overstimulation from OT??? HELP

[ajberchielli]

FYI:Tyler has had chronic constipation for almost 2 yrs
now. Ok so my little guy seems to get loose stools after every
time he is in the rice bin at OT. Well they said they just put new
rice in the bin.....the OT said the loose stools was strange but
they think Tyler's body is overstimulated from OT and this is how he
is reacting too it. Ok so they are going to keep him out of the rice for a few
sessions.

Ok so we had OT on Thursday, we were very late so he only went in
the ball pit, slide and swing. And now guess what is back yet
again.....yep loose stools started friday night and now all day
Saturday.

I don't know what else to do the poor kid doesn't eat anything and
he's crying due to stomache pain maybe? And the pedi isn't any help
either, she just says oh it's a tummy bug it will pass put him on
the brat diet. Well my poor kid has basically been on the BRAT diet,
(or shall I say the toast diet since he won't eat bananas,rice or
applesauce) for a few weeks now. He has a few nibbles of cheese and
sugar cookies between the times when he's not having loose stool.
Poor kid is never gonna gain weight. Our new insurence doesn't kick
in til Jan 7th...I can't wait to get an outside of Kaiser opinion on
our little guy.

Has anyone else had their kid have bowel reactions when
overstimulated by OT?

[MmaBasotho]

Hi, Janel

First off, (((((hugs)))))

That sounds rough on him and you. I don't have experience with overstimulation causing diarrhea, but some people have very sensitive stomachs and it sounds possible.

Second, have you considered that his constipation could be related to a food allergy or sensitivity? My daughter is sensitive to wheat, rye, barley and some other grains and she had chronic constipation until we took those out of her diet. Now I can tell right away if she has had something she reacts to because it really affects her digestion. I know that dairy and soy sensitivities can cause digestive (and behavioral) problems. But dairy and wheat are the two most common food allergens.

If wheat is an issue and your son is basically eating toast and cookies (believe me, I know how hard it can be to get a toddler to eat - I'm NOT blaming you for getting calories into him any way you can), he could be damaging his gut and not able to absorb vitamins and nutrients from his food. I have read, too, that with food sensitivities the person can often get a kind of endorphin rush from eating it - they become addicted and giving it up is very difficult.

I know this might sound overwhelming. I have been through the process of taking out a major food type from my daughter's diet (and am currently eliminating dairy, too, because I suspect she may be allergic to it, too), so it can really seem like a lot at first. But once things start going better it is all worth it.

Here are some links you might look at for more information on food sensitivities:

http://www.feingold.org/home.html
http://www.gfcfdiet.com/
http://www.kidscanlearn.net/food.htm
http://drcranton.com/elimination_diet.htm

Good luck and please email me if you want to discuss this further.

Merry Christmas :)

[aligreat]

If I personally had loose stools each time I left a place where small children often played I would be thinking that I had picked up some sort of microbe there. You mentioned that they had just changed the rice in the rice pit, but how often do they do that? How often are all of the balls in the ball pit taken out and wiped down with something like lysol? Does the staff (or staph as you might want to call them) use good hand washing or hand sterilizing in between clients? Are any of the other children there having this same type of problem?

I used to have Kaiser, too. Congrats on getting out! :D

[ajberchielli]

As for allergy testing he did have blood tests at 9 months old which were all negative (he's 2 1/2 yrs old now). I plan on getting the prick test as soon as our new insurence kicks in Jan 7th.Thanks for the links I will check them out!
------------------------------------

As for the cleaness of the facility. I know the balls get washed/sanitised daily (I use to be the 1st appt of the day for another therapy there and I saw them each time bring in the balls and dry them off.) As for the staff....the bathroom is right there and I have seen them frequently washing there hands. As for cleaning the mats and other equipment, I don't know how often that is done. And the rice/bean bins I want to say the lady told me they switch them out monthly or bi-monthly which I found very odd.
They know of Tyler's symtoms and yes my 1st thought was he was picking up germs from there but the OT said it was overstimulation. They never mentioned any of the other kids coming down with the same symtoms.

This week I will be asking lots of questions reguarding the cleaness of the facility because Tyler came down with the diarrhea yet again, and this week he wasn't in the rice bin. So I have no idea what is going on.

thanks for your imput ladies!

[amiller]

Good luck Janel - and buy stock in Peadialyte! It is so good at helping kids stay hydrated...

[aligreat]

I remember back in college learning about a condition which alternates back and forth between constipation and diarrhea. Forgive me for not using all of the correct anatomic terminology, but it has been a few years. Basically your small intestine is there to suck nutrients out of the food you eat, and the large intestine sucks the water out of the food. Usually constipation is caused by too much water being sucked out while diarrhea is caused when it is not enough. Your intestines have bumps and ridges which increase the surface area, which allows them to do more in less space. With chronic constipation sometimes the spaces in the bumps and ridges get filled up with fecal matter, which means that the large intestine cannot suck the water out for a time since the food is not coming in contact with the surface area that draws out the water. As a consequence you alternate between diarrhea and constipation, but the underlying cause is constipation. This was just one of those "gee, whiz" thoughts that my anatomy teacher used to throw out at us. I always found them to be more interesting than the material we needed to know for the tests. I do not recall if he mentioned what is used to treat it, and so you might want to ask your son's pedi about it.

[amiller]

That is truly interesting. I have noticed a similar patter in Anyka, and I will definitely keep an eye on it and if necessary talk to her doc. So what's the treatment, an enema to clean them out?

[ajberchielli]

Good luck Janel - and buy stock in Peadialyte! It is so good at helping kids stay hydrated...

Yeah if only he'd drink it!!!!!! He only drinks water and occassionaly milk.

Dr said gateraid was ok if he didn't take pedialite and he will barely drink any of that either!

[ajberchielli]

I remember back in college learning about a condition which alternates back and forth between constipation and diarrhea. Forgive me for not using all of the correct anatomic terminology, but it has been a few years. Basically your small intestine is there to suck nutrients out of the food you eat, and the large intestine sucks the water out of the food. Usually constipation is caused by too much water being sucked out while diarrhea is caused when it is not enough. Your intestines have bumps and ridges which increase the surface area, which allows them to do more in less space. With chronic constipation sometimes the spaces in the bumps and ridges get filled up with fecal matter, which means that the large intestine cannot suck the water out for a time since the food is not coming in contact with the surface area that draws out the water. As a consequence you alternate between diarrhea and constipation, but the underlying cause is constipation. This was just one of those "gee, whiz" thoughts that my anatomy teacher used to throw out at us. I always found them to be more interesting than the material we needed to know for the tests. I do not recall if he mentioned what is used to treat it, and so you might want to ask your son's pedi about it.

thanks for all the technical info. It totally makes since. I'll wait till we see the new pedi in January, the Kaiser ones have been no help so why waiste my co-pay right?? LoL

[c01dunlap]

Yeah if only he'd drink it!!!!!! He only drinks water and occassionaly milk.

Dr said gateraid was ok if he didn't take pedialite and he will barely drink any of that either!
Sophie wouldn't drink it either (nor eat the frozen pedialyte pops), but I have found that I can get a bit in by mixing the unflavored (yeah, right; not exactly tasteless) in with her milk. She tolerates about a 1 to 7 mix (more if she has a stuffed up nose). Might try it if you're desperate. Also, fruit-only popsicles were a hit with her for re-hydration options.

[amiller]

Ha, I have the opposit problem - only thing Anyka wants to drink when she is sick is Pedialyte! LOL we can go through 3 bottles a day if I am not careful!

[MmaBasotho]

I have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) with chronic constipation and have experimented with a lot of things to try to help it go into remission.

Here's what works for me:

Identify food triggers and minimize them in my diet: for me it's wheat, chocolate, coffee, spicy foods and dairy. I know - how can I live without these??? At least most of our kids aren't hooked on coffee - yet!

Eat LOTS of vegetables! The more colorful the better. They contain a lot of water and the fiber helps clean out the old undigested food (I know, ick) that can prevent absorption of nutrients.

Supplement with probiotics, and I do not mean yogurt. Kefir is good, or better yet get a good probiotic supplement at a health food store, you can find them in liquid form and give your kiddo a squirt in the mouth from a syringe, or mix it with milk or formula. I think the microorganisms just die off in juice, so I don't recommend that.

I have given Paula digestive enzymes (the papaya ones - chewable) on the advice of her old doctor, but frankly I haven't been able to notice a huge difference. It might be worth a try, though.

Other than that - and this is probably not so helpful - avoid stress. It's hard for us to know what may be stressing our kids out, or if we know it isn't always avoidable. But it does help the digestive tract, which is so full of nerves that it is sometimes referred to as a second brain.

Along those lines something that has helped me in the past is 5-Htp, a serotonin precursor. One new theory of IBS with constipation is that it's caused by serotonin deficiency in the gut. 5-HTP plus B6 really helped me at a time when I was so stressed out and my whole body was freaking. You might ask your doctor or natural health care provider about this - although most doctors probably know little about it.

Hope something here might help with the digestive issues. Good luck!