Encopresis
Concerned Grandma for soon to be high school boy with encopresis and divorced parents.
My grandson has had soiling since he was 6 years old and continues to do so. His parents are divorced and so do not see eye to eye on different methods to treatment that have been tried with no real results to stop the problem. He will be entering high school in Sept. and the kids at school are talking about his odor, and he doesn't want to go to school. They have had a few doctors who are not familiar with encopresis and tried several attempts, but they do not specialize in it and this has become very fustrating to the parents. We need help, and would like to know if you can recommend a doctor here Hartford, Connecticut that specializes in this field to help this child. My heart breaks for him because he really doesn't know he has done it and is even to the point where he doesn't smell it anymore. Its like someone wearing deodorant, after a while the scent is the same. Whatever you can do to help us, I would appreciate. The parents are not into reading about it and want to make contact with a specialist. The doctors that have been giving it a try are not knowledgeable about this problem, its a hit or miss with them. PLEASE HELP.
Beverly—You are asking for a referral to a Pediatric Gastoenterologist (PedGI) in the Hartford area for your grandson who will be entering high school in September. I keep a list of possible referral sources at www.encopresis.com, but have trouble getting additional referrals on to that website. Nothing is listed for the Hartford area. Any readers here are welcome to suggest resources that I can add to the encopresis.com site so that I can update it. Sadly the presence of two divorced parents on different pages do not predict well for a positive outcome. The stress of encopresis may even have contributed to a divorce. Getting the parents on the same page might be helped by a manual that they could share or have separate copies to follow. There were no published detailed manuals for parents in treating encopresis until I prepared the Clean Kid Manual (CKM) in 1998 and started up www.soilingsolutions.com. The parents cannot expect magic from the current practices of the PedGI community. The docs are pretty stuck on “maintenance therapy” and uselessly repeating, “He will grow out of it.” They offer no real solutions. There is no relevant surgery or medication. A more aggressive approach in a home-based program is necessary. The parents will have to do the scut work themselves in their respective homes or give one parent the permission to do the major intervention in one household. The child’s age is also an issue because he will have to be cooperative and have to do the self-administration of suppositories and enemas that the SS program requires. He may be ready for a solution and the specific, definitive steps in the CKM may offer him hope after years of failure. The parents are going to have to come to terms with an agreement that is in the best interest of their child. Consistency and mutual parental support is absolutely critical, this is no time for sabotage or undercutting the other. The presence and support of the parents on the SS Parents’ forum will also be critical. Grandma Beverly may have a special role to play with encouraging her grandson to comply with the SS protocol. Many of the SS parents have children of his age who are very happy at having halted soiling issues within 2 weeks if there is complete compliance with the protocol. All of the adults and the child should read the manual(s). Sorry to be so “bottom-line” and brusque, but we are talking of your grandson’s future here. I will send you an attachment of my medical journal article and editorials about it which will take 20 or so years to permeate into general medical practice. Keep reading the Q & A below and you will gain further insight.
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