Thursday, September 13, 2007

On the Mend?!

Andy came to me and was all excited. He gained 6.8 lbs. I was overjoyed. The many weeks of high calorie shakes are finally starting to pay off. He was at 2 to 4 lbs for so long, I didn't think he was capable of gaining any more weight. I am wondering if his "IBS" or whatever it is, is on the mend.

I have been driving him to and from school every single day. Now he thinks he can ride the school bus in the morning. Also he was only eating just a piece of toast for breakfast. He did not want to take any chances with his sensitive GI system at school but today he says he wants to eat omelets and a low fat version of the egg mcmuffin.

Still, I am a little hesitant about jumping in and giving him anything he wants. His condition has stabilized and I don't want to rock the boat. I will have to proceed with caution.

Our grocery bill has gone up $400.00 every month just because of the special foods and supplements I have had to give him. It would be nice to be able to pare it down.

I have him on so many things that I am not sure what has helped him the most but I am keeping him on the Digestive Advantage for IBS no matter what. The lacto bacillus will always be beneficial to him even when he is healthy. I was given information from Ganeden, the company that makes Digestive Advantage, and they said that their powerful probiotic can" bring the digestive system back into balance." Their cultures have a "protected hardened layer of organic material that enables their (lacto bacillus) survival through the acidic stomach environment and arrive in the intestines alive." I do think this product in combination with some of the other things I have done has made a difference.

I also put him on B complex vitamins which is supposed to help with the GI tract. A friend of mine had years of terrible stomach cramping and pain. Got no help from the doctors and so she read about vitamin B12 and decided to start taking the B vitamins. She said she has had very little cramping in the last year.

I am very grateful that my son is doing well although still not normal. However, this is his second bout with a GI problem. I am not sure what the future will hold. My friend who has Crohn's Disease warned me that hers started out with a few problems here and there before it became full blown Crohn's. I hope that with careful management, we will prevent it from becoming a
full blown whatever it is!

4 comments:

BetteJo said...

Hopefully it will turn out to be a temporary condition! Wouldn't that be wonderful? But yeah, I would think introducing different foods back into his diet would be best kept to a slow pace. Good health just makes all the difference in the world!

My daughter has IBS too, but she eats better than I do so it's not as bad. But she went off to school with her bottle of probiotics and as long as she takes it on a daily basis, her symptoms are few and far between. That good bacteria is a wonderful thing.

I'm happy for your Andy - and for you - it has to be incredible to see him happy and not in pain!

palette48 said...

well, he had some trouble with gas and cramps today and I think it was because he was rushed to
get the school bus this morning. He didn't get to make his usual 2 to 3x trips to the bathroom before he left. I guess I will have to keep driving him as that gives him an extra 1/2 hour to get ready.

BetteJo said...

I'll be away from my blog for a while - but I'll be thinking of you and Andy. This stuff just shouldn't be part of a kids life!

Take care - I won't be gone long!

palette48 said...

Thanks bette jo,

I will miss you.Have a good break and I hope you will be able to catch up on all the things you need to do. See you soon.