Topic : 07/11 What’s Up, Doc?

My son too suffers from encopresis.  I recently made a myspace page for support for parents if you are interested.  It is a private page. 

http://www.myspace.com/day2day_encopresis

Not being "potty trained" can have a MEDICAL reason ... it is called encopresis.  Some children, particularly boys, have difficulty eliminating waste.  This may be a result of many reasons or a reason that cannot be determined.  Some of the reasons include poor muscle tone in the rectum, an inability to feel or recognize the body's message to go to the bathroom, an inability of the body to "move" the waste through the intestines/bowel because there is either poor or no peristaltic movement.  There could be a number of other reasons as well.  This is an illness that is NEVER talked about in public for just the reason that most of you have shown ... people tend to think of it as disgusting with the end result that children who have it are embarassed and have very poor self esteem. They don't want to be ill but cannot fix it.  It takes many many years and a lot of work to get it under control.  Oddly enough this illness is often improved or it may even disappear around the time of puberty.  Doctors think it may be a result of an increase in hormone production.  Interestingly, it is actually much more common that most people would have believed - it is just never discussed - which is a terrible shame because of what it does to the children.  So perhaps instead of immediately judging these children, you might want to be informed first (try googling "encopresis" and "enuresis") and then watch this episode to see if that is what they have.

Lord, please keep those grown boys (age 9 and 15) away from my 12-yr-old daughter until they are potty trained!!! YIKES!!!!

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As for the infertile couple, I know the feeling. It took us that long to conceive to and it involved lots of crying, disappointment and money. NOBODY knows the pain of not being able to conceive unless she has gone thru it herself! HOPEFULLY hubby will recognize how important this is to his wife and be gracious about it. My husband was and we now have two wonderful children (age 6 and 12) to show for all the patience (and robot sex:). Trust me, it's ALL worth it once the kids are born!!!!

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If I lost lots of weight, you can bet I would save my $$$ and have a tummy tuck and whatever else I needed to deal with the excess skin. Hopefully my husband would be sensitive enough to know that my self-esteem needed the surgery. Knowing my great guy, he would want me to have the surgery as a "gift" to myself for succeeding at getting healthy and losing the weight. Marriage is about support, love and respect. How better to show love and support than to "invest" in something that will improve the mental health of a spouse!!!