rectal biopsy….

[Anonymous]

So my little boy has been progressively having more problems making bowel movements. It is now to the point that he can’t have one without me stimulating him rectally with a thermometer. He doesn’t have constipation, the poop is soft when it comes out and it smells pretty bad…not that any poop smells good but it is putrid. There are gas bubbles in between, it’s like it’s trapped in his intestines, so he lets out a little poop, then gas, then poop..etc. He seems to be having trouble passing gas as well. He also has an umbilical hernia which has gotten quite large, probably from all the straining he does . My dr. has referred us to a specialist at Vanderbilt for his hernia to see about having it surgically repaired, and also for a rectal biopsy because he thinks my son may have herschprung’s disease. He didn’t start having so many problems passing stool until about 2 weeks ago..before that he was going anywhere from 1 -3 times a day without help. I am so nervous and sad for him..I hope it is something minor, and not Herschprung’s. I have read up on that and it would require him to have surgery and a (excuse me for being blunt) “poop bag” until he is healed up enough to use his colon again. His appointment is on the 26th. Does anyone out there have any similar problems..or have any experience with this? I think the hernia has caused these problems because you can actually feel the intestines when you push in on it and I can hear them squishing around. The Dr. must think it is quite serious because he got me an appointment so quickly…they originally told him they couldn’t see us until sept 2nd but he kept pushing until he got it moved up. He doesn’t have mucus or blood in his stool. He must have bad cramps because he wakes up several times a night crying and pushing so hard. I just hope he gets relief soon. It’s so sad to see him like this. Otherwise he is very healthy and developing normally, just so uncomfortable most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Poor baby and poor mom & dad!!! I don’t have any advice on this at all. My son had trouble passing stools even though they were soft when we dealt with intolernaces- BUT he also did not have an umbilical hernia. He got better on neocate formula. I wish you LOTS of luck and you guys are in my prayers!! Please keep us posted. It sounds like you are in good hands. Maybe you’ll have a new baby once this is all taken care of.

[Anonymous]

Hi there. I don’t come to the board very often anymore but I saw your post and wanted give you my best wishes. My son was severely consitpated for many months. His stools were usually soft, but he couldn’t pass them. I used a thermometer to help him go for a long time, until I found the solution for him (I’ll get to that later). I was so scared that my son may have Hirschsprung’s because he simply could not poop without help. Long story, short; it turned out to be DGE that was causing his constipation, not Hirschsprung’s (Thank God). I hope and pray that your little guy also turns out to not have Hirschprung’s. It’s good that your son’s doctor is concerned and is ordering tests, and I would definitely go ahead with the tests, but it’s possible that his constipation problem is simply due to DGE like my son’s was. My son’s doc said that most babies with Hirsschprung’s do not feed well and they don’t gain weight. Doesn’t sound like you are having that problem, thankfully.

My little guy struggled with the constipation problem until he finally outgrew it at 13 months, but at some point I was finally able to get him pooping without help using some natural products….. Flax seed oil, prune juice, pear juice, and Benefiber. If I fed him these items every day he’d poop on his own. If I missed a single day, he’d get backed up immediately. Also he was very sensitive to what foods I ate while nursing and to foods he ate when he started eating solids. Apples would bind him up, as would carrots, peas, blueberries, and some other foods that I cannot remember right now. (He’s about to turn three, and thankfully painful memories do fade with time ) Rice of course was one of the worst things to feed him.

I will be thinking of you and your little guy and will pray that he does not have Hirschprung’s. Hopefully it will turn out to be a combination of that hernia and DGE causing his problems. Please give us an update after his tests. Best wishes.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for the information and the encouragement! We are going forward with the tests on Tuesday. What is DGE? I don’t know all the lingo on here yet..lol.

[Anonymous]

DGE= delayed gastric emptying

I hope that is all your little guy has (not that DGE is any fun, but there are meds that can really help with that too)

let us know how it goes. you are in my thoughts & prayers!!

[Anonymous]

My son stopped pooping on his own by about 2 mths old. We would give him a glycerin suppository which essentially served as a form of rectal stimulation because he would always go within moments after that. It was always runny and extremely foul smelling (as was his gas). The ‘otherwise completely useless’ ped said that the smell was because the fecal matter was basically decomposing inside of him…like rotting garbage. (Just what every parent wants to hear…)

The poop problems continued without change until we learned at 7.5 months that he had food intolerances (including milk, soy, and gluten). Once we changed his/my diet, he started having BMs on his own. I didn’t think I would ever be so glad to need to change a dirty diaper!

He continued, however, to have nighttime wakings with obvious gut pain and cramping. Nursing seemed to help him to pass gas, as did massaging his belly in the shape of a question mark. At 18 mths, the ped GI explained that his rectum muscles had been affected by so many months of poop problems that they were not working properly to help him pass stool. So, the retained stool was not allowing the gas to escape either – thus the nighttime wakings from gas pain. The ped GI had us start giving him Miralax to draw water into the stool and give his body a bit more incentive to go. He said that the rectum muscles will eventually become less stretched out and will regain their function so that was encouraging.

I hope that the tests come back negative for Hirschsprung’s. I’m sure you are quite nervous for your appt on Tuesday!

I haven’t been following some of the recent threads here on the forum so I don’t know if you have already considered the possibility of food intolerances. If not, it might be something to look into. (My son never had blood or mucous in his stool, but yet DEFINITELY had food intolerances.)

[Anonymous]

Oops, sorry. I should have explained. Like the above poster said, DGE is Delayed Gastric Emptying. Basically a sluggish digestive system. The stomach empties very slowly, and the intestines seem to move slowly as well. My son had a miserable case of it which made his infancy very stressful, but he did outgrow it and he began pooping three times a day sometime between 13 and 15 months. He still remained sensitive to certain foods and would become constipated if I fed him apples, soy, berries, rice, corn, peas, etc. but that too went away as he got older.

Good luck with the tests. I hope to hear that it turns out to be negative. If so let us know and we can give you some tips on how to help him if he does have DGE.

[Anonymous]

Wow, thanks for all the info. I wanted to update everyone on how the
appt. went today. The surgeon looked at his hernia and said it didn’t
need surgery and that it wasn’t the reason he was having digestive
problems. He asked many questions about my son’s history, birth,
stools, etc… and said that he likey does not have Hirshsprung’s
because he is gaining weight well, feeding well, and just doesn’t look
like he has it…as he said most babies who have it have a certain
“look” about them. So he said he wasn’t going to do the rectal biopsy
but instead do a barium enema which is scheduled for Thursday to see
what that shows. He did a rectal exam and said everything felt
normal. I can’t wait to find out what is going on. His poo does smell
horrible and I after reading these posts I am leaning toward thinking
he does have intolerances. How can I find this out for sure? I don’t want him to have long term damage because of not finding out soon enough like unfortunately some of you have had to go through with your little ones. Will the barium enema show if there are any signs of an intolerance? He has been so fussy tonight…he barely slept all day. After we got home from the Dr. he suddenly got very gassy and I can’t stimulate him due to the enema being done on Thursday they told me not to stimulate him at all until after the enema is done. He is going to be one grouchy baby until then is all I can say. Poor guy, I feel bad for him.

[Anonymous]

Are you bf’ing or is he on formula. If bf’ing are you avoiding any foods? If formula what kind? This will help answer the intolerance question. Fwiw, my son’s gas & poos smelled AWFUL until we got his intolerances under control… & although he wasn’t constipated he was so squirmy & miserable it seemed like he was.

So glad that the appt went well & it’s likely not Hirshsprungs. The barium enema sounds interesting. My son had a colonoscopy (w/ rectal biopsies) & upper endoscopy a few wks ago but I havn’t heard of the barium enema (though we had to give enema before the colonoscopy-lol).

[Anonymous]

I had never heard of it either. Here is what Google (my fav) pulled up:

http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/barium-enema

My ds has intolerances that were dx’ed through a fecal hemoccult test. This is where the stool is tested for microscopic blood. The blood is a sign of an intolerance. You do not have to have blood in the stool to have intolerances, though. Its a really cheap and easy test to have done and it can be done at most pediatricians offices.

Good luck!!

[Anonymous]

Great news! I’m happy to hear it’s not Hirschsprung’s. I’m not sure what they might be looking of with the barium enema, maybe a blockage of some sort? Did he think the hernia had anything to do with his problems?

I don’t know much about intolerances, except that many intolerances can cause constipation, gas and fussiness. The MSPI (milk/soy intolerance) forum probably will have lots of info on intolerances that may help you. For my son intolerances definitely contributed to his constipation. It was trial and error but once I found out what foods he had trouble with and elimnated them, things improved. For him it was soy, rice, bananas, apples, berries, corn, carrots, and peas. He still will get bound up if I feed him too many apples, banans, or rice, but everything else he can eat in moderation.

Did the doctor have any opinion as to whether you son may have DGE?

Good luck with the further tests. I hope you find the answers and solutions to help your son feel better very soon.

[Anonymous]

To answer any questions my son is on Similac Isomil advanced..I breastfed for 1 month…it didn’t work out so well for me. He has tried Alimentum but that seemed to disagree with him more than the soy. The Dr. didn’t say whether or not he thought he might have DGE but did say that if the barium enema showed an abnormality that he would refer me to a GI doctor..he is a pediatric surgeon and the appt. was really for his hernia…he did say that the hernia likely has nothing to do with the bowel issues but the enema will show for sure. They told me not to stimulate him for 48 hours or give him anything to make him go but everything I’m reading about a barium enema says that gas or stool in the colon will interfere with the results of the test and says you should clean yourself out first…so I don’t know. He definitely has both in there that’s for sure…lol. I will post when I find out the results. He did pass a small lump this morning it was claylike in texture and I couldn’t tell if it was mucus or the jelly the dr used yesterday to give him the rectal exam, but there was something that looked like mucus with it. It was the first time in almost 2 weeks he had passed something by himself…maybe the rectal exam had something to do with it? He pooped all over the Dr. yesterday…lol. I’m sure he’s used to that though. I will read more about intolerances and ask the Dr. when I talk to him about them as well. I want to get to the bottom of this…no pun intended….

[Anonymous]

I’m so glad to hear that it’s not Hirschsprung’s! Good news.

Just my 2 cents…

Your son’s pooping story sounds very similar to Hailey’s. Hailey pooped well on her own when I was breastfeeding. As soon as I added formula into the mix, things started going badly. She couldn’t poop, and we in fact ended up in the ER when she hadn’t gone for 5 days despite suppositories and needed to be disimpacted with an enema!… not fun at all! At the time, she was on soy formula. Three doctors told me that we had to get her off it, as soy was notorious in causing bad constipation in babies without any other tendencies toward constipation, and for causing very severe constipation in babies with a tendency toward it already. We did stop the soy. DGE is sometimes a factor, but typically is not the whole cause, from what I’ve been told. It tends more to be diet related at this age, with DGE making it worse. Our daughter has DGE, but meds to help this did nothing to improve her constipation. She had been constipated on all formulas we tried. Unfortunately, her severe oral aversion made it hard for us to get laxatives into her easily. We didn’t have access to miralax as we are in Canada and had to make due with what we had, but it has been a chronic problem. Sadly, she is 3.5 and this is still a problem for us. She needs to take miralax daily, and even then she is now so anal retentive that getting her to poop is a chore that’s sometimes impossible.

Sorry for the ramble, After the test, I would ask the doc for a practical plan for how to treat this. No one took it seriously for us. They didn’t understand that getting a baby to take 20ml of laxative a day, in addition to reflux meds 3 times a day, and DGE meds 4 times a day was impossible, so they ignored it. If it doesn’t get controlled before they start having lots of bad hard poop experiences it can be difficult. Thankfully for you, you have a lot a time before you reach this stage as your son is still young.

Ask your doc about gentle laxatives you can try. Also ask if you can try adding benefibre to his bottle.

Good luck.

[Author]

Posts