It's very reasuring to know that there is a medical term for a condition my adopted son has suffered from. I had tried talking to his docter about this and the advice I got was give him a laxative and sometimes it takes longer for boys to get fully potty trained. Well, the laxative almost made it worse--he "pooped" on a regular basis, but it was often running and messy and harder for him to control. Family members seem to believe that I was going over board on getting evaluations for all three of my adopted kids and felt they all presented in normal ranges for their ages, so all I got from some of them was I was making too big of a deal about it and he would outgrow it. His physical therapist had commented that because he is hyperflexible that this can cause a delay in nerve impluses getting to the brain and that maybe this was the reason he was soling himself and it might be a matter of retraining the brain to better understand the bowel messages. After a year of frustration, I stopped the laxatives and now I give my son two fiber tablets per day and lots of fruit and veges and water with every meal and I keep him active with lots of exercise--biking, swimming etc... At first I watched him very closely and told him when he needed to go potty--mostly right after each meal or if I noticed he made a "toot". I would often hear "Mom I pooped," it really helped us both for me to closely moniter his bowel activity. When he seemed to miss a day, I would up the fiber and eleminate dairy products from his meals until he made a "poop" for me. I strickly followed this routine for about six months and following this routine has made a world of difference and now he no longer notifies me, and I allow him to make his own judgement of when he has to go. Although I'm not trained as a doctor, I was excited to hear the steps I intuitively took to help him, turned out to be the exact steps he needed to have in place to help with his issue and has kept this from going on into years of frustration for the both of us. This has been a boost of my confidence in knowing how to address his special needs as well as the special needs of his siblings who are also drug and alcohol affected. Don't be too hard on these parents--maybe they did allow this issue to go on for too long without properly addressing it, but we don't live in their shoes and we don't know how their doctors were addressing the issue with them. It's easier to quickly judge and criticize, then to be willing try to fully understand the circumstances.
Thank you Thank you Thank you Dr. Phil for bring this issue to the publics attention!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that there are other parents struggling with this and it will be reassuring for them that there is a simple treatment--I only wish I had heard about it a year ago before the frustration set in.
(As a single mom of two adult children, I adopted a young sibling group a year ago after I had fostered them for 2 1/2 years and it would be great to see a show address the issues adoptive families face in raising other people"s children--relative or fostered adoptions. The kids are great, their issues are overwhelming and frustrating at times, good support is hard to come by, people can be cruel and not always willing to understand the choices we adoptive parents make or the needs of these kids, the sacrifices are huge and the experience is life changing and no I'm not a saint, I'm just a normal person who stepped in to keep three siblings together in our family.)
Have you ever wanted to talk to your doctor about pressing medical concerns, but were too afraid to speak up? Today, four physicians with four different specialties return to bust medical myths and teach you things you never knew about your body. First up, 45-year-old Pamela has a paralyzing fear of physicians. She was diagnosed with a terminal lung disease six years ago and hasn't set foot in a doctor's office since. Find out what happens when Dr. Phil creates a makeshift exam room backstage! Then, Denise and her husband, Steve, have been trying to get pregnant for three years. Steve says he’s tired of sex being a business deal, but Denise desperately wants a baby. Should she keep trying to conceive or just move on with her life? And, having four kids wreaked havoc on Casey's body, and now she wants cosmetic surgery. Her husband, Jonathan, says a tummy tuck is too expensive, and thinks Casey can get in shape by doing more sit-ups. See Dr. Phil’s surprise for her! Plus, a couple who say their 9- and 15-year-old sons are still not potty trained! Tell us what you think!
