink it. After going 100% gfcf May 17 we stopped needing the Miralax the next week. She has gone completely on her own since that week until last week when she grabbed a biscuit while staying with grandparents. It was like someone put a stopper in her. I have no idea what the diet will do for your , but for us it has been the answer to prayers. If it did nothing else, but correct the constipation it has been well worth the work and expense! Sorry so long. Shirley Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2001 Report Share Posted July 9, 2001 Hi... We're just getting started on the diet, and I'm concerned that my daughter's persistent constipation will only get worse. She loves rice, but we only give it to her occasionally because she's so stopped up all the time. (She's been on mineral oil and/or enulose since she was a year old to prevent her from withholding bms for too long). I know most autistic kids if they have bowel problems have runny poops so the diet probably helps in that regard. But what do you do if they have the opposite problem? What foods (esp. grains) can I give her to counteract the effects of the rice? She already eats a ton of fruits and veggies..I guess I could try to get her to eat prunes. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks, mom to , 25 mos, autism Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2001 Report Share Posted July 9, 2001 Hi, My son was troubled with constipation for almost a year. I worried so much about trying to get fiber into him, but I don't think that was a way to resolve his problem. At the time, he was also on Lactulose, alternating with Miralax. The pediatric gastroenterolgist said food allergies and sensitivities wouldn't cause constipation. I no longer believe that. Also, at one time he withheld poop for nine days WHILE on Lactulose. I spoke to someone in a HFS (health food store) and she recommended he try digestive enzymes. I found them to work much better than the Lactulose, and the Miralax scared me for any long term use, although my doctor said it would (probably) be fine. The brand of digestive enzymes I used was Acti-Zyme by Nature's Plus. Incidently, I have no idea if this type of enzyme works in the same way as all the enzymes recently discussed on this list. I think not. As far as changes in diet, I think that when we dropped wheat from the diet, he began to be less constipated. (We went gluten-free months later.) The digestive enzymes definitely helped. I quit counting grams of fiber. I also eliminated all added sugar and even cut down on fruit and tried to increase raw veggies. I found that a few weeks after eliminating sugar (and this was hard at first because he craved it, but eventually became much easier. Now he walks past candy racks without even looking at them.), he began to be much more receptive to eating veggies. Also, I began watering his juice down a lot, and eventually eliminated the juice as well to get rid of more sugar. For beverages, he now drinks water, Dari-Free and Pacific Rice beverage. Speaking of rice, we never use white rice, only brown or wild rice, and I don't think they constipate him at all. In fact, I buy rice bran and use it in baking. I'd read somewhere that rice bran is an even better laxative than wheat or oat bran. As far as prunes, my son never liked them until his constipation problem was over. I would try to cut them in pieces and disguise them as raisins in muffins or pancakes and usually could get a few down him now and then that way. My son is no longer on digestive enzymes (and I have a suspicion that the brand I used may have altered the results of the urinary peptide test, though I have no proof of this). He is on colostrum (which is supposed to heal the stomach lining) and also on Pro-Culture Gold (a probiotic). Our doctor said he feels this regimen helps 50% or more of his constipated patients. I know it's working for us. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. You could e-mail me privately if you wish. Good luck. I know how tough this is, believe me! Debbie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2001 Report Share Posted July 9, 2001 Of course, each peerson is different so I can't say what will happen for you. My daughter has been on the diet for about two weeks fully--we did a gradual transaction--and so far this has appeared to help with constipation and pain issues. also takes mira-lax and we probably won't remove that for quite a while. I don't give her lots of rice but there is rice in much of her bread, and the last three days I have had to give her rice cereal because my new order of buckwheat cereal hasn't arrived, and she still seems to be doing ok. If you have a choice, I would use products without rice, but you may find this isn't a huge issue. All you can do is experiment. By the way, I seem to remember a couple of posts where people were talking about the quality of bm and that it was messy but behavior was still ok. I know this really is an indication for many of you, but I had to laugh because in ''s case, any and all bm is wonderful as long as it's enough to keep her comfortable!!! Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2001 Report Share Posted July 9, 2001 Update: has had some bm but isn't comfortable today; could just be her regular pattern or could be the rice cereal. But she didn't seem to have any problem with it in breads. I'd just say avoid the rice where you can, at least at first. Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2001 Report Share Posted July 9, 2001 You could by some yellow or gold flax seeds or by them pre-ground at a health food store. They are loaded with fiber and omega oils. > Hi... > > We're just getting started on the diet, and I'm concerned that my daughter's persistent constipation will only get worse. She loves rice, but we only give it to her occasionally because she's so stopped up all the time. (She's been on mineral oil and/or enulose since she was a year old to prevent her from withholding bms for too long). > > I know most autistic kids if they have bowel problems have runny poops so the diet probably helps in that regard. But what do you do if they have the opposite problem? What foods (esp. grains) can I give her to counteract the effects of the rice? She already eats a ton of fruits and veggies..I guess I could try to get her to eat prunes. > > Any advice would be appreciated. > > Thanks, > > > mom to , 25 mos, autism > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2001 Report Share Posted July 9, 2001 Be careful of prunes. They might have traces of mold! > > Hi... > > > > We're just getting started on the diet, and I'm concerned that my > daughter's persistent constipation will only get worse. She loves > rice, but we only give it to her occasionally because she's so > stopped up all the time. (She's been on mineral oil and/or enulose > since she was a year old to prevent her from withholding bms for too > long). > > > > I know most autistic kids if they have bowel problems have runny > poops so the diet probably helps in that regard. But what do you do > if they have the opposite problem? What foods (esp. grains) can I > give her to counteract the effects of the rice? She already eats a > ton of fruits and veggies..I guess I could try to get her to eat > prunes. > > > > Any advice would be appreciated. > > > > Thanks, > > > > > > mom to , 25 mos, autism > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2001 Report Share Posted July 9, 2001 my so was harribly constitpated too-before the removel of dairy-we started with eliminating casein and the constitpation,cleared up right away.Lis aF the diet and constipation > Hi... > > We're just getting started on the diet, and I'm concerned that my daughter's persistent constipation will only get worse. She loves rice, but we only give it to her occasionally because she's so stopped up all the time. (She's been on mineral oil and/or enulose since she was a year old to prevent her from withholding bms for too long). > > I know most autistic kids if they have bowel problems have runny poops so the diet probably helps in that regard. But what do you do if they have the opposite problem? What foods (esp. grains) can I give her to counteract the effects of the rice? She already eats a ton of fruits and veggies..I guess I could try to get her to eat prunes. > > Any advice would be appreciated. > > Thanks, > > > mom to , 25 mos, autism > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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