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My 6 year old son has what I guess is chronic constipation. He only poops every 3 days or so. He has no pain when he does poop, and it’s generally not pellets or anything. Any suggestions or remedies? He’s on the mild end of the autism spectrum, and I notice a cognitive improvement when he poops more frequently. When he was younger he did not have this problem.
Kari
I have no idea if this actually works,but I’ve read several times that overdosing Vitamin C and/or magnesium can cause a rush to the toilet.
Magnesium would be the best… It has been shown that Autism causes mag deficiency, this could be part of the cause. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16443999
Start with maybe 200mg and work your way up until he reaches daily movements. There’s a plethora of other health benefits you should see as he becomes no longer deficient. Many say it’s the most important supplement anyone can take. You should also supplement with a small amount of calcium if you’re going to do mag long term, as they work together.
There has been a lot of research lately into gut flora and autism lately. Possibly look into that and see if some sort of probiotics are in order.
My daughter is on the spectrum and she is finally, age 12, having a BM daily, sometimes twice a day. She used to go every other to every third day. We tried Mg supplementation and that did not help her. We went to a NAET doctor, Allergy Elimination. She showed sensitivities to B complex, gluten, wheat, and citric acid. The doc cleared those then we put her on Marshmallow root and aloe vera juice. It took a few weeks but her acne has cleared and she shows fewer spectrum issues.
My son is 8 months and hasn’t had a normal bowel movement since he was 3 months. I’ve a long history of SIBO, yeast infections, endocrine problems, and now strongly suspect I’ve been hypothyroid my whole life. My son is also exhibiting hypo symptoms/constitution- damp and clammy, cold hands and feet, doesn’t sweat, and doesn’t poo. He also has no arches on his feet (Broda Barnes). He went once a week for ages even when I was exc breastfeeding (no solids) and since solids it’s been horrendous, days and days of nothing but small hard rabbit pellets. Believe me my anxiety and guilt about the whole thing has been horrendous.
Anyway, we did the whole probiotics thing and saw no improvements- the doctor wanted me to put him on Lactulose sugar laxative every day.. NO way was I doing that. Anyway, then I started giving him some Natural Calm magnesium drink, but the citric acid kept burning his poor bottom. Now we’ve settled on a small dose of magnesium citrate powder and that seems to be working a treat.Nothing seems to correlate as closely with poor moods for both myself and my daughter (9) as inability to poop decently. Unfortunately though, it has taken some diet modification. I try to do as little as possible, but we just have to at this point, the alternative is miserable. Maybe someday we will be able to digest everything, just not now (even with my temps being up).
At 5, I swear she would’ve been diagnosed with bipolar. I looked into all the spectrum info and tried those diets. It’s taken me a loooong time to come up with what works for US, and I still am figuring it out. We took out gluten and that helped a lot, but it wasn’t the whole picture. We don’t seem to be able to digest much in the way of animal foods, I’m not sure if it’s the fat or what. Some lean turkey or fish occasionally seems fine, and I think we’d do okay with some raw dairy. The winners for us are starch and sugars. Thankfully, I don’t try to eliminate sugar anymore. We digest it and it’s yummy, so it stays! We are doing pretty good at finding yummy food that agrees with us.
At one point she was sleeping horribly at night, and magnesium seemed to help that (and gluten removal), and I think it does help a little with the bathroom issues. We’ve been eating chia seeds soaked in juice daily now, and that has been really great. Daily raw carrots seem to help a bit, but not as much as the chias. Both of us have been going more regularly than we ever have, and our moods are much more positive.
Sometimes I wonder if I could do an allergy test to determine exactly which foods are the problem, or if it’s just impaired digestion that is the issue and it wouldn’t be that helpful. Anyway, this is working for us now, and for that I am very happy! Disclaimer: This definitely might not work for everyone! It’s taken me a long time to realize there is NO perfect way.
Not being able to poop,causes lethargic/depressed problems in me. I think its bc food stays too long in the gut causing a feast for bad gut bacteria maybe too much serotonin,thats at least what i suspect.
I find what sometimes helps me to stimulate the bowels is:a bit of (semi skimmed) goatmilk with a bit himalaya salt and then at least 2tblsp of raw canesugar and a bit cacaopowder. I ll add more sugar based upon consuming till i feel this rumbling feeling in intesti-es.(i dont drink it,but carefully eat it with a spoon just like s
soup).
Also,drinking lots of coconutwater sometimes helps too.
And havent tried this myself,but ive heard plum(juice) should have a laxative effect too,as eating a couple of ripe kiwifruits. But i dont know if the seeds migth give your son pr9blems.
Thanks, all. Magnesium helps some, but not too much. He’s on digestive enzymes, they help with other things (cognitive) but not constipation. He doesn’t tolerate probiotics, I think it’s the lactic acid. He does need them, but he gets real grouchy and fatigued with them. Even without probiotics, he gets fatigued very easily and cannot handle hot weather (we live in Texas soooo….) I suspect he already has lots of bacteria and the added load just makes things worse for him. We avoid certain foods that he’s allergic to, which has helped his autism symptoms a lot. Aloe vera juice doesn’t help much, which is weird because it helps everyone else, haha. We’re doing NAET, but I haven’t noticed much yet. We’re also doing camel milk (sounds crazy but he tolerates it great and has zero reaction compared to cow milk), so I think I will try the milk with sugar thing. I’m also going to get his thyroid tested, because that could be the root of a lot of problems.
It’s just so crazy how things can help one symptom, but cause another. Low grain/sugar seems to help his brain function but makes constipation and metabolism way worse. Lots of sugar seems great for his skin and mood, but makes him loopy and have brain fog. So we’re doing a middle ground, but poor kid needs to poop.
I recall reading somewhere that coconut oil (unrefined) in food can help with this. For a baby not yet on solid foods, putting some on the nipple just before nursing might help.
I battled with constipation for most of my life (I’m now 66), knew I was hypothyroid at least 30 years ago, was diagnosed with Hashimoto’s about 10 years ago. I tried high-fibre eating, low-fibre eating (after reading Fiber Menace). I’ve been taking Thyrolax for at least 4.5 years (includes bovine glandular). I was gluten free for several years, but as of last October I’m eating it again. However, about 4 years ago, I followed some advice from Matt (which he can clarify if I’m missing something here). Basically it’s this: nothing but fruit for a week, add some vegetables and a bit of fat the second week, gradually add protein the following week. Unless I’m travelling, and my schedule is off, I usually have a bowel movement on average 3 times a day. Lately, I’ve been eating more fruit than I used to, very little grain (not whole grain) food, and a raw carrot most days.
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