Stories from the bathroom

Yesterday we were with some friends when Rychen P. had to go poop, and away a while Rychen went in to help him finish up. Rychen P. yells out, "No, Mom! I need MOM! I need to show mom my poop!"

So yes we are public now. We are poop watchers. When you have digestive issues and take daily precautions to deal with it, when there's always at least one library book on the bedstand about digestive health, and constant various modifications on diet to treat it, you get pretty excited to see what your results are going to be. When we get "snake poop" around here, we cheer!

Here's a quick update. Rychen P. had constant diarrhea for the first 3 years of his life and only then did it begin to occur to me that maybe that wasn't normal. Turns out he had a problem with gluten, giving him leaky gut syndrome (which also leads to behavioral problems when the "toxins" are in the bloodstream and reach the brain). Recently we also had him tested to identify further food allergies, which turned out to be corn, wheat, oats, cow milk, eggs, peanuts, buckwheat, and oranges (all foods he loved, which is interesting that people usually crave foods they're allergic to, since it produces a drug reaction in the brain). His histamine was out of control so now he's on a remedy for that, in addition of course to removing the food allergens from his diet. That was 3 months ago and only now do I realize we've been cross-contaminating him with sharing pans and the wheat mill, etc. Oh my goodness, what an adventure this is turning out to be. It's a work in progress but at least we've identified it and it's not getting worse.

I am grateful that he is a good sport and loves fruit, so he doesn't mind eating the way he does. It really isn't that often that he is exposed to other foods and feels left out, and we prepare for those situations by talking about it, bringing favorite foods, having a special game whenever he is "tempted," and Oh Yeah, of course Mom can't eat any of those illegal foods in front of him either. Sure makes my life interesting.

I am grateful his symptoms aren't acute, but they would definitely worsen over time if left unchecked. I am grateful his only remaining symptoms are poop issues and bloating (the behavior is under control, and the itching went away after we eliminated allergens). But still, for me, it's a big deal. My heart sinks when he gets his huge "pregnant" belly. I just feel like shouting "What on earth is going ON inside of there!?" Only after a big starchy meal does he get really pregnant looking, but he generally always has a more bloated stomach than other kids.

Right now I am reading the book "Breaking the Vicious Cycle" which deals with leaky gut problems and how you can heal the gut when you remove certain foods (mostly complex carbohydrates) from the diet, because you aren't fully breaking them down so they cause absorption problems. When you look at it that way, the person is more malnourished the more they eat, as they absorb better nutrition on a simple diet. I think we're going to give that a shot. It's a lot of fruits and vegetables, nuts, avocado, squash, lentils, peas, navy beans (those are the only carbohydrates permitted). I have to be creative because the recipes in the book use a lot of eggs and dairy products, but he is allergic to those. We do organic, grass-fed meats only on occasion (that is not related to his condition, but for general health and spiritual reasons). Actually it is related because a higher-fat diet causes more candida and bacteria overgrowth problems (which is the reason for the bloating).

Elisabeth, you ask? I don't think she has it. But she has gotten sick 3 times after I ate cow milk products (which I am personally allergic to) so I won't be giving her any of that. We're also delaying other common allergens for a while so we'll find out later!

Meanwhile, Rychen and I are discovering the beauty of "At-home Dinner Dates" where we get to eat our own meal in peace and quiet after the kids are in bed! Who needs to spend money on going out? Eating pasta, potatos, or oatmeal is now a beautiful luxury in our home.