Hi I'm Katrina, wife to Colin, mom to Kristina, Brant, and Owen. This blog was created to keep family and friends updated on the goings on in our lives ... the joys and challenges of raising three children. You will often see me posting about Down syndrome awareness as our son Brant has Down syndrome.
OK before you read this I will issue a warning: if you don't like to hear about being sick from both ends you probably will want to stop reading now. You have been successfully warned. Read at your own risk.
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Brant has always struggled with constipation issues and has had reflux in the past. We have treated him with prevacid (for reflux) and lactulose (to prevent constipation) in the past and he was just recommended recently to go on prevacid again. He did have low thyroid (hypo) once on a blood test but the next test showed his levels back within "normal" range. He is currently NOT on lactulose.
About a month ago we had a nasty stomach flu rage through our house. We all got it and recovered in about 24 hours including Brant. However shortly after that Brant started having soft stools. About a week later he threw up again once but then seemed ok. He got diarrhea shortly after that and has had it off and on since then (mostly on). He has thrown up about once or twice every 5 days. He caught a bad cold (I have it too) and is coughing a lot for the last couple of weeks. He has been to school only a few times this month as I don't want him to have a blowout at school (his diarrhea often spills out of his pullup and is messy and gross). He is home again today and I just called the doctor and he will be going in a 3:45 this afternoon. His appetite varies and he usually eats porridge for breakfast (quaker maple and brown sugar with a prevacid capsule broken and mixed in), a bun with cheez whiz for lunch (the only thing he likes), and whatever we eat for dinner he usually has some (usually I get meat and veggies into him during dinner). I also try to get him to eat fruit during the day but often he only eats a small amount. He prefers milk as his beverage of choice and won't drink much else. Occasionally I can get him to drink a bit of juice but he usually turns his nose to juice, water, or any milk substitute (soy milk, almond milk, rice milk, etc). I'd like to reduce his dairy but struggle with this as he doesn't eat/drink much else.
I'm guessing he has a virus (or combination of several viruses) going through his system that he can't seem to shake. I am going to try to get him into the doctor today and I'm tempted to ask for a strong antibiotic (ceftin or something) to get him healthy again. I know viruses can't be treated with antibiotics but I suspect he also has an infection of sorts (he does have a history of sinus infections and his nose has been running a little green again). I'd love to get him on any sort of immune boosting vitamins or something however with limited income we can't afford much. I'd love to get him back on Juice Plus but it isn't in the budget at the moment. I was thinking of at least getting him back on a child's multivitamin (ie flintstones) that will hopefully help a bit.
But would a virus cause repeated throwing up and long term diarrhea? I have a form to take Brant to the lab for bloodwork (CBC to check iron, thryoid, etc) but haven't brought him to the lab yet since he hasn't been well. Yesterday he threw up breakfast because he was coughing too much and it didn't stay down. He pooped 4 or 5 times (diarrhea) yesterday evening. He slept most of the afternoon and didn't want dinner. Today he is coughing but kept breakfast (porridge) down. I'm not sure what to do - I hate that he's been sick so long! Oh and Owen had a diarrhea poop this morning too (but seems fine otherwise) so that's why I think it's a virus.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
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5 comments:
Hi,
I like your hippotherapy pictures from a previous post. I am an OT and do hippotherapy and am looking for new photos and activities for my site. Can I use one of the photos of Brant during a session with a link to your blog? I like the photo that shows an tall orange ring stack. Thanks,
Barbara
HORSEOT.COM
My daughter was sick for over a month when she was about 2yrs. She had almost exactly the same symptoms as Brant. It started out as the flu, then became a cold she just couldn't shake with flu like symptoms mixed in. I finally took her to the doctor and he said it was a cold and actually not that bad. Amazingly she was better within a few days of that dr.'s visit. Not to lessen what your dealing with, but try not to worry. I'm sure Brant will be better soon!
Aww Poor Brant! we are in the same boat. We all got the Gastro and it went away but Tristan keeps relapsing. His Educator had to give him a bath at school :( I used gravol suppository for the nausea and Rice pablum helps with the diarrhea. Tristan will not eat rice but I managed to get Banana baby food mixed with the rice cereal into him. I also have the same Issue with T and the milk drinking. This boy loves his milk. When he is sick and shouldn't have milk I mix it with water half and half. He doesn't notice. Hope your guy feels better fast!!
Elayna went through weeks of this when she was younger too. The only way I really got her over it was to clean everything. Every toy that could went through the dishwasher, every stuffy and blanket went through the laundry, and every surface in her room got wiped down and every piece of furniture got moved so everything could be vacuumed. It was like she kept getting reinfected every couple days otherwise. We hope he gets over this soon!
So how did the Dr go??
Just thought of another way to get rice into picky kiddos with Diarrhea. Rice cakes! Hope everyone is well!
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