To: <jack>
Subject: fissures
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 1999 12:16:32 -0500

I have a 14 month old son. For about the last 7 months he has had problems having bowel movements. I tried everything I could think of (fruit and stool softeners) to make it a little less painful for him. After a month and no relief with anything I tried I took him to see his pediatrician. For the last 6 months his pediatricians has told me he was constipated. I have told the Dr. several times that I think it is more than constipation. He never checked the baby's bum or anything like that. All he did was listen to me tell him how the baby reacted when he had a bowel movement. He told me to try milk of magnesia. When that didn't work he told me to try mineral oil and milk of magnesia. When that didn't work he told me to try Senokot. That didn't work either. I finally got frustrated and called the Dr. and asked him for a referral to another Dr. so we could get a second opinion. After 5 weeks without hearing from Dr. I took it upon myself to find another pediatrician who can give me a second opinion. I got one, but that Dr. said it was just my son's temper. He said it hurts him to go so he doesn't want to and fights it. I still wasn't satisfied with that so my husband called his Dr. and he agreed to see the baby. He saw him yesterday and told us that the baby has a fissure and possibly constipation. He made an appointment for him to see another pediatrician next Friday. The Dr. we saw yesterday said that if we can't fix the problem with treatment over the next 3 - 4 weeks then my son may have to have surgery. It has been 7 weeks since I initially contacted our original pediatrician and I have not yet heard from him. But since I took it upon myself and mother's intuition knowing that it's more than constipation I finally got someone to listen to me and we are going to try to fix this. I'm sorry to go on and on but I thought you should know my son's history before I asked my question. My question is this: Since it has gone on for so long with no treatment for a fissure what are the probabilities that he will have to have surgery to have it removed and can it re-occur? He is only 14 months old. I would appreciate any input you could give me.

Thank you for your time.

Subject: Re: fissures
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 19:29:50 -0500

Thank you for your input. We have tried to cut out his milk and he was having troubles. He drinks more water and juice than he does milk. Right now the dr is telling me to try anusol or preparation h. I will let you know what the dr suggests and the treatment after we have completed same.

-----Original Message-----

From: jack
To: Mom
Date: Monday, November 29, 1999 1:46 PM

Subject: Re: fissures

Mom,

Constipation causes fissures. If you fix the constipation, I think the fissure will quickly heal in such a young child. It is us older (past 20 yr) people that don't heal as quickly. If you have surgery without fixing the constipation, I think you will be back in the same situation again. So in direct response to your question, I think there is a high chance that if you don't fix the constipation, your child will need surgery and will have another fissure in the future.

Maybe your child has a food allergy or something? Milk products constipate some people. Do you feed him milk products? If so, try removing them from his diet. My children drink Soyum mill which comes from grains and not animals. They are healthy and strong. Children don't need milk. Milk advertisers want you to think we all need milk. This is not true.

> When that didn't work he told me to try Senokot. That didn't work

I don't know what Senokot is.

I would fire a doctor that treated me like your first doctor did. He is not helping you enough.

I also suggest making sure that your child is drinking five 4 oz to 6 oz cups of water each day. One at each meal and one between each meal. I know some children that sometimes have constipation and a review of their water consumption reveals that they are not drinking any water at all. After putting enough water back in their diet, they are fine within a few days. They are 6 yr to 10 yr old.

Can you please let me know what you do to heal your child and what if anything you changed to get him to heal? This will help me when the next mom writes for help for her child.

Thanks,
      Jack

From: mom
To: jack
Subject: Re: fissures
Date: Mon, 6 Dec 1999

I took my son to a new pediatrician last Friday. This dr told me that my son is NOT CONSTIPATED. I've been trying to tell people that for months now. Anyway, this dr told me that my son's problem is that when he is having a bowel movement when he thinks he's done, that's it. But it's not. He's not emptying his bowels and that is what is causing the small, hard stool the next time he goes. The dr put him on Senokot and Lansoyl jel for 6-8 weeks. It is working. I started the treatment Friday night and early Saturday morning I had to change the messiest diaper I've had to change in a long time. The poor child must have felt relief. Before we knew he was having a bowel movement because he screamed each time. Now we don't know when he's gone (other than the smell). As for the fissure, it has almost completely healed (we used Anusol Plus) and the dr says he won't need surgery. What a relief. I hope this information is useful to your readers. I don't mind if you use it, please just don't publish my name.

Thanks for your help.

From: mom
To: jack
Subject: Re: fissures
Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1999 22:48:16 -0500

Please let me know when you are going to add my story. I'd like to see what it says.

Thanks again for your help Jack and I'm glad you saw us through this during the last few weeks. You're a godsend.

-----Original Message-----

From: jack
To: mom
Date: Tuesday, December 07, 1999 10:42 AM
Subject: Re: fissures

Mom,

Thank you for the update. I am going to work on collecting your stories together for a posting on the web site. Your story will certainly help some parents with their children. Just imagine how beneficial it would have been had you found a similar story when you visited the pages.

Thanks again and please send me any further updates you have,

Jack

Just in case you don't remember us we are the parents of the toddler who were told for months that he was constipated but in fact wasn't.

Well, it's been about 6 weeks since he has been off the Senokot and Lansoyl Gel and he is doing great. Once in awhile (maybe once every couple of weeks) he has a hard time passing stool but not like before and he doesn't go red in the face or cry. He just bears down and pushes really hard and then he's fine. The Dr told us that if we run into the same problem to give him Senokot once a day for about 4 days and then stop and see what happens. We haven't had to give him anything since the first part of January.

To: <jack>
Date: Sun, 12 Mar 2000

You can buy Senokot and Lansoyl Gel over the counter. You can get the Senokot off the shelf yourself but you have to ask the pharmacist for the Lansoyl Gel. Senokot costs between $5.99 and $8.99 Can. for a small bottle. Lansoyl Gel was about $10.99 Can for a jar. You can get Senokot in a liquid or in pill form.

My son is now 17 months old and has only had one relapse (Mar. 6 to 9, 2000) since he's been off the Senokot (end of Jan, 2000). I used it once a day for 4 days and he has been fine since then.

I will keep you updated periodically so you can update the site.

Mom

To: <jack>
Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2001

We wrote to you 1.5 yrs ago about our 14 month old son. It's been a while since I updated you (just over a year) so I thought I would update you again. Our son is now 30 months old. Since he has now got most of his teeth and is not teething or anything like that, we are happy to say that he has not had any problems with his bowels. We kept an eye on things and noticed that he was at his very worst when he was teething and cutting teeth. Since he now has all his teeth he is not having any problems. I don't know if this teething thing was related to his problem, but he has had no problems now for about 3 months. He does not have any problems having bowel movements and his fissure is completely gone. I can only say that when he was at his worst the Senokot and Lansoyl Gel helped him tremendously and if he has problems again I would not hesitate to us these products again.

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