Managing Hirschsprung's Disease naturally PART 2.. #59

(My son did have the pull through surgery for any newbie readers. This is what we are doing to manange Hirschsprung's Disease AFTER the pull through. I guess there was a little bit of confusion. Some people are thinking we never had the surgery and are just managing it without surgery. NO. Not the case)


Over the past few weeks I have had a huge increase in contact about my blog regarding managing Hirschsprung's Disease naturally. I wanted to take some time to update everyone and post a part 2. So here I am! Over the past few months we have had a lot happen, not just medically, so I do need to do a recap of our 2014 year. I will get to that in the coming days. I hope :) 

Just a reminder, I feel like I say this a lot but I can't stress this enough... As always, I am here for support, encouragement, ideas, recommendations, but I am NOT a doctor or licensed in any form of a medical practice. I am just a mom who has done A LOT of research, tried A LOT of things, and this is what has worked best for my son. We have 7 different medical professionals we manage Isaac's care with. I love helping and giving recommendations, but I don't have all the answers or am not in a place to give medical advice. 

One of the supplements we use (specially the Energetix line) is prescribed by a medical professional. You cannot buy these in the stores, you can buy them online but I would suggest not doing so. The recommended dosage is based on an adult dose, not a children's dose. Our provider does a specific kind of testing called muscle testing to see what supplements Isaac's body is needing at that time. At the most, we do a supplement for 90 days. Most of the time, less. She also tests his body to see exactly what dose (in drops) he needs. It is very complex. So this is why I suggest seeking a medical professional who is qualified to dispense and prescribe these supplements. These may not even benefit your child. They are very specific to certain medical conditions or aliments. Please read on their website for more information. You can also search for a provider in your area. Here is the link: 

http://www.goenergetix.com/find-a-holistic-practitioner/

So I am going to breakdown the 4 ways we manage Isaac's Hirschsprung's Disease naturally in our daily lives. 

First, is nutrition. We eat only organic, non-GMO, whole foods. We don't eat any processed foods. Which means I cook 3 meals a day :) I enjoy doing it. And I know it helps Isaac. We shop our local farmers markets when the season is in, we do a lot of shopping at our local grocery store that carries a lot of organic non-gmo brands. We stay away from the foods Isaac can absolutely not have, which are allergies to him (oatmeal/oats, turkey, coconut, and lactose). He is lactose intolerant so we do not do milk. He can tolerate cheese and dairy products, just not milk. We usually try to stick to raw cheeses. It is easier for him to break down the enzymes. We also ALWAYS do a smoothie every morning. I will buy a bag of organic frozen fruits and then will put spinach in there, along with an organic juice for flavor. In the next section I will talk about the supplements I add into the smoothie everyday. 

Second, is supplements. It is easiest to add all his supplements into his morning smoothie. This way I know he is getting them and it also makes it easier to hide them. Because sometimes kids just don't want to take them! :) So here is a picture.. Then I will discuss from left to right.

Tiny bottle on left is Vitamin D liquid. We do 3 drops which is 1200 IUI's

2nd on left is by Energetix and it's Lymph Tone 1. We do 1 drop

3rd bottle in is Core Olive Leaf and we do 8 drops

Middle bottle is the Core Condurango Blend and we do 6 drops

2nd to right is Garden of Life Multi Vitamin. We do 2 vitamins

Last bottle on right is also by Garden of Life and it's their raw probiotics. We do 3/4 tsp

Not pictured but we also do Elderberry syrup (1 tsp) and Vitamin C (1000 mg's) daily for extra immune boosting properties. 

The multivitamin and probiotic brand I use is Garden of Life. I have been so happy with this brand. The probiotic contains 23 raw fruits and veggies per serving and delivers 5 billion probiotic cells. How incredible is that! The multivitamin is also a key supplement I just started incorporating. This one has 24 organically grown fruits and veggies per serving. 

PROBIOTIC

MULTIVITAMIN

Here are the Energetix supplements he is currently on that are prescribed by his practitioner

CORE CONDURANGO BLEND 

Core Condurango Blend is a botanical blend designed to assist with temporary digestive discomfort. I put the ingredients in this because it contains senna leaf, which is what providers often prescribe as a medication for Hirschsprung's. Also, look at the other ingredients which are good to help aid in bowel movements.

CORE OLIVE LEAF EXTRACT

Core Olive Leaf is a botanical extract designed to support the immune system. Used historically to maintain normal circulatory function

LYMPH-TONE 1

Lymph-Tone I is a homeopathic combination formula inspired by the work of Dr. Hans-Heinrich Reckeweg who postulated that symptoms are an expression of the body’s progressive and strategic efforts to deal with toxins. Lymph-Tone I is formulated to address acute symptoms.

                                                                   

Third is chiropractic care. This is has been, in my opinion, invaluable to our son's care. He was having all sorts of issues with things moving too slowly before we sought our chiropractic care. We did try senna medication. Which helped, but did cause a lot of adverse side effects. Lots of stomach pains and cramping, gas, etc. It just wasn't very fun for Isaac. Our GI doctor was actually who recommended chiropractic care. I did a post on our chiropractor. You can reference it for any further information. We are seeing him once every week or every 2 weeks. 

Last  but not least, is essential oils. I have gotten really into essential oils over the past year. The main oil we use topically on him is by a brand called doTERRA. The oil is a digestive blend called DigestZen. I also included a full length informative section this oil on my previous blog about managing Hirschsprung's naturally. You can read all about it here.. 

http://sweetbabyisaac.blogspot.com/2014/01/managing-hirschsprungs-disease_21.html

I use this oil 2 times a day, topically. I put 2 drops on his stomach, rub in a clockwise motion. I also use it as needed for any type of stomach upset.

I think this about sums it up. It's really been trial and error for us. Nothing has come easy. Hirschsprung's parents know what I'm talking about. I hope maybe some of these things will be able to help your child. It's all about knowledge! :) And networking :) I have learned so much just by being on forums, groups, connecting with other HD parents.

Now I just have to add a blog about our holidays and recap 2014! That will come.. Hope everyone has had a great start to 2015!! 

CHIROPRACTIC care for Hirschsprung's!!.. #48

Please forgive me! I have been so sidetracked the last couple days, err weeks, that I have not had time to even update. I have been vaguely talking about how we started Isaac on chiropractic care and I have been getting floods of messages and emails about it. I think it's important, especially with special needs medical kiddos, to seek out ANY alternative (dont know why it is called alternative medicine because this is our choice in medicine) therapies you can. With that said, each child is not the same so results will vary. Hirschsprung's is a very tricky disease and there are so many ups and downs. Trials and errors.

So we saw our GI dr back in March that suggested we try some alternative therapies with Isaac. Chiropractic care was one he had mentioned. I had thought about chiro care in the past but with everything going on I just never got around to taking Isaac in. Boy do I wish I would of done so sooner.

In my previous posts lately I had been talking about bringing Isaac to a nutritional practitioner, trying senna on and off, a lot of ups and down. We have been battling getting him regular for almost 7 months. Since October. It has been really stressful. So I figured, you know what, why not. Why not try chiro and see what happens. 

Fast forward to about 5 weeks of chiropractic care. We saw Isaac's surgeon on May 8th and for the first time in 6 months she was shocked. Shocked that he was completely clear. Empty. No stool at all. She even joked she could feel his kidney he was so clear. This was the first time in at least 12 visits she had said even something remotely close to this. About a week prior to that appt we had taken Isaac off his prescribed senna dose because it was causing a bunch of adverse reactions for him. Lots of gas, stomach pains, diarrhea. At this point I felt like it was just too much for him. So telling his surgeon what had been going on we felt at this time he should be taken off the senna. His bowel was now functioning normally. I believe the chiropractic care was the missing piece to this puzzle for my son. Chiropractic care is not just about back or neck pain, it's about allowing your body to function and heal properly through these adjustments. This essentially allowed his bowel to "wake up."

I am very much a science based person. So there is not question in my mind that this is not a coincidence. We finally found a combination of things that are working for our son that does not include medications or some type of medical intervention.

We take Isaac to an awesome, well known, chiropractor here in the Tacoma area. Dr. Mike Long at Renaissance Chiropractic Center. Dr. Mike is so amazing with kids. This is by far Isaac's favorite dr to visit.

I know a lot of parents question alternative care because they just don't know much about it or they are afraid they can't afford it. Chiropractic care for children is so inexpensive. So inexpensive. And so so beneficial! Isaac has been doing very well with it and only goes about once every 2 weeks.

It has been such a huge relief to not have to give him senna everyday. Or do rectal irrigations. Or some type of medical intervention just to get him to poop. It made me cringe every time I had to give senna to him. Not knowing if it would upset his stomach and cause him pain. Things really did a 180 degree turn in such a short amount of time for him. I hope it continues to look up.

Here are some pictures from one of his appointments with Dr. Mike!! And for more information about Renaissance Chiropractic Center here is their link to their website..

www.chirotacoma.com

Up down up down.. #45

January (my last update) and February seemed to be our sick months. Isaac had that viral thing that landed us in the hospital, then had a cold, then another cold with his first ear infection. Needless to say, we are looking forward to the summer. Hopefully all the sickies are behind us because I feel like we have been cooped up for weeks. I was down for a few days because I caught his cold. I haven't been sick in 5+ years!! Somehow daddy and I have managed to avoid all the colds and viruses. My first time being sick as a parent. Luckily I was only sick for 2 days.

We have continued to see Isaac's surgeon monthly to monitor his pooping. Things have been up and down, up and down. The x-rays have been all over the place.. good, not so good, ehh, lots of stool, ok, excellent, and anywhere in between. Largely in part because of him being sick on and off. It seems like whenever we get a good streak going he gets sick and then it messes everything up. We have had to hold the senna when he gets sick because it has caused some bouts of stomach upset. I didn't want to exasperate the issue with giving him senna on top of a sour stomach. We were having trouble getting him to drink the senna tea. It was getting hard to mix in with a smoothie because it would yield at least 8 oz mixed and trying to get a toddler to drink 8 oz in one sitting rarely happens. And that was causing some back up because he was not getting the full 3 oz dosing of the tea he needed. We decided about a month ago to start the senna medication. He only gets 2.5 ml's (1/2 teaspoon) a day. And it is such a minimal amount it does not throw off the taste of a smoothie or even a little juice. Makes it much easier to get him to drink. I can mix it in with 2 oz of a smoothie and he doesn't even notice. No more stressing about him drinking an 8 oz smoothie. He has tolerated it well. No complaints of stomach pain. Sometimes it can cause cramping for kids but he has seemed pretty solid on it. We haven't experienced any adverse issues. Which makes this easier. I was so concerned about giving him a daily "medication" but actually it has dimished my stress. I know he is pooping (a lot) and that's really what matters.

We continue to take him to the nutritional practitioner. He graduated off the 2 supplements she had him on before. Hooray!! They did their job and now at this point he doesn't need them. She did give us a new supplement called IBD Chord which I will talk about below. When he was in the hospital in January with a viral illness it caused some inflammation in his colon. This supplement helps decrease that and helps get things back to normal. She also had an alternative to using the senna medication which was an herbal supplement in capsule form. Which we were to open the capsule and mix it in with a drink or smoothie. I tried so many different things but because of it's strong herbal properties, I could not mask the taste. Isaac could taste it through anything and would not drink it.  Maybe if in the future he still needs help, we can revisit that option when he is older and understands. I will talk about it briefly below just in case it could help someone else.

I am hoping that the next x-ray will show progress. It is very stressful worrying about your child daily. I am really hoping for better days in the future. Right now we are just taking it day by day. I always remind myself this is just minor in reflection to what other families are dealing with. And for that, we are blessed.

Supplement info:

IBD Chord
IBD-Chord is a distinctive, complex blend of specific homeopathics combined to address the common causal factors behind Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Colon Clear capsules
Colon Clear combines several wildcrafted botanicals traditionally known to alleviate bloating, pressure, occasional constipation, and overall support for normal bowel function.