Encopresis Yahoo Group
I have started a Yahoo Group for parents of children with encopresis, children who hold their poop. I am posting here in hopes that people will find this post in Google searches and join up for advice-sharing and support.
Here is the link to the group: Encopresis Kids Yahoo Group
Here is the link to the group: Encopresis Kids Yahoo Group
Labels: encopresis, fecal retention, functional fecal retention, stool holding, stool withholding
posted by Cristina @8:12 AM
104 Comments:
I'm the Mom of a 10 year old boy with encopresis, he is on Miralax which has not helped. We have a refferal to a GI doctor I've talked to him on the phone and his best advice is to continue the Miralax. Does anyone have any new ideas or suggestions. I'm getting frustrated I'll take any advice that is new
Thanks
I am the mom of an 11 year old with encopresis. It seems like we have tried everything. He seems to get better for awhile and then...we're back to square one. We tried the mineral oil, miralax, scheduled sitting. He has seen a therapist, a physical therapist and a chiropractor. The chiropractor and physical therapist have been the most help but we have never been able to solve it completely. I would be interested in knowing how you help him to cope (as well as yourself). We will be going back to the physical therapist to see if we see improvement.
I am the mother of a 7 1/2 year old boy with encopresis. We have been seeing pediatric gastroenterologists for 3 years with little improvement until last month. After years of mirolax, cleanouts, special diets (low fructose, low sugar, high fiber, low fiber, flaxseed oil, etc, etc, behavior modification, etc, we are following a new program that is showing some progress (i.e he is now in underwear in school and has normal days). I have cautious optimism.
The initial program consisted of 3 days of 2 1/2 capfuls of mirilax a day to clean him out (violent diarreah but it works, not for use on schooldays!), followed by a daily before dinner (mornings are too hurried at our house at least though I think mornings would be better) adult 10MG sized dulculax suppository (it doesnt hurt, and we use a glove, he doesnt mind it at all).
This generally produces a somewhat normal BM the next day, and the specialists say we can use it indefinitely, as it takes up to a year for a colon to regain its elasticity.
Too early to know if it is going to be the "cure", but we are also focusing on helping him cope at school, clean himself up discretely when he has an accident, keeping a calendar chart of successes, etc.
I am becoming convinced that there is no miraculous instantaneous cure with this condition.
A sense of humor helps but at times we get despondent. Every year we would think that surely this would be the year, but it hasnt worked otu that way. I think that this present treatment plan may end up being the answer for us, but only time will tell.
I also found high fiber and daily mirilax to cause more problems than anything else, as he couldnt handle all of the fiber, so I give him a lot of popcorn, water, and daily fruit, but in modest quantities.
I hope that this helps. I have to say that it is the first thing that seems to be helping us and I have tried everything ever suggested.
I am a mom of a 9 year old boy with encopresis. We tried to do a Miralax cleanout the past two weekend and no success of the watery stools. We even used an enema to clear out the lower intestines first. No my poor boy is bloated. No sure how to help him, and it is the weekend without a doctor to reach. Any advise?
Everyone - please note that if you post an anonymous comment, I won't have your email address to write you back.
Anon - please see the original post for a link to the Yahoo Group where you can post your question for parent advice. I would also encourage you to look into Soiling Solutions. Google it. Many people have found success with this method.
My step daughter is almost 17 and has been dealing with encopresis her entire life. I came into the picture when she was six. I was shocked by the situation and thought that she would eventually outgrow it. We have done everything we can think of including, Dr.s, pediatricians, laxatives, charts, psychiatrists, counselors, etc. and the situation only worsens. Sometimes I feel hopeless but I am continuing to try to find help/answers. I feel like it is a disorder comparable to anorexia or something like that. Why are there no help or treatment centers for this sort of disorder? I am consigned to the fact that the only thing that could help would be a daily treatment center or something like that but is there one?
Hi, I am a mom of a 7 year old girl. We seemed to do *ok* in the potty training department and then accidents started happening peeing and soiling her pants. They began to get worse. She also have very high pain tolerance and never complains of cramping of pain while having a BM. Then the soiling started to get more frequent and finally during her 6th year they were almost daily. Her family doctor just sent us to a specialist who did tests and couldn't find anything. I explained all her symptoms to a tee and no one ever had any answers for us. I did research online and nothing. Finally another mother asked if I had ever heard of Encopresis and no I hadn't. When I looked it up it was like they were talking about my daugher (minus the pain, cramping etc...) My homeopath has her on some remedies, she is scheduled for colon hydrotherapy (which is less painfull then the other tests she endured) and then once we clean her out then we will start the next round of homeopathic remedies. The first round has brought the soiling from a daily event to maybe a weekly event. I am hopeful to get past this. I am just so happy to have found a name for it. It was such a struggle to figure it out and do the right thing. I have tried taking toys/tv away, making her deal with the cleaning up as a consequence, no reacting emotionally, to reacting emotionally (sat and cried in front of her) Now that we know what it is and we tell her it is not her fault and together we are going to fix it...feels good. She is a good kid and she showed legitimate shock when I would ask her if she pooped her pants and she would say no. Then when she saw that she had, genuine shock. I thought either she is telling the truth or she is a great liar. Glad it was real shock.
Hi
I am a grown man that suffered from encorpresis into my early 20's. I found out recently that I am a celiac. It was a hard go and my parents were at a loss I think by the time I reached my early teens. Best advice is look into the celiac issue and also be positive and give your child the most normal life possible. I did not have that and it makes things difficult. Take heart once I was healed from encopresis life was wonderful. Also look at a connection to milk. Good luck to all of you and thank you from your kids from continuing to seek out an answer. It let's your kids know you love them.
Hi
I'm not a mom. I'm 18 years old and i severely suffered from encopresis my entire childhood up until i was about 14 years old. I had tried everything. Mineral oil helped for a little while but only if you let it help you. Otherwise it basically just leaks out your butt and is really messy. The best advice i can give is to leave it to your child. I speak from experience and I tell you honestly, there is nothing anyone can do but the person with encopresis. Eventually they will just do it on their own, or at least thats how it worked for me. I once had to go to the hospital and have a tube stuck down my nose and had my stomach filled with liquids all day and it completely cleaned out my system and totally helped me get back on track, but after a few months i was back to my old ways. I had a really rough childhood, my mom was on hard drugs throughout her entire pregnancy. If you are having family troubles that is a big factor in your child having encopresis. I truly, sincerely, hope this helps.
I don't understand this all. There are so many of us with kids with encopresis, and yet we all have the same sort of story- schools can't handle it, the kid won't admit to it, we feel guilty of all the possible treatments and the doctor doesn't believe us. What is next for us? My boy is almost 10 years old. He is starting to understand but the poor kid is going through so much with the doctors and the tests. We need to move forward to find a solution.
Hello - I'm the mum of a 9 year old who toilet trained before starting school, but developed severe encopresis at school which hasn't responded to behavioural interventions, star charts, laxatives or 'psychotherapy' and seems to just get worse with constant soiling through the day and night, constantly having to remind him to sit on the toilet and to change etc. It's very stressful. Causes lots of problems for him at school and increasing problems at home as I'm so worn out with dealing with it. Wondering if anyone's had success in the past year or so, noting that all the comments above were made last January.
Hello - I'm the mother of a 9 year old whose had encopresis for the last 5 years. Rather than responding to treatment with laxatives (under medical supervision), behavioural therapies, star charts to reward sitting, "psychotherapy') the problem just seems to be getting worse, with constant leakage throughout the day and night and constantly having to be reminded to sit on the toilet, change etc. Causes so many problems for him at school, and increasingly at home as I'm so exhausted with dealing with it. Noting that all the comments above seem to have been posted more than a year ago, has anyone had success with this kind of problem recently?
I am a 24yr old mom of a 3yr old whom I think may be suffering from encopresis. I cannot potty train him. period. He just simply won't do it. He poops about 8 times a day but they are tiny little pebbles that stink up the whole house. So I am wondering if this is genetic. My husband is 26 and he has issues with this same thing and I was told that his was caused by abuse when he was a child but it was never treated. If its left untreated can it continue into adulthood? I can find nothing on it online. Thanks!!
My 10-year-old daughter is having the same issues. She's been through tests with a gastrointerologist, some counseling--nothing seems to help. I know her friends smell feces on her at school sometimes. It's got to be rough on her, but she doesn't admit to noticing a smell. The bowel movements are messy and hard to clean. It hurts my heart to have her going through this, and I'm totally frustrated with underwear that are so soiled I have to throw them away. They say she says no food sensitivities, but how could her bowel movements be so thick and sticky? She'll eat some fruits and veggies, but mostly wants pasta and parmesan cheese. I need a mom's support group!
I am the mom of a 20year old daughter and a 5 year old daughter. both suffered from encopresis. myself also had it as a child. as a child i drank tons of mineral oil which did nothing. mom thought it was a behavior so i got punished. my oldest had it until about 9 or 10 and my 5 year old just strted about 6 months ago. i have hope it will go away beacuse it did with me and my oldest but there is always the fear it wont. constipation is still a problem with me and my oldest and also has been a problem for the 5 year old. i should have known it was coming. all i can say is hang in there. it is all just an aversion to pooping. it is hard and painful and easier to hold than go. all of us had classic symptoms fear of public bathrooms unable to go if away from home accidents at school. it can be frustrating .
It is a relief to find this blog! My son is now 10 years old and we have been working with him related to his experiences with encopresis for several years now. I created a blog in 2009 (see http://encopresismom.blogspot.com/2010/07/upsey-daisy-update.html) In my first entry I summarized the research I did in preparation for a meeting at the school related to our son's behavior intervention plan associated with his encopresis. I have come to believe that our son's situation is tied largely to his ADHD as well as the ways in which those involved in his care throughout his life have responded to his soiling. At times I have chided myself for how upset I got with him but I have come to the point of believing that he is the only person who can solve this as, in his situation, now that he has been cleaned out and he takes his Miralax consistently and eats high fiber foods, as there does not seem to be a physiological basis for his concerns. We went through a biopsy to rule out Celiac disease and have done everything else we and the doctors can think of. The school seems most concerned about assuring the health and safety of everyone and I do believe they mean well, but it has not been an easy thing at all to deal with this!
I have a son who had encopresis. It started shortly after trying to potty train when he was 3 yrs old. I put potty training off for a while and then when he seemed ready again, we accomplished it. But then started the holdings. Mainly to do with the fact that he had more important "things" to do ~ like playing. Well I did some research and started with flaxseed in all-fruit smoothies, totally changed his diet to much more healthy, but to no avail. He still had encopresis. I found dairy products to also be a trigger to set him off. So I switched him to soymilk and watched his dairy intake, though he loves cheese. This helped somewhat and I was now giving him flaxseed oil in all-fruit smoothies. When I took him in for his 5 yr well check, his Dr chided me for switching him to soymilk and told me he could develop osteoporosis if I didn't give him milk. I told him about his encopresis and he told me to put him on Miralax. I researched Miralax and Dulcolax and decided against it. But I did go home and gave him milk. He immediately got plugged up again, confirming the fact that milk is a major culprit besides him training his muscles to "hold it." We would spend SO MANY hours in the bathroom when he would go for 2-3 to 5 days without having a BM. I switched him back to soymilk. My sister suggested YoPlait YoPlus yogurt since it had probiotics. We tried it and it seemed to work and get him regular. Well, he tired of having to have a yogurt everyday, so I did more research about probiotics and found a chewable probiotic children's pill that he now takes once a day, at bedtime and it's NIGHT AND DAY in the difference. He is now regular and has been for 1 yr. It is such a relief to know our problem is solved. The pill is made by Nature's Way and is called Primadophilus Kids and it's carried by Sprouts and SunFlower Market where I live, but you can call them and find out if they sell it near you. 1-800-9NATURE. I thought he was going to have to live with this problem for the rest of his life but thank goodness I found out about this after only 3 yrs, which is still a long time to have to have dealt with it. I'm hoping this information helps someone else out there besides resorting to a drug that doesn't really treat the problem but just makes a person have to go to the bathroom. I am in no way affiliated with Nature's Way and I'm sure there are other probiotic chewables out there for kids. Just hoping someone else reads this and gives it a try if your child is suffering from this problem. It worked for us and hopefully it will work for you.
I have a son who "had" encopresis. It started shortly after trying to potty train when he was 3 yrs old. I put potty training off for a while and then when he seemed ready again, we accomplished it. But then started the holdings. Mainly to do with the fact that he had more important "things" to do ~ like playing. Well I did some research and started with flaxseed in all-fruit smoothies, totally changed his diet to much more healthy, but to no avail. He still had encopresis. I found dairy products to also be a trigger to set him off. So I switched him to soymilk and watched his dairy intake, though he loves cheese. This helped somewhat and I was now giving him flaxseed oil in all-fruit smoothies. When I took him in for his 5 yr well check, his Dr chided me for switching him to soymilk and told me he could develop osteoporosis if I didn't give him milk. I told him about his encopresis and he told me to put him on Miralax. I researched Miralax and Dulcolax and decided against it. But I did go home and gave him milk. He immediately got plugged up again, confirming the fact that milk is a major culprit besides him training his muscles to "hold it." We would spend SO MANY hours in the bathroom when he would go for 2-3 to 5 days without having a BM. I switched him back to soymilk.
Sorry for the double post. It told me it was too big so I was trying to break it up and then I looked and it was there in whole! Sorry!
One more note after rereading the comments again. If you decide to go the route of probiotics, research it, talk to your doctor if you want, but give it a try. It regulates a person's digestive system. The problems listed here by everyone are the same problems my son had. It's seems like so long ago, but it was only a year ago that we started taking the probiotics and seriously it is such a huge difference with just one pill he takes every night. It took only a few days and then within two weeks he was totally regular. He would go stretches of 5-7 days sometimes and I would sit with him for a long time in the bathroom, reading books, encouraging him, being stern with him to just go already. Please look into probiotics and save yourself some time, money, sanity and let your child get back to a normal lifestyle. Again, hope this helps at least one person out there. I remember I felt so alone with all of this and now feel I have to spread the word on what worked for my son.
hi my name in Amanda. & believe my kids both have it, but I dont know for sure cause they were in CFS care for 2 years which caused the problem. All I know my son 12 yeas old is full of hard stool in his intestines & been on laxative for 2 years, He is always feeling sick. I just dont know what to do & is getting worried about him I just recently changed doctors & am planning on getting a second opinion & this time since I am there the doctor can tell me exactly whats wrong instead of drawing me a stupid picture.
thanks
I have a friend whos child suffers with encopresis, how ever recently she was addmitted to hospital after vomiting feces she was eating it from her pants..
I have a 10-year-old daughter who has had it since ...can't remember. She wears pads to school, but we haven't figured out a way for her to change them discreetly. We are having a lot of good success with the www.ucanpooptoo.com program, I highly recommend it. It's a web intervention, and she gets $50 gift cards for completing the diaries, and it has really kept her motivated. I'm going to ry the priobiotics recommended on this site, thanks.
Hi, I'm a mommy from South Africa, and my almost 11 year son suffers from encopresis, or shall I rather say our family suffers under it? It just feels to me that the emotional baggage that come with this "disease" is far worse than the problem itself? The stigma of a "naughty"/"spoiled"/"hardheaded" child is breaking my boy in pieces.
I'm a mom of a 6 yr. old boy who had had encopresis since we began potty training. It is the most stressful chronic problem I've dealt with so far. We've taken him to every kind of doctor imaginable. He was hospitalized for two days at one point. As a family, we are at our wits end! It's helpful to know others struggle with this because I feel as if no one understands.
There is a promising solutions to this. We recently found it after I hit my "rock bottom." Our son is 6 years old and we have been struggling with enco. for 4 years. I found a protocol called "Soiling Solutions: Clean Kid Manual" by Robert Collins, Ph.D. This has been a MIRACLE for us! We tried every doctor imaginable and I was at my wits end. Google it and you will find his website.
Let me tell my SUCCESS story. It may help with your child as it did with mine.
My daughter was leaking stool for YEARS. We sought treatment through the medical channel, and were assured that stool softeners would do the trick. We tried lactulose for six months. It seemed to work, but soon after, the "poopy bugs" showed up again. Our daughter became very resistant to the lactulose, so we tried PEG 3350. It softened her stool some, but it didn't clear up the "poopy bugs". If anything it made them worse. We went to a pediatric GI. He assured us that the PEG 3350 would do the trick, we just needed to use enough, and stick with it long enough. Well we did! She was taking about 45mg of PEG 3350 (about 3 times standard dose) daily for well over a year after the visit to the specialist. She still had her poopy bugs.
We started to get desparate. I explored the internet, and learned about bifeedback. The biofeedback site suggested that the issue was often emotional. It even suggested that many cases of encopresis, constipation, whatever you call it was caused by childhood sexual abuse. In any case, the site strongly suggested that severe emotional trauma around the start of the difficulties be considered.
My wife and I considered the scenario of our daughter. She developed this constipation issue shortly after potty training. In fact, she potty trained for urine before she did for stool. Our child was adopted. She came into our home at 19 months. It was not very many months later that she began to potty train. Could it be that the trauma of being adopted has caused this problem? We wondered.
In our desperation to fix this problem I took my daughter to a naturopath. As I provided history to the naturopath, my daughter was hiding under the examination table, listening. As I explained to the naturopath my theory that the trauma of adoption, my child's desire to hold on to her previous life was the cause of her troubles, she got up, went to the bathroom and had a VERY LARGE MOVEMENT!
It couldn't really be that simple, could it? But for the next couple of days she had significant movements, and after that -- no poopy bugs. None!
Now the naturopath, as naturopaths are prone to do, prescribed a bunch of stuff to us. Within the prescription was high grade probiotics. As our daughter also had pneumonia when she was 2, we thought that maybe the probiotics were the fix. We weren't sure.
We successfully weeded our daughter off of the PEG 3350. The problem continued to be gone.
But then, two things happened simultaneously. First, my wife had to go on a business trip. Second, my daughter got an ear infection -- more antibiotics. Yup, the bugs were back. Upon the return of my wife, and return to probiotics the problem went away. However, the problem didn't go away until after my wife had a talk with my daughter about being missed. Then my daughter ran of and did a large movement.
to be continued...
continued...
But which was the cure, the emotional stuff, or the probiotics. Well, a few weeks later the bugs were back. Antibiotics weren't involved. No one was missing, what was the deal? Oh yea, school was ending in 2 days. Talk to her about it, she has a big movement and the problem is gone. Magic! That was June, it is now October. My wife has gone on another trip, but this time there wasn't a problem. We are confident at this point that our daughter is CURED!
A couple of notes:
1 - Through it all my daughter never ever had particularly hard stool.
2 - My daughter's body adapted to whatever we through at it quite quickly so that she never had really soft stool for very long.
3 - She did have some really bad stomach cramps, though these cramps were eased with the PEG 3350.
4 - She always had fairly regular movements, though the movements always lacked volume (maybe about a cup of stool.)
5 - She often produced rather fat (1.5 inch diameter) movements.
Simply becoming aware that the problem was that my daughter was trying to hold on to her family of origin, her mother on a business trip, or school was enough to free her of the need to withhold.
Parents, I understand your struggle. I don't know if this will help (do look into biofeedback and naturopathy if this doesn't help.) However, for some of you, this report may make a difference.
I am a mum of a 5 year old happy girl who loves school and life. We have struggled for regular bowel movements (on the toliet)since the beginning. I think it may be encopresis. She was going to the peadiatrition for about 1 year and she was impacted. It is so frustrating because she is so clever. We can go for three weeks without an accident then all of a sudden it will come back and she might soil 5 times in one day. The poor kid! I don't know is she is being lazy or just fearful of sitting on the crapper. It is driving me nutts. I thibk I am going to take her to the naturopath.
Thanks
Thanks to everyone who has posted. I've read that this is not uncommon, but don't know anyone with a child suffering from encopresis, like my daughter. She is six next month, and really, has been suffering from constipation her entire life. We've been under the care of a g.i. Specialist but feel like miralax and pedialax are just keeping her from getting backed up. It feels like we are just managing the accidents but not treating the cause. I was interested to read about others using probiotics, because we just started that ourselves. Too early to tell if it will help but we are hopeful. Also, from your messages I'm realizing that we haven't explored the emotional aspect of this enough either. Getting the sense that the traditional methods aren't working for a lot of us. Gives me more motivation to push for alternative methods.
ALL I WANT IS TO TALK TO SOMEONE MY AGE (14) WITH ENCOPRESIS. SO IF YOU KNOW ANYONE I CAN TALK TO PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT alexaraybernal19@aol.com
I am a 14 year old girl and I have been suffering from encopresis my entire life. Because of it, I have missed out on so much. My mom was always chaperoning field trips, being team moms, etc., just so she can make sure I was not soiled. Between the ages of 6-10 I was kind of okay with having this, because I always thought that I would eventually outgrow it. My dad gave me enemas like 2 times a year. And you guys have bonuses how traumatized I am of those now. When I was 12 my stomach was in so much pain. Suddenly, I wasn't even able to eat or drink anything. I lost so much weight. I didn't want to mention this to my mom because this was the day before her birthday. The next day I begged my mom if I can stay home because I didn't feel well. (this was the day of her birthday and we had so much planned out for the day.) I asked my mom of she can take me to go to the doctors and he said that she will take me the next day. I told her that I had to go now. This was probably the worst day I have ever lived. 8 days without eating. I was so week. I knew in my mind that I was going to die. I didn't even want to fall asleep because I feared that I might never wake up. So that week I wrote lets to everyone in my family saying how much I loved them. I wanted them to read it just in case I died. I was at the doctors for about a week and then I was fine again. When I was 13 my family and I were at my baby cousin's birthday party. Encopresis- you don't know when you soil. So we were leaving saying bye to people, and I guess I smelled like poop, and the first thin my mom did was pinch me very hard and threw me in the car. The whole drive back they were yelling so much at me. This was another one of the worst days I ever lived. Finally I got home, i cleaned myself up and went to the kitchen to go eat. My sister then joined me. I was simply sitting at the table crying and eating. Then came my furious dad. He was yelling so hard at me. This made me cry so much because not once in my life has he ever yelled at me like that. My sister then defended me and told my dad that he was stupid for thinking would do that on purpose. I didn't talk to my dad for 2 weeks.
When I was younger, my two older sisters ALWAYS made fun of me. I cried everyday. Encopresis personally made me feel alone and humiliated. And I hate it when my sisters say they have a difficult life when really they have never lived a day in mine. I have never been to a sleep over. I want to know what it is like. At this moment, I have really bad diarrhea. I missed two days of school already. I hate my life. I truly day. Every day I pray to God that he gives me the strength to try and live another day happily without wanting my self to die. ALL I WANT IS TO TALK TO SOMEONE MY AGE WITH ENCOPRESIS. SO IF YOU KNOW ANYONE I CAN TALK TO PLEASE E-MAIL ME AT alexaraybernal19@aol.com
Please, oh please parents, look into the use of Probiotics or the fact that your child may have a gluten or lactose sensitivity. My daughter has suffered through encopresis and the probiotic is already helping her. Please...try Probiotics and stop giving your child laxatives. They just mask the problem and don't help to cure or prevent it from happening.
Have been using the probiotic for a week now and last night and today she has had real bad Diarreha and stomach is cramping. How long does this last using the probiotic?
wow - i know i'm not alone and i'm thankful for the internet because in my "world" - nobody else i know has children who suffer from encopresis. we have a 9 year old daughter who has been suffering from this since age 5 when she started kindergarten.
we have tried so many things: doctors, laxatives, enemas, gastrointentologists (sp?), biofeedback therapy, positive behavior reinforcing, counseling...but after a few days / weeks of success ... we're back to square one.
this blog helps me know i'm not alone and it is good for me to hear from some of you who are actually experiencing this yourselves. however...as a mom, i really want to know WHAT WE CAN DO TO HELP??
i am a 24 year old girl with encopresis, i came across this site while looking for help and when i seen all your comments i thought i should give you my point of view as a child and an adult who has suffered since i can remember.(i am from the UK so my way of speaking may be a bit different) i dont know when it started..when i was in nappies the doctor told my mum, they said when i went to the toilet it hurt me so from then on i held it in. unfortunatley i have never been cured. i remember my mum getting frustrated with me i used to hide in the corners of rooms and she would see me tensing up ask me "do you need the toilet" my response would always be NO. i cant imagine how frustrating it was for her and especially after reading all your comments. i went to therapy and used gold stars, i was examined, given lactulose and senna every day, laxative chocolate which i hated. i was lucky enough to never of been caught by my friends by smelling dirty. i soiled my nickers alot and the school helped my mum- i used to take in a change of nickers in each day. then as i got older i stopped soiling in school with the fear of someone catching me, when i got home i was lazy with going the toilet, i would rather play out with my friends hold it in for 2 mins until the feeling of needing to go had passed instead of running home and having to go. i then started to hide nickers around my bedroom with the fear of being told off and feeling like i was incapable of doing something so natural. i would roll them up into a tight ball and wait until they had gone out then wash them myself and put them on the radiator to dry. little did i know i was washing with warm water which made the bathroom smell even worse. My mum would always say to me have you got dirty nickers in your room, my answer again. NO!! she shouted, sat me on the loo for hours on end, i always ate well, drank well with alot of fruit and veg. she always wondered what she was doing wrong. for me it is a sensation i get in my bum muscles that will not allow me to relax, i have never in my life gone to the toilet naturally i have always had to strain. as i have got older i can control myself, i do not soil my underwear anymore because i know my limit. i once left it so long to go the toilet i could no longer pee so i was rushed into hospital and given an enema and a cathater. i told myself i would never get to that point in my life again. if i drink peppermint tea it helps, you can sweeten it with suger for children and drink it cold. i make sure i go once a week once i go i do not have the feeling to go the toilet at all until 5-6 days later its like my bowel is empty. then on day 5 it makes me feel bloated and i get stomach cramps every week so thats how i know i have to go, it is still not enough but i can handle it alot easier than when i was a child. The doctors now think it is a form of anxiety and no matter how much water, fresh veg i eat it will not make any difference i have to each myself to do it, they said meditation may help. it is physically so hard. i tell them that i get a sensation in my bum when i need to go and it restricts me from going and the tension automatically happens. they said its all in my head? i dont know if they are right? i feel that my mum did all she could for me but i am the 1% of females that it sticks with. all i can say is dont be so hard on your children i hated being shouted at it made me feel so upset and annoyed like i was dirty. explain to them that they dont want their friends to see that they still dirty themselves when babies do that. watch for the tensing and take them straight to the toilet and make it as relaxed as possible. i wish my mum could of seen that so many people go through this for so many years she thought she was the only one. :-(
Hi. I am a 12 year old boy and I used to have the same problem. We could never seem to get it fixed. I used Miralax which only made stools to soft and uncontrollable. I had this problem for several years and often went days without a BM. This problem is now fixed for me and I will tell you how. This may take some time because it happens gradually. You have to drink lots of water every day. Lots of it. Another thing that helps alot is taking these chewable things called Vita fusion fiber gummies. I still take two every day to keep me regular. You have to do these things every day because like I said before this can take a while. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention eating good foods like apples and oatmeal, (things high in fiber). Hope this helps!
I have a son who will soon be 11. Not only does he poop on himself but he pees as well. Then he will go with out underwear before he will finally admit that he is out because he has gone in them. He also hides them in his closet, under his bed, in the bathroom. I am at the end of my rope. It is making the relationship between my husband and him very strained. He has seen multiple Dr.s, behavioral therapists, and psycologists with no results. We tried the miralax, benefiber, sunsweet ones, water, enemas,rewarding, punishment and everything else we could but it has not worked. He has not been bullied yet but I believe that is only because the kids at school have not found out. I will often catch him squatted down and ask him what he is doing. He will reply that he needs to go to the bathroom but he won't get up and go when he feels the need he just squats down to try to hold his pee/poop. Please help...any suggestions would help.
I have a son who is 8.He was toilet trained properly and then about 4 started developing encopresis. He had been having a good high fibre diet and lots of fluids but this actually turned out to be the problem. After seeing an occupational therapist and saying to her I think its diet related she referred us to a dietitian who nailed it straight away - a salicylate intolerance. Since going on an elimination diet his encopresis improved out of sight. We also found that his gut doesn't seem to be able to tolerate some raw grain foods such as those found in wholegrain breads, soup mixes and porridges. Trying the elimination diet for salicylates and amines has been a real relief as we were at our wits end. We also found that the diet did help to some degree with some of his other behaviours too (separate to those associated with having bowel accidents. I really encourage anyone to see a dietitian as our GP really had no idea about this aspect. It is also worth looking up the "Fed Up" website and can give you lots of info on this intolerance as well as for lactose and gluten problems. hope this helps
Hi. I'm the mother of a marvelous four year oldlittle boy who stuggles with encopresis. My son began experiencing constipation at about ten weeks of age. He's been on every kind of laxative there is. I've been blamed for it by my in laws. They say I don't try hard enough to get him to go on the toilet. For the longest time he would only go in a pull up or in his underwear. Exasperated, I told him that I was getting rid of his pull ups and that if he went in his underwear he'd be in big trouble. My boy with held for a week dispite daily laxatives. After a week, I found him curled up in a ball on his floor crying because his stomach hurt so much. I cried and gave him back his pull ups. When he turned four, I finally left his father who was physically abusing me and got my son in to see a behavioral therapist. She thought that the with holding could be due to his need for control when his homelife was so out of control. We began a behavioral modifacation plan. My son could go in the pull ups but he'd have to clean the mess up himself. He was also not allowed to have any items containing sugar until he went in the toilet. I've experienced a great deal of success with this program with him. Several months ago he brought his pull ups to me and said that he didn't need them anymore! He still gets constipated on occasion, which means the dreaded enema. It is so nice to see that we're not the only ones dealing with this because I've always felt so alone with this issue. Good luck, everyone!
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Oh my goodness! Thank you for creating this blog! Reading everyone's posts has been so encouraging for me... it's as if every last one of you has read my mind. I'm almost in tears with relief that other people know what I go through (not to mention my little girl who suffers with encopresis). I'm also excited to tackle 'Sneaky' from a different angle and hopefully offer my daughter the hope of a future without 'Sneaky' in it. Thank you everyone. And thank you as well to the children who have suffered and still do suffer with encopresis, for taking the time to tell your story... to share what it's like to deal with this condition. Bless your hearts.
My son was 8-9 when he had it and it lasted about a year. What turned it around for him was diet. Water, water, water!
The Dr Sears site had tons of useful info that helped us earn how normal it was, and that it's not his fault... Someone described it as if the child is keeping from pooping on purpose, which he/she really isn't. The site includes a recipe for "Stool/school Ade": http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/family-nutrition/school-ade-newsletter. I'd made a double batch of this once a week, pour it into pint glasses and freeze them, the microwave to soften them. He'd have one every other morning or so. Oh I Added a touch of orange juice, which made it yummier. This worked like a charm :)
But the number one thing: force your kid to drink lots of water! Good luck!!
My 11 year old has encopresis. It's been a problem for a long time. I thought that the problem would go away when he got older but it hasn't. The best success I had with the problem was when the doctor put him on the polyethylene glycol and even the smallest dose would give him horrible diarrhea. I turned to homeopathic answers and he had a colon hydrotherapy session done. My son was comfortable with the session and even asked the doctor questions about his condition. She had me giving him "Natural Calm" every day and he had a schedule everyday where he would sit on the toilet. It was working great until that summer when he had to go visit his dad. His dad was angry that I turned to holistic therapy so he would not give him the drink and so when he came back it was back to square one. I'm considering setting up another session for him and starting him back on the treatment that worked the first time.
My 11 year old has encopresis. It's been a problem for a long time. I thought that the problem would go away when he got older but it hasn't. The best success I had with the problem was when the doctor put him on the polyethylene glycol and even the smallest dose would give him horrible diarrhea. I turned to homeopathic answers and he had a colon hydrotherapy session done. My son was comfortable with the session and even asked the doctor questions about his condition. She had me giving him "Natural Calm" every day and he had a schedule everyday where he would sit on the toilet. It was working great until that summer when he had to go visit his dad. His dad was angry that I turned to holistic therapy so he would not give him the drink and so when he came back it was back to square one. I'm considering setting up another session for him and starting him back on the treatment that worked the first time.
my daughter is 19.she has had encropresis all her life.her school called department of social services and told them that my child was sex abused.thats why she was doing this.it was a red flag.they accused someone but couldnt actually prove it.they removed her from my custody for 9 months.they took her to a docter who did a pelvic exam on a 5 yr old.i thought maybe the docter had make it up or maybe he did the abuse.he was a dss docter.when i tried to file a 51a on him.i was told no.so many yrs have passed and she is doing better.we went to a nutrisionist and found that she was lactose intolerent.she became pregnant this yr.had the baby in nov 12.dss found out about it and took her baby.they say that she cant take care of the baby due to this problem.they say that if she cant keep herself clean how can she keep a baby clean they brought up the sex abuse.they r still saying that my daughter was sex abuse and they dont think she can keep the baby safe.i tried to get the baby under my care and was told no.they think that i didnt keep my kids safe how can i keep the baby safe...we went to court and have lawyers.dss still says no to the baby coming home.all this trouble becuz on encropresis.. i dont think its due to sex abuse.its a medical condition..any advice on getting these ppl out of our life and getting this little newborn home?
i am the one who left the last message. i was told that i may be able to file for gaurdinship. i have to file paper work.and may have to pay out of pocket expenses..my daughters lawyer is gona help us with that.they want the baby home..any one with any advice plz tell me....
After 2 years of constant soiling we have found the miracle cure for my almost 6 year old grandson. Finding Soiling Solutions, Dr Robert Collins on the Internet ended the distressing soiling within 2 weeks. It is a controversial approach and it takes strong parenting and care to install. But, for my grandson the joy of not soiling has dramatically improved his behaviour and zest for life. Dr Collins recommends suppositories and enemas - rather drastic - but improvement is rapid.
At the very least have a look at the website, a miracle maybe about to take place.
I am a mom an 11 1/2 year old boy with encopresis. He has been on Senna, miralax, fiber, enemas,suppositories and seen countless doctors and therapists, including a Pediatric Behavioral
Gastroenterologist who specializes in encopresis. Nothing worked. with few exceptions he soiled himself daily. It had literally taken over our lives. I had heard there was a correlation between ADHD and encopresis and asked the doctors about it, but they all said that he was not hyperactive and above grade level so not to mess with drugs. After a visit with a child psychiatrist that barely spent 10 minuets with him. I got fed up and managed to enroll him in a university study for children that might have undiagnosed ADHD. The study was extremely thorough and it came back that he has non-hyperactive ADHD. He has trouble focusing and his lack of focus is a contributing factor to the encopresis. He began medication for the ADHD 3 weeks ago and has only had 1 soiling incident. I can tell you how much easier this has been on our entire family. I also don't know if this is the answer to everyones problem, but I know it seems to be helping us.
Please check out www.encopresis.com. I have dealt with this for years with my son and it DOES WORK! Here is a note from the site: We will guide you back to your original child with the Soiling Solutions ® Treatment Protocol (SS) for Encopresis which is spelled out,
step- by-step, in the "Clean Kid Manual" (CKM) developed by Psychologist, Dr. Robert W. Collins. Look in on the SS parents' forum at www.encopresis.com/forum to see how the CKM is being used, then order the manual and join them! This protocol is gaining inter-
national attention as a major alternative to the standard treatment of using oral (from the top) stool softeners with repeated assurances
that the child “… will grow out of it." The CKM is now available in a digital (pdf) format. This is especially important because it bypasses
customs requirements for non-USA orders which can unduly delay receipt of the CKM .
Encopresis is simply defined as fecal soiling at 4 years of age and beyond without any evidence of medical causes. A history and a ruling
out of certain medical factors by a physician is recommended. Ninety-five percent of children are cleared of a medical cause and so
Encopresis is largely regarded as a functional disorder, much like many cases of high blood pressure.
I am the mom of a 13 year old boy and have dealt with this for years. Please check out www.encopresis.com. Here is some info from the site: We will guide you back to your original child with the Soiling Solutions ® Treatment Protocol (SS) for Encopresis which is spelled out,
step- by-step, in the "Clean Kid Manual" (CKM) developed by Psychologist, Dr. Robert W. Collins. Look in on the SS parents' forum at www.encopresis.com/forum to see how the CKM is being used, then order the manual and join them! This protocol is gaining inter-
national attention as a major alternative to the standard treatment of using oral (from the top) stool softeners with repeated assurances
that the child “… will grow out of it." The CKM is now available in a digital (pdf) format. This is especially important because it bypasses
customs requirements for non-USA orders which can unduly delay receipt of the CKM .
Encopresis is simply defined as fecal soiling at 4 years of age and beyond without any evidence of medical causes. A history and a ruling
out of certain medical factors by a physician is recommended. Ninety-five percent of children are cleared of a medical cause and so
Encopresis is largely regarded as a functional disorder, much like many cases of high blood pressure.
Hi. I'm an 11 yr. old kid and have had encopresis for just about 5 years. I have always felt alone, and like I'm the only one with this problem. I didn't even know what I have is called encopresis until tonight. When I heard about a mom blog for dealing with getting through having a kid with encopresis. I thought why not have something like that for kids. So we don't feel alone. Then we can remain anonymous and still be able to communicate with other kids our age with the same problem and work through this thing together. If there is a blog like this out there PLEASE share it with me. and anyone you know with encopresis. If not, then maybe we can hope one of the people who read this will create one like it. signed an anonymous 11 year old girl with encopresis. You're not alone! We understand.
Hi. I'm an 11 yr. old kid and have had encopresis for just about 5 years. I have always felt alone, and like I'm the only one with this problem. I didn't even know what I have is called encopresis until tonight. When I heard about a mom blog for dealing with getting through having a kid with encopresis. I thought why not have something like that for kids. So we don't feel alone. Then we can remain anonymous and still be able to communicate with other kids our age with the same problem and work through this thing together. If there is a blog like this out there PLEASE share it with me. and anyone you know with encopresis. If not, then maybe we can hope one of the people who read this will create one like it. signed an anonymous 11 year old girl with encopresis. You're not alone! We understand.
I came to this site in the process of trying to find information on bedwetting for a friend. BUT . . .I must post this for all of you. My son had severe encopresis ever since he was toilet-trained. I am a doctor (for adults, granted) but I myself never understood the condition properly and doctors were no help including specialists. He is now cured at age 11.5 and the answer was the Clean Kid Manual by Robert Collins who is a developmental psychologist and my personal hero. The Manual is about $50 and presents a detailed behavioral program to cure this condition. It took a while but it was literally a miracle for our family and I still cannot believe my son's underwear is free of poop when I do the laundry!! I sympathize with all of you so deeply and know exactly what you are going through. PLEASE get the Manual so you can help your child. Teens who posted, bravo to you for your bravery and you can do the program on your own and get the full benefit too. It's not too late! Good luck to all!! Lisa
I just want to say thank you for taking time to write this! We have a 7 year old son and at our breaking point! After reading this I went to the vitamin store! We are only on our 2nd day of Primadophilus but he just went in the potty after two weeks of mess! I am praying this is our saving grace!
One last question, how long do you plan on using the probiotics? Forever?
I am the mother of a 14 year old boy with encopresis. His gastroentorologist finally recommended Soiling Solutions a few years ago and it changed all of our lives. Finally there was hope. He was on the program for approximately 1 month before we went to Disney World - we could not believe that we could finally have an encopresis-free vacation.
Some may say the methods are old fashioned - suppositories & enemas, but it worked. It also empowered us to do the enemas which we had previously shied away from. While he was on the program for about 2 years, we were actually able to stop worrying about him having an accident - we had not felt that way in years!
He is currently back on 2 ex lax per day and every other month or so he has to do a top down cleanout w/ magnesium sulfate drink and do one or more days of the Soiling Solutions program - we look for the telltale underwear streaking and know that it's time to do a cleanse. Morales never worked for him - it seemed to make him less in control of his bowels. Ex lax taken after school helped him go the following morning before school, which is what he does now w/ occasional SS interventions as needed. We are hopeful that by keeping on top of this, that as his body contiues to mature, he will eventually grow out of it. He will always have to remain vigilant about constipation throughout his life though, but what a difference SS made in our lives! Good luck to all who are dealing with this - I hope this helps you! Btw - our gastro recommended this program, yet pediatricians in the same medical group were reluctant to recommend SS, so as parents, you must decide what's best for your child. We were not very hopeful but willing to try something new - with some resistance from our son - but the results have changed his life for the better!
Just a note to my reply above - the word "miralax" was autocorrected to morales . I stated that miralax seemed to make him less in control of his bowels. Again, good luck!
To Kristen with the 17 year old:
Hello my name is Betty I have a daughter that just turned 16 in December and she has been dealing with Encopresis and I had to stop forcing her to take her meds and started just leaving it up to her. I didn't know what else to do. She continues to have the problem and it does put strain on the family. I know that there is a hospital in Washington that deals with encopresis, but to what extent I don't know. I would like to find out more about it. I would say at some point after the child is 18 you can check into some type os correction surgery, as I my do so at some point.
To Kristen with the 17 year old:
Hello my name is Betty I have a daughter that just turned 16 in December and she has been dealing with Encopresis and I had to stop forcing her to take her meds and started just leaving it up to her. I didn't know what else to do. She continues to have the problem and it does put strain on the family. I know that there is a hospital in Washington that deals with encopresis, but to what extent I don't know. I would like to find out more about it. I would say at some point after the child is 18 you can check into some type os correction surgery, as I my do so at some point.
we have been dealing with encopresis for 5 years with my 9 year old son. it has been a daily battle of yelling, crying, begging, giving up, etc. weve tried everything from miralax to probiotics, new diets, special treats, etc. etc. nothing ever worked for more than a day or two. ive spent many days reading this board looking for a hidden gem of advice, and the one thing that stuck in my head was the older kid who said they just have to want to quit on their own. i gave up. figured my kid was ruined for life and just tried to forget about it, figuring it was behavorial and i failed as a parent. i was about to purchase soiling solutions as my one final attempt, but balked at the price. i thought, what motivates my kid more than anything? money! instead of purchasing the program, i drew up a contract for him. in it it said he would keep himself clean, the bathroom clean, the tub clean, etc. if he could do it for one month he would win $30, if he did it for two months he would win an additional $50, and if he made it the entire summer? a weekend trip to Vegas. we agreed on a $3 penalty for every time i found poopy pants, the tub was a mess, etc. i included a section telling him how to succeed (poop 30 min after every meal, really concentrate on getting it all out) again because i believed his problem was purely behavorial not psycial, he signed his part, i signed mine and weve had 100% success since THAT DAY. he took alot of showers the first day, probably to clean himself out, but the tub was never dirty and i have a kid back that i can actually cuddle with again!!! its been 3 weeks with a sparkling clean house that stays that way, a very proud kid, and a very very happy mom. not saying such a simple solution will work for everyone, but this is what has finally worked for us. im so excited to watch my kid head back to school in the fall without all the worry and stigma that he is the stinky kid. its been a long, lonely battle but it looks like we are finally going to win!
Firstly, my heart goes out to the parents and kids coping with this issue.
I just wanted to throw another resource into the mix - hypnosis. No, I'm not a tree-hugging, crystal-loving hippie. I'm an Allied Health professional and a Clinical Hypnotherapist. Our bodies and minds learn habituated patterns very fast. Hypnosis is a method of releasing those habituated patterns. I work with teens with encopresis and it works. It's not counselling - I don't need to know where or when it started. I just work with suggestions that release that pattern. I know this isn't for everyone but it hasn't been mentioned here and I know it works.
My son is ten, and we have been dealing with encopresis for the past three years. It has been grueling, and none of the doctor prescribed treatments has worked very well. I feel so bad for my son, but this is so hard to deal with for all of the parties that are involved. Thanks for the suggestions and comments on this page. I was starting to feel as though we are alone in this world. I am going to try some of these suggestions out, and see what happens. Nothing has worked, so at this point, anything would be an improvement. Best of luck to everyone with their struggles.
Join miralax yahoo group and tell them you want to see the list of symptoms when u join. Miralax is POISON!
Rosemarygutierrez289@yahoo.com
I am 7 years old. I have Encopresis. My mom and dad use to yell at me when I had it. I used to hide everywhere so they could not see me sucking in my poop. I had to hide in a lot of places. I had to walk and store hitch to stick it in. For seven years I had this. I am working on not doing it but until then I will try to work to eat healthy. Less on dairy, eat more fruits and vegetables. In school it was very hard people called me poopy pants and everything.
7 year old boy continuing:
When I suck in my poop it feels like a bolder going in to my body. If you have encopresis don't try sucking it in try pushing it out. I had tons of poop in school, some people called me smelly pants and things like that.
7 year old continuing:
Encopresis is bad for you if you want to get rid of it drink lots and lots of water, eat lots of fruits and vegetables and eat lots of yogurt. Stay off the dairy but only eat yogurt because the probiotics help you. Read this blog to, your child because it helped me. And it will help your kids if they have encopresis. I thought that I was the only one that had it until I read this blog about kids that have it. Then go blog it will help other kids that have encopresis get better!
I really want to join this group but Yahoo won't let me. I have an 18 year old with encopresis that we think is turning the corner to recovery.
I am a mom of a 12 year old boy with encopresis. One thing I have learned about Miralax is that it is finicky. It is most effective at night just before bed, and you must use exactly the amount of water recommended on the label. To keep from leaking or having stools that are too watery, 1/2 a capful with 4 oz of water is the right amount for him. He sits for 5 to 10 min after breakfast and then again at night after dinner. This does help as long as the Miralax is taken and the "trying to go after meals is done" The other thing I have been told is that wheat intollerance can be a real contributor.
Our almost 5 year old son has taught us a lot! At this moment we are possibly about 80% cured. After being a baby prone to frequent loose stool, the first impaction came as a very big surprise at about 2.5 years of age. It was accompanied by a small tear after passing a hard stool. Two and a half years later we are still dealing with the effects of that one painful stool. We have been on and off Pegicol (the peadiatric version of Miralax in South Africa) for more than 18 months, until I discovered how harmfull the long term effects of Miralax can be. I did however discover that other than a diet high in soluble fibre (and not too much insoluble fibre!) and lots of water, probiotics and exercise, the miracle for us was SLIPPERY ELM. This is a ground herb, mixed into drinks. It is entirely safe and even nutritionally valuable. It is not a laxative, but increases mucous production in the intestines. This was slowly introduced as the Miralax was reduced. He has been free from encopresis now for over six months, but if we stop the Slippery Elm, it comes back! We still need to encourage daily bowel movements with a reward chart, but there are no more soilings and no more pain and no more stress! Do be careful with Slippery Elm if your child is on any other medication - make sure it is administered away from other medication, as this herb may interfere with aborption of certain drugs. Also - the drops are not effective, use the powder. We use two teasponns per day for our 20kg son. I hope someone can benefit from this, we certainly feel like a huge weight has been lifted. Remember though to keep up good diet, probiotics and exercise, and keep emotions out of potty time!
Mom of 4.5 year old in Johannesburg, South Africa
I did not know there was a name for this until today. I'm 41 yrs old now but dealt with this personally from the age of 12 to 17. I eventually overcame my fear. Doctors need to realize this is not a physical issue but a fear issue. It is in our head but the fear is very real and so is the shame.
Im a mom of a 15 year old boy and have dealt with this since he was 4. Just recently we installed a chait tube which has ended the soiling and accidents. His lower intestine is flushed nightly with glycerine and saline, his self esteem is sky rocketing and no longer does him or my house smell of feces. It worked for him and hope this helps others also.
My boyfriend's daughter is 12. She has been to two gastroenterologists, only for her parents not to heed their advice. So now she is still soiling and peeing her pants, regularly. She hides them, lies about it and throws out her undies as she refuses to wash them out. She is 170+ pounds and only 5 feet tall, wearing a size 16-20 women's extra large clothing, special made. They refuse to restrict her calories because they think it emotionally harms her as she has outbursts during dinner that she wants more food and that they "think she is fat", which she is, not fat, but over 70# overweight in just 7th grade. She is getting more and more unruly and bigger and bigger and the soiling is keeping up with her size. Her mental health counselor said it was encopresis. Her nutritionist doesn't believe in counting calories and the PARENTS are the problem as they are both degreed intelligent professionals who let this child run their lives out of being just too busy, in denial or just not wanting her to yell and scream. She refuses to sleep on her own, stinks to the max, kids are bullying her over her weight and her shitty pants as she bends over in small clothing, much too small for her for all to see her soiled panties and seems to not notice she shows the world her female parts. The mom thinks she wants attention, I say no way, she has both issues, but her main issue is her parents not taking control. I am happy to see others struggling as a non parent, there is nothing I can do. They won't complete the enemas, stool softeners or the exam recommended and they refuse to exercise or walk her - giving her the option and trying to "talk" to her and engage her in "doing the right thing", however, kids don't ever do the right thing, parents have to assist them until the habit is formed. FRUSTRATED!!!!!!!!!!
my son is 14, and im frustrated
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over 7,070 adverse events report to FDA as of July 15, 2014
My 12 year old daughter has been dealing with retentive encopresis since age 6. She avoids going to the toilet at all. This results in soiling and the production of an amazing huge toilet-clogging log-like object every week. We have been trying for years to get her to talk about this, but when we do talk about this, the response is ALWAYS "I don't know" despite what her pedi, GI doc and psychologist tried to do or suggested we do to get her to talk about it. We switched psychologists last year after a year of not talking about this, no luck.
We have tried so many treatment plans for years, specifically tailored to her, such as enemas, scheduled toilet sittings, rewards, consequences, psychologist, etc. she just keeps holding it in. Right before summer, her pedi and the GI doc laid out a clear treatment plan of laxatives, regular bathroom visits, and a rewards program. She did take the Miralax (2 table spoons) but she just kept holding it in and soiling her pants. She avoided going to the toilet. I made her stay at the toilet and told her "if you poop, I will buy you XYZ" (something she REALLY wants)" you can do XYZ only after you poop" and not letting her do things "you can't do XYZ until you poop" and XYZ would be something she LOVES to do. I wouldn't let her leave the toilet until she pooped, so she sat there for hours, no luck. When school started, she refuses to take the Miralax.
Now we laid out a new treatment plan. We TRIED to involve her, the response is again "I don't know." She is supposed to take an enema every morning and sit on the toilet, but she fights daily about taking it. When she does take it, she holds it in and won't sit on the toilet. There is also a diet plan she refuses to follow. She is not supposed to drink dairy, but drinks milk at school. Now the past 2 weeks she refused all treatment which we fight daily about. She refuses to sit on the toilet, no matter what we try. 2 years ago we tried ucanpooptoo, didn't help.
We asked her why she holds it in. Does pooping hurt? Does it scare you to poop? Does it feel good to hold it in? The answer is always "I don't know" and you can question her for hours and hear "I don't know". We explained to her digestion and she knows why she needs to poop. We ruled out any physiological reasons for retention. Luckily her friends don't notice, but one day her friends might smell her soiling, and I talked to her about this, how it would affect, boys , high school, etc. Her response was "I don't know" and she would not talk about this.
Does anybody have suggestions how to get her to start pooping regularly in the toilet without accidents? Any advice appreciated.
Is this Yahoo group still active? I would love to join, if so! I have a 4 year old who has been dealing with encopresis for 2 years now with no light at the end of the tunnel just yet.
My 6 year old daughter has had encopresis since she potty trained. We thought she was just lazy about going potty. It was a relief to have a name for it and that it wasn't her fault. I researched natural remedies and came across slippery elm bark. We give it to her daily and it helps. It hasn't eliminated the problem but I think we need to up the dosage. We mix the powder with honey and water and she takes (doesn't like it though) pill would be easier if she was able to swallow. She isn't constipated but will not have a pm for 2-3 days and when it comes it is seems like more than an adult can hold. She also would have 'squirts' that she was either not aware of or ignored. Those have reduced significantly and come back if we miss a dose. I'm going to try the probiotic too.
My son is 13. He has suffered with encopresis for years. I think it would be great if he would talk to you.
I have a new blog for moms of encopresis kids Check it out! http://www.sosomom.com/potty-training.html
My son is turning 11 has ADHD ODD and encoprisis. He is adopted from Russia and came in with some issues. He is a beautiful sweet boy who is over active and has some anger issues. He is in therapy. We try to have him poop every other day. Most times it works out. But still he has accidents maybe once or twice a week. I am fighting cancer and in chemo. My patience is gone. He will not wipe. He will shower sometimes after and it helps but the stuff is all over him and crusted on at times. Usually we have to wipe him. I am not supposed to be touching poop or anything that can lead to a problem for me. I am currently fighting pnuemonua due to weak immunity. I feel so bad, I actually threatened to move away because I can not take it anymore. How do I get this child to wipe? He will not do it and would rather have me or Dad do it. He may have DCD developmental coordination disorder too. I feel so bad. I need God to intervene.
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Where do we find someone willing to do hypnosis on a child without having to sell everything we own to travel?
Where do we find someone willing to do hypnosis on a child without having to sell everything we own to travel?
What is the new program you are using?
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I am the mother of a 10 year old boy with Encopresis. He went to a children's hospital and had all of the normal tests done to rule out anything else and it came down to that doctor advising his dad and I to take him to a psychologist. He has been seeing a psychologist for just over a year. I said that I do not think that it will help, but if that is the next step, then that is what I will do. I have taken his psychologists aside and advised them of the horrible things that my son has seen and heard his dad do in the past, but that he was too young to know this on the surface and that it was all subconcoise and that may be part of the issue. Neither of them have listened to me. Now we are starting a reward program for him for the 2nd time and his dad has taken it to all proportions. My son is supposed to try to potty after eating and get a point for every time that he try's for about 7 weeks, then he will only get a point if he poops on the potty after that. Well, we are in our 3rd week and when he was at his dad's house he pooped on the potty....so his dad gave him his rights to his snowmobile and bought him an xbox game and told him that he will pay him 20$ for every time that he poops on the potty! WHAT!!!! So, when it was my parenting time I asked my son if he has pooped on the potty since then....4 days have passed...and he said no. I told him to sit on the potty after dinner and he whined about it and asked if he could do it tomorrow. I said that he could and he can do it now, that is what people do, they eat and they go to the bathroom. He did it with no further complaints. So, I also emailed the psychologist to inform her that my son has a hard time going to his dad's house and would rather stay with me and that he calls me from his dad's house crying. I also informed her that the past few days that I have talked with him on the phone that he is ok. and that he pooped on the potty. She emailed me back and to put it short, advised me that he would probably be terminated from her due to his progress and that he has pooped in the potty WHAT????? I guess I am alone on this! Any thoughts? I am thinking about getting him hypnotized but I have 50/50 custody with his dad and his dad would have to agree. His dad agrees to nothing when I ask because it is all about getting back at me, never does he do anything good for the boys! HELP!!!!
So could antibiotics,even just one treatment cause this?
Is the probiotic you are using Lactobaccilous. It is a milk based probiotic and people with encopresis can become secondary lactose intolerant (which presupposes that they are not primarily lactose intolerant). Both myself and my son cannot take Lactobaccilous due to lactose intolerance. A better choice is bio-gaia (sp.?). It is better I the sense that it is not milk based and and much fresher live probiotic...not so good on the pocket book. Each 5ml bottle will run you about $30-$35 which is about 1 month supply for one person. A probiotic is a good idea but do some research on it before taking it. You could end up taking something that will make matters worse in your attempt to be healthier.
My son is 9 and has had this problem sence he was 1 1/2 and he has had periods where it was good days and lots of bad days but He has stretched his colon out withholding so badly he will in a few weeks have the button placed in his colon to have a clean out everyday nothing allowed to stay in the colon so all accidents stop and he is slowly weened off of the meds for that and by 2 years he should be pooping normaly and bowles healed to normal size again
My son is 12 , almost 13 and has dealt with encopresis since about age 8. I feel like crap...for yelling and accusing. I tell him I love him and it's not his fault. hiding especially is Something that makes me mad. Why hide it? He knows we can smell it. That's frustrating. We've done therapy for 6 years, pediatric gi, enemas...u name it. Suggestions?
Yes my son was on antibiotics for a month and ended up with encopresis.
I read these comments and feel wow someone finally understands what we have been going through the last 2 years. My daughter has gone to repeated Dr visits,Gastroenterology,allergy testing which came up negative, enemas, mirilax, Kondrumel etc.... she is starting to get upset all the time and all the Dr's say the same thing. Just keep trying what your doing!! After 2 years what will change?? Any suggestions? If I give her mineral oil 2x day she has accidents for several days with leaking stool and then now hard stuff in her underwear. Should i go to a dietician. Should i try an elimination diet? It feels lIke this will never end... any suggestions please help..
That's how I feel. I think as frustrated as I am how hard must it be for them! I could use a support group too..it's hard to believe they can't smell or feel it.
Our 16 year old son has been visiting a toileting clinic at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. We stumbled on this after he had two kidney infections and they discovered he was backed up again. They increased his Miralax and he has Kegel exercises to do at home. We also give him two fiber gummies at dinner.
KD: my son (8 years old at the time) was treated with daily restorolax (What Miriam is called in Canadarm) for about 16 consecutive months. At times his restorolax dosage was 25 grams (ordinary adult dosage is 17 grams). He is now in stage 2 of of his recovery. 2 years of high fibre diet. The lesson here...encoresis recovery requires patience and time. The colon takes a long time to shrink. Then muscle control must be relearned. Stick with it. Warm baths, lots of water, lots of green veggies, raw, and power walking daily. Recovery will happen but you need to be patient.
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I wish I knew! My son is 9 as well and we are still struggling with it too. I don't know what to do. But you are so not alone in this. I feel so frustrated and just lost most of the time with this
I am so thankful for your comment. My son is 9 and I've tried everything from potty times, laxatives, reward system, explaining that eventually his peers will smell it. It's like he doesn't even care. He won't go at school after lunch like he's suppose to. He won't take any initiative himself. I'm considering quitting my job and homeschooling him just so I can make him go potty at the times he is suppose to. I just don't know what to do
How long have you tried the laxatives for? My son was on 25 grams (regular adult dosage is 17 grams) of restorolax (mirolax in the States) per day for almost two years. It is important to note that the laxative is not just about elimination. Once the blockage is gone, then the bowel must heal which takes a very long time. During this time a few things that are quite important. First a schedule. Pick a schedule and stick to it even if it is not your ideal schedule start a schedule. Next lots of water. The recommended is 8 glassses a day for adults...10-12/day are needed to ease the bowel strain and let it heal. High fibre (natural source) diet. Lots of green vegetables, raw are best but whatever you can get him to eat. Lastly, exercise, brisk walking every day (at least 20 minutes). Get that lower part of his body moving...exercise bike is OK but it tends to limit the motion really required to get the bowels moving. It is not easy but you need to stick with it and stay firm. Your child will be annoyed for a while but will come around especially when you start to see success. The next phase of my son's recovery is underway and he is not happy about it...we have pulled milk from his diet. He whines a little about missing it but has stopped crabbing. For us, this may have been a major causal factor for his condition. Stick with the program. He is worth the effort...Good Luck.
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Stella...wrong forum...you want quacks.com
what are you saying have you tried and see just check on him and see how you get cured
This forum is for encopresis not HIV which any reputable medical professional is not curable.
Our 3 year old daughter suffered from encopresis for about 8 mos and fonally a doctor recommended lots of apple juice w a tad prune juice, just to drink all day and this was what did the trick. We did this with a probiotic and after our daughter was cleared out, she now goes on own consistently. Try it, I promise will help!!
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