chronic constipation - Autism Spectrum Message Board

sharealways · 06-11-2007, 01:04 AM

My son used to go poop every week once and now by increasing his fiber intake he goes every 3 days (hopefully). He is on a GFCF diet that contains mostly of Pacific Rice Milk, Corn Flakes (GF), finger chips.

We have been trying to get him potty trained but because he has got into this habit of holding it back .. he does not what to sit on the potty.

Any suggestions on getting him to get out of this problem?

Thank you so much..

TM1 · 08-19-2007, 04:16 AM

I think one theory is gluten and casein breakdown into into smaller peptides that have an opiate like action on the digestive system. Which is primarily constipation. His GFCF
diet should have corrected the problem. The theory is fairly quacky anyway. If it was the case then treating him with
Naltrexone (opioid receptor antagonist) would counter the
constipation.

I think I saw one current study that is looking into the carbohydrates in wheat as perhaps a negative factor for
autistics but no telling what it will demonstrate but suggest
some researcher does not buy into gluten causing problems in autistics.

2000airedale · 09-05-2007, 10:26 AM

A lot of kids on the spectrum also have muscle tone issues which can contribute to constipation. If your son had physical developmental delays, that can be one sign of such a problem, which a neurologist is best at detecting. My daughter and occasionally my son both take a small amount of GlycoLax in some juice when this becomes an issue. I am not sure as to whether it is GFCF, but I suspect so, as many children on special diets use it. I was told to keep my children on GlycoLax (also called Miralax) until they were potty-trained, as retention can lead to a real aversion to using the potty. Good luck.

Cynthia