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[gaadmo]

Hi everyone, I am so happy to have found this wonderful blog.

My name is Carol and I live in S W Florida. I have three kids. My youngest, Isaias, has Down syndrome and some other health issues. One of the health issues that is affecting him lots is frequent bowel movements.

At birth, he was diagnosed with Hirschprung disease (the absence of ganglion cells causing constipation). The problem was fixed with a colostomy bag that he had for a year… then the colostomy bag was removed and he was fine…sort of… since then he had have frequent bowels ranging from 6 to 15 times a day.

Then, I noticed some days he was fine… but other days he just go, go, go and go…then I felt that it was my food that makes him so sick…then two weeks ago, I started I food journal, and I noticed the days with candies, fruits, canned fruits, canned juices or natural juices, ice creams, spaghettis, or tomatoes he get sick the most. The other days without any sweets he was fine or a bit constipated.

Back on March, he was at the hospital for eleven days because he was pooping blood and vomiting. They never found out what it was…they tested and tested many options and everything came out negative… the doctors tested on intestines going inside itself and other rare conditions and it was negative. Then he was released and the end of that. We never knew what it was…

Yesterday and today he has the same symptoms as back in March. His stool has blood… he threw up…he lost weight… I took him to the doctor and she suggested a sugar free diet and to keep a close eye of him.

Today, he is not in the hospital but if he keeps having bloody stools I will take him in.

So! Do you think he has fructose intolerance or FM? I think he does but I would like to rule it out... but again it is not safe for him!? Any advice ????
Good luck to all and thanks for sharing!

[colormist]

We usually respond the same way to people who are wondering if their kids have an issue with fructose. Try putting him on a strict fructose intolerance diet. If you see improvements after a week, then you might be on a path to an answer. If you don't see any improvements, then it's back to the drawing board.

If, after a week you see some small improvements, stick to it for a month, then try slowly adding one thing back in at a time (only a couple times a week--sometimes reactions aren't immediate). You can try slowly migrating to a fructose malabsorption diet.

To me, personally, it sounds like FM, but I don't have FM, so I'm not exactly sure what the effects of FM are. :\

[charlie]

Hi, yes it could be FM, I don't think passing blood is usual though, thats more coeliac, it maybe that as your son has had such alot of trauma to his bowel that they are not absorbing things well generally or the bacterial balance may be out. With FM you tend to get foul smelling runny poos but some report constipation. You can also get blood sugar lows and mood swings etc.

The best test, as Laura has said is to try and eliminate fructose and sugars and see what happens for a few weeks. But do it comprehensively, if bits slip through then you may get a false answer.

[evelyn]

I have read over and over about studies done on children with down syndrome and them all improving massively on a gluten free diet.
Celiac disease or not.
There is a great connection between Celiac Disease and fructose malabsortion and Celiac disease and HFI.
I myself am a Celiac and have problems with fructose. I am not sure which came first because I always remember having problems with both.

Has he been tested for Celiac disease? Most doctors still think it is extremely rare and never test for it. If they say they did then ask what the exact type of test was that they ran?