An Alternative Route

Right before school let out for summer, I suggested to Mr. Fixit that we take Bambam to see a "holistic" doctor. My suggestion was met with some mild resistance. Mostly because Bambam sees a whole host of doctors and gets poked and prodded enough. Mr. Fixit really tries to limit Bambam's unnecessary doctor visits. He's very protective of him.

But I was fairly insistent. He finally asked me what my goal was. And I replied that I really wanted help with Bambam's GI issues. Numerous appointments with his developmental pediatrician and the pediatric GI specialist at the children's hospital in the city 2 hours away had resulted in no improvements at all. And I was frustrated. I still had a 7 year old with severe encopresis, lots of pain, no bowel control, and a GI system that was basically a mess. Plus, I wanted to explore causes of his psoriasis. I've always been under the impression (right or wrong) that ALL of Bambam's seemingly unrelated issues are actually all related some how. And it seemed to me that most obviously the GI and psoriasis could be diet related. So I begrudgingly got consent. Not that I really need consent, but I like my partner in crime to be on board with what I'm doing, especially when it relates to our kiddos.

Bambam's Neurological Psychiatrist is a DO, not an MD. As such, he is seemingly more open to alternative ideas. (I know that is a very generalized statement and does not apply to all MD's or DO's) When I approached the subject of taking Bambam to a holistic doctor he not only agreed with the idea, he referred us to someone he highly recommended. 

The new doc is an MD, not an ND as more holistic doctors tend to be. She is traditionally trained and practices a combination of traditional and alternative medicine utilizing pharmaceuticals, diet, supplements, acupuncture, etc. At the first appointment, she spent 3 hours with us! 3 full hours. Actually, she spent about 30 minutes examining and talking to Bambam. Then I sent him out to my mom who was waiting in the wings, and she spent an additional 2.5 hours talking with me about everything under the sun related to Bambam. I'd never spent so much time in a doctor's office without testing taking place. At the end of the appointment, she sent us home with a stool sample kit.

One month later we discovered that Bambam had a bacterial staph infection in his gut, his pancreas was not producing enough digestive enzymes, and he had NO probiotics in his gut. 3 weeks after treating the infection, putting him on a digestive enzyme supplement, and high dosage probiotics; that kid was pooping in the potty. A week later he was rarely having accidents or "leakage" as its known in the encopresis world.  Since starting this new protocol, he has not once woken up in the middle of the night in pain. And I am shocked.

I'm shocked that it was seemingly this easy. Now, I don't discount the fact that maybe this is all coincidental. But I really don't really think so. The change was immediate, drastic, and overwhelmingly complete. Even Mr. Fixit, who was a strong doubter in anything "alternative", attributes the changes to the new protocol. And, if we had any lingering doubts, they were put to rest last week.

Bambam takes a lunch from home to day camp. Hidden in his sandwich are the digestive enzymes he must take with each meal. Since he won't swallow a capsule, we open it and sprinkle the contents into his food. Last Tuesday, he wanted the hot lunch provided by the camp and they let him have it. Wow. For the next 24 hours it was total chaos complete with pain and uncontrolled bowels. 

I have 2 theories about the drastic reaction to the hot lunch. First, he did not get his digestive enzymes. And second, the hot lunch was full of fat, sugar, white flour, preservative, dyes, etc that we do not give to Bambam. And his digestive system revolted. Completely. But, after 24 hours of eating normally (for him) and being back on the protocol, he was back to his new self. (And the camp counselors now know that he MUST eat his lunch from home. NO EXCEPTIONS). And, no more doubts.

I'm also shocked that none of this was ever discovered or even explored in the many previous doctor's appointments over the past 7 years. Seriously, it was a fairly simple, 3 day stool test. Why wasn't this done 3 or 4 years ago when I began asking repeatedly about his constant constipation? Or even 5 or 6 years ago when Bambam was waking up screaming in pain several nights a week?  Or 7 years ago when we were dealing with the worst reflux any baby has ever had in the history of ever? And I'm not kidding. At least half of everything that baby ate came back up and out. I smelled like baby puke for 2 years. It permeated my skin, not even showers could get rid of it. 

My child has suffered for over 7 years with what seemingly should have easily been treated years ago. Instead, we were given Prilosec for the reflux, told to put a heating pad on his belly for the pain, and given Miralax for the constipation.  All to treat the symptoms, never looking for the cause. Shouldn't we all have done better? As his mother, I'm struggling with some guilt over this.

I'm not really sure how to end this post. I'm not sure anymore where I fall on the traditional vs. holistic medical approach. But, I will be taking up the holisitic doctor on her suggestion to explore some of Bambam's other symptoms. At this point I'm willing to give her another try. After all, the last time she hit it out of the park. She is now a permanent member of Bambam's Team.