lab tests and enuresis

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-16-2003
lab tests and enuresis
8
Mon, 03-19-2007 - 4:16pm

Hi, Lurker here with a question re: lab tests. I went to a regional ASD conference recently where the presenter highly recommended 2 lab tests be done to rule out high strep B levels. Apparently they can be the cause of really bad tantrums??? One test was for ASO (antistreptolysin O) and the other was something like anti-D-Nase, but I cannot find anything about this latter test so I'm not even sure if I wrote it down correctly. Anyone ever heard of these tests to help rule out the causes of severe meltdowns?

Now that I'm here, I should probably ask the experts (YOU all!!) about another issue. DS has had a minimum of 3 enuretic events daily, plus at night, for the past year. Seen by his PCP twice last yr who tried a "sitting plan" but after a week DS refuses to do it. Teachers now believe that he really is not aware of the enuresis. As I'm sure you can imagine, it is hard enough trying to help him make/maintain friends, much less when he wets his pants a few times a day too. He does not understand why he needs to change his clothes and the meltdowns are constant re: this issue. Any suggestions? Is this uncommon? I have an appt. with an Enuretic Clinic at Children's hospital in a couple of months but I really hope he doesn't refuse to go to the appt when the time comes.

Thanks so much for being here.

Kathy

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 03-19-2007 - 5:28pm

Very very common.

Try giving him probiotics (acidolpholus, etc) and digestive enzymes. Both are very natural and occur in the body and with all the preservatives in todays food our body just doesn't produce like it should. It is often worse for ASD kids who have a tendancy toward digestive issues and poor eating.

Have you seen the commercials about the yogurt to help your digestive system? That is just probiotics in there. It is in all good yogurts (ie not the overly processed ones, if it says live active cultures that is probiotics). You can give it really cheap as a supplement and there are even yummy chewable ones.

As for digestive enzymes, you can sprinkle that on his food and he won't even know he is taking it! Gotta love that. I get the capsules and sprinkle it in the cooked food just before I serve. You will have to play with it some, most of the time you don't even see it, others you may so you may have to hide it a bit. I never taste it in the food though.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Mon, 03-19-2007 - 6:40pm
Just a question. I know that the probiotics and digestive enzymes help with encopresis (bowels), but do they also help with enuresis (bladder)?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 03-19-2007 - 9:33pm

Dang you are right. I was thinking encorporesus.

However, It did help but often for us with one child enuresis was the first thing that happened before the encorporesus. USually it was the first sign of constipation. It also helps overall with our ASD kiddos to have good digestion with all that stuff.

My son did have enuresis as well until probably about 8 or so. It was a 2 fold thing. 1 was sensory. He just didn't feel the need to go and I swear the other had to do with something with sugar. The kid acted very much like a diabetic and one thing was constant urination (and often wetting himself). It hasn't been a problem since we changed his diet and took out almost all processed sugars, flours, etc.

Renee

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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-11-2003
Tue, 03-20-2007 - 8:46am

I'd say they could help with wetting. Probiotics help restore the balance of good bacteria in your entire body, not just the digestive tract.

For your question about the lab tests I'd ask on the autism-mercury list. I'm sure someone, or many, people there could answer that question for you. The link is http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Autism-Mercury/

Samantha

Samantha
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-16-2003
Tue, 03-20-2007 - 10:01am

Thanks to all who responded. I am grateful that I can count on others who have the knowledge I need, or may be in the same boat as I.

Kathy

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-07-2003
Tue, 03-20-2007 - 1:03pm

Good point. Dd has enuresis as well as encopresis -- actually they're saying she has a bowel dysmotility -- and her enuresis is always worse when her bowels are worse. Even tho' the docs agree that they're tied together, no one has been able to provide us solutions yet.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-19-2005
Tue, 03-20-2007 - 2:11pm

I just wanted to chime and say our situation was much like Renee described. Our son had wetting problems which preceded our realizing he had serious constipation issues. Once we went to a GI he told us the bowel issue was impacting the wetting. For us, once we got the constipation cleared up, the wetting stopped.

For Eric, he would only realized the urge to pee when it was REALLLLLY strong, like, almost or actually too late. He would want to be changed etc. Then he had a terrible time at night. But like I said, once the bowel issue settled, the wetting did too.

Now, it has taken a good year to get the bowels on track. But that's another story. For us a combination of timed, required "potty sits," probiotics, digestive enzymes, lots of fluids, and a mild laxative did the trick. Now he goes 2x a day, but we still have to really monitor his regularity and stay on top of it.

What a fun topic! And I do think it is very, very common with our kids, both bladder and bowel issues.

Katherine

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-13-2007
Tue, 03-20-2007 - 3:24pm

My AS son is only four but he's still in pullups. We've been "training" him for almost two years now! It has been incredibly frustrating because we just couldn't understand why he couldn't feel it coming, or even respond after an accident. (And he's the only kid in JK in pullups.) He's only been recently diagnosed but since then a behaviour therapist (BT) has been helping with some advice on training. The most helpful thing is knowing that many AS/ASD kids have trouble with sensation and that we can't wait for him to feel it or say that he's ready, we have to habit train. Basically we've been charting all urine and bowel activity for weeks to get a sense of when the accidents occur, and putting him on the toilet every 45 minutes or even more often around key accidents. That and some over-the-top rewards have already resulted in more progress in two weeks than the past two years. He's now dry and actually having BMs in the toilet on occasion! The BT is going to send some "social stories" that talk about/reinforce the whole experience. This may not be relevant to an older child with night accidents, but if there were some key times to try and go, combined with big rewards and reinforcement through stories, maybe that would help???

Lis.