Constipated aspie teen won't take laxative. What to do?

Page 2 of 3 [ 34 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next

Aspie1
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 7 Mar 2005
Gender: Male
Posts: 6,749
Location: United States

24 Aug 2009, 5:46 pm

I found something on the Sunsweet (a company that makes dried fruits, but mostly prunes) website. I thought would be helpful in this thread. It's something called PlumSweets, which are prunes (a.k.a. dried plums) covered in dark chocolate. They taste good covered in chocolate, so your teen might not even realize he's eating prunes, at least not at first. (Present it as a healthy alternative to candy you discovered by accident.) If he eats handful of them for dessert, he'll get plenty of health benefits. And hey, according to the new school of thought, dark chocolate is good for you, so that's an added bonus. There's also plum juice. It has great laxative properties, and without the stigma attached to prune juice. Perhaps your son will respond well to that.

Here are some links.
PlumSweets: http://www.sunsweet.com/products/info.asp?product=plumsweets
Plum (not prune) juice: http://www.sunsweet.com/products/info.asp?product=plumsmart_light



Last edited by Aspie1 on 24 Aug 2009, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

0_equals_true
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Apr 2007
Age: 41
Gender: Male
Posts: 11,038
Location: London

24 Aug 2009, 6:01 pm

makuranososhi wrote:
Chocolate is a natural laxative.

Chocolate contain 0 fibre on ins own. I watched a program with the Anatomist Dr Alice Roberts: Don't Die Young which had a chocolate addict. It took the addict 4 days to poo (they did a test with sweet corn).



MomofTom
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 5 Aug 2006
Age: 48
Gender: Female
Posts: 621
Location: Where normalcy and bad puns collide

26 Aug 2009, 6:47 pm

Speaking of chocolate covered things...I was desperate for chocolate-covered something to eat and ended up dipping Triscuits in the chocolate coating used for pretzels and such. Well, I ate so much that I noticed the effect the next day. 8) The Triscuits are a great source of fiber.


_________________
Apathy is a dominant gene. Mutate.


carlinsmom
Emu Egg
Emu Egg

User avatar

Joined: 12 Dec 2009
Gender: Female
Posts: 5

14 Dec 2009, 2:16 am

this is TMI for the rest of you, unless you need the information:

my boy has had chronic constipation for 3 of his 6 years. we've tried the gamut. and he's been cleared of any physical medical reasons.

i started charting him when he was about 3. i used a calendar within easy reach and took shorthand notes for::
size: consistency: discomfort: days since last time:
then after a week we added some interventions and were able to see how effective they were by looking back on his poop chart.

just add fiber
just add water
Prune juice, plum juice, mango nectar
babylax, kidlax, pedialax
glycerin suppositories, glycerin enemas (these sting)
mineral oil mixed with chocolate syrup
miralax in Plum Juice, prescribed 2 caps full a day (watch for long term effects)
ducolax
lactulose
magnesium citrate (very harsh and violent)
saline enemas
milk n molasses enemas
rootbeer flavored laxative syrup (yuk)
fiber tablets, fiber gummies
fish oil, flax oil, bergamont oil (double yuk!)
omega 3-6-9 vegetarian
Senna tea, exlax

miralax is effective. but at what cost? he was outputting chocolate milk, uncontrollable, for several weeks after stopping.

does your boy plug the toilet and make your eyes water in the next room? he needs to output more frequently. give him the science of poop. garbage breaks down as it goes, and it needs to do that at the septic station, not in his body. the toxins and the acids and the blahblah's that are released during decomposition are not good for him.

my boy gets a multivitamin, a fiber chewable tablet, 600mg of omega3-6-9 gummies, and i'm adding 1/2 a square of chocolate exlax made with Senna. he drinks plenty of water, all of his breads and cereals are high fiber.

if he needs a stronger intervention I make brownies. laced with 1/4C senna leaves (tea), 1/4C plum juice and 1/4C applesauce. served with a drizzle of lactulose+chocolate syrup. they freeze fine.

another time about age 5, he was at 7-8 days, his pedGI gave him one milknmolasses enema in her office. they had gotten height and weight on the way in. on a whim i weighed him again on the way out. he lost 2.5 pounds!

it takes 30 days (or more) to create a habit. go back to an incentive chart. every poop session gets you a check mark. sure he can earn more than one a day... 30 check marks gets you something. 60 checks gets you something awesome. 100 checks = wow!

my boy likes getting to the next level. so his checkmarks form a race game. maybe incorporate giving him some power. if he poops 3 days in a row, then he can skip some chore.

we are working pooping into his evening routine. poop, wash hands and face, brush teeth, jammies etc. if he is done by 8, he can read till 830. goal is daily and we are down to an average of 2 -3 days. his record is 11 days, but that got him a week in the hospital. he has nearly stopped streaking his underwear and is finally initializing on his own.

good luck, and this too shall pass....