Gut problems

Mine is 14, has a different diet to the rest of the family, he is near impossible to get him to try new food, if he fancies something, he tries it likes it but does not want more.He has constipation problems on and off.I avoid dairy milk and aspartame which is in diet drinks.He gets movical and supplemented with IQ omega 3 and 6 oil.

Hi, 

My eldest is 6 and has ASD no food intolerances. But my other lil man is 2.5 years also on the spectrum and has multiple food allergies. Symptoms were simmulier and he was refered to GOSH as a baby. 

HE has since been on a Gluten, wheat, Dairy free diet which has helped loads.  it is really hard when you have another child that eats everything they want but it is worth it. 

My little man was more of a constpation issue tho?! but he it was like it was blocked kinds so would come out hard then get it runny! (sorry for detail)

but the point is ....  i found far much better than any precription drug, i found in a health shop (you could ask doc and i think ive now seen down medicine isle of tesco' Its called 'Fibre supplement' its dark bown in colour and in glass bottle about £12.00 but it works fantastic. 

xx hope my ramble helps x

If your doctor prescribes omeprazole or ranitidine, zantac,  then you should only give these as long as necessary because staying on these drugs to long can lead to bloating and spitting up.  You need to keep in touch with your doctor when your child seems better to get them off the medication again, don't keep reordering new prescriptions every month, you should do this through your doctor regularly so the doctor can monitor your childs condition otherwise you may have a real problem weaning off this medication because after long term use suddently stopping it can cause really bad acid reflux. It is possible to be weaned off but you may need help after long term use.  Low stomach acid can lead to your injested food not being digested properly in the gut.  Never suddenly stop this medication with out speaking to your doctor, you can wean your child off by gradually cutting down. 

There have been a number of studies done on using pure rice bran oil which is carb free and you can get it from your local supermarket.

Pure rice bran oil is anti inflammatory and has a high vitamin e content and gamma oryzanol.  I also find that giving 1 teaspoon in the late evening a couple of hours before bed time helps my son sleep through the night.

Pure rice bran oil seems to have a calming effect on his brain and is good for the gut. 

Rice bran oil is tasteless and I mix mine into a little avocado when I give it.

On the pubmed website you can search out pure rice bran oil.  I started with 1 teaspoon a day, some people use 2 teaspoons a day straight from the bottle but I find that 3 teaspoons is to much and does not work.

Bananas cause many children with autism behavioural problems, there is a book you can buy about problems with bananas and apples, many children who eat bananas start to head bang.  Plain movicol is better than the flavoured movicol because they have been sweetened.  My son suffered from terrible constipation due to a candida problem.  Many children with autism do have candida problems, don't ever give soil based probiotics as these will feed the candida and become pathongenic and then you will have a real problem with candida of the gut and will need to source help using either nystatin or fluconazole.  Mainstream NHS believe that candida is in the gut and so will scratch their heads at a candida overgrowth, there are many good doctors out there who can help and Biolab in London has a good links page.  Also, bone broths raise glutamate levels which is bad for children with autism, if your childs gut needs healing meat broths are best to start with and you should start by cutting a chicken in half and cover in purified water and then bring to boil and turn down to a simmer and cook for about 1 and a half hours to 2 hours.  Don't move onto bone broths for healing until the child can tollerate meat broths which are more gentle on the stomach.  Some children can not cope with broths at all as the glutamate levels effect their brains to much !  Avocado is very well tolerated on the diet but not to many a day.  Pears are very well tollerated and so is mango but sugars will feed a candida problem and so will a lot of carbs.  White and brown rice are well tollerated but brown rice can effect vitamins being absorbed so give at seperate times.  I found calcium citrate irritated my Child so I gave him Biocare EAP calcium phosphate and Higher Nature vitamin d3 in sunflower oil, I cut the capsules open and sprinkle into food.

Even if you do not test positive for celiac you may still be sensitive to gluten. I believe many people are lactose intolerant even if they are not allergic to dairy so probably taking milk out of ones diet is a good thing as you can get calcium from other sources ie almonds. Obviously exercise is good as well. I think warm or hot fluid helps stimulate your bowels better than cold. Too much sugar is bad I guess if you have a problem with yeast overgrowth so even too much fruit could be problematic from what i understand.

same for me,, for me it is a stress reaction,, not real IBS,,, however I treat it with a colpermin IBS tablet in the morning and before dinner,, helps greatly. And one zantac anti-acid tablet at night for the stomach. The colpermin just helps the discharge pattern,, so there is less cramps. It is working 80% of the time.  Got the celiac tests etc,,, there is nothing. The colpermin is natural has peanut oil in it, which is anti-flammatory and pepperment oil a relaxant,, it helps discharge air, so my bloated stomach has gone down Also went of the coffee, tea, soft drinks, milk and have less sugar. Watching my bread intake, some types of bread seems to affect me. Eating oil sardines for the calcium bones and omega 3. Hope this helps, as my bowel problems were bad,, but it is down to sensory especially in social stress environments. The IQ fish oil may be good idea, however my gut says,, milk is not good for people with autism because it is a sugar and the brain works off 70% of the bodies sugar intake relative to insulin blood release. Just a thought, is milk beneficial for Autism, it is packed with animal hormones like ostrogen ? http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/03/990316103010.htm

hi again - just a thought, but my son wd only eat 3 main meals when he was small: spag bol, sausage, peas + chips, pie, peas + chips! plus his breakfast, lunch + drinks.  So his eating habits weren't too bad, but still caused some concern.  Not really a properly healthy or varied diet.  Later I found out that he ate other things when he wasn't at home, which came as a big surprise.  He didn't suffer from bowel problems, but compartmentalised things and still does, altho an adult now.   He isn't into telling you what he did elsewhere, for example.   If your son stays elsewhere :-  other family members, with your friends, school, respite care, then it may be worth them trying him with other foods to see if he responds differently.  I may well be barking up the wrong tree.  Sorry if I am.  Just thinking back about my son's attitude to food.  bw

mine has a limited diet too.I have to get creative to he likes ragu mince with rice or spagetti and i hide ground up veggies in it, he is now 13 and suffered constitpation as well, he has movical which i put in his drinks. he now toilets ok we still get the odd problem,but i think its when he has not drunk enough,so maybe you want to increase his fluid intake.4 is tough you can't force them to eat. Can you get appointments for your GP to explore it more and ask for a dietitian to work with you and how to get your son trying new foods. I am stuck in this current ruck with mine on his limited diet. I also use liquid IQ fish oil which i put in his drinks. you have to find away that works for you.The same for trying food.but our dietitian recommended a buffet style meal on the family table where everyone takes what they want,get your son to eat his food with you at the table seeing the different food laid out but refrain from saying try this try that. The idea is he see's everyone enjoying the food they take and he might feel tempted to try.It worked for us a bit. But it might work for you who knows.they are frustrating little monkeys at times aren't they. lol!

Hi Jacks dad,

My boy 4 also did this, hes 4 and still in nappies too. We had the Movicol too but it didnt do anything no matter how much we gave him. We were getting pretty desperate to get him to empty his bowels as we know really not good to hang on to it for such a long time. Try not to worry apparently this is not uncommon, poor diet deffinatly does not help the skid thing you mentioned isnt him actually opening his bowels its leakage. You need to go and see a doctor so they can check him over and give you somthing better than movicol as its obviously not working for him. We saw our sons consultant who then prescribed picosulphate. This deffinatley does the job however warning its very messy but at least it works. After about aboy 8 weeks we stopped giving it to him and he will now open his bowels on his own although he does behave a little odd when he does and he is still not potty trained, To be honest i just dont think he likes the sensation. Going  through same thing again with 3 yr old.

Hope this helped, Good luck Jack and Jacks Dad.

hi Jacks Dad - this must be difficult for all of you, esp your son.  Do you think it's time to have things investigated further, by a gastroenterologist, for example? Apologies if you've been down this route already.  As you say, his diet may not be helping matters.  He may have problems understanding when he "needs to go".  My son, now an adult, still doesn't register temperature v well.  Maybe your son's body/brain doesn't register when he needs to go to the toilet particularly well.  Just wondering, just a thought.  There may be info on the nas site which might prove helpful.  There are all sorts of bowel conditions which an expert cd assess your son for.  Of course, none may apply + you may not want to put him thru tests which cd distress him.  I understand this because it cd well be traumatic for him.  But I do think some expert advice, if not already sought, wdn't do any harm in itself.b  bw

Have you had him checked for any medical issues? Some of the symptoms you talk about could be attributed to something like coeliac disease or irritable bowel. If it is something like that then the laxatives wouldn't make any difference.

I don't want to worry you unduly, but it might be worth asking him to be checked out to illiminate things if nothing else.Coeliac disease is diagnosed initially with a blood test and is controlled with a gluten free diet.