What should I do?

Question

Immediately after his birth, my nine-month-old son underwent several Gastrografin treatments because of insufficient bowel movements. His ultrasound scan clearly showed that some amount of stool remained in his descending colon, even though he was already excreting „yellow“ stool. His stomach was bloated, he had flatulance and didn´t vomit. The stool colour kept changing (it was first yellow, then brown, then green, then blackish) and so did the stool frequency (once in ten days). The results of stomach scan didn´t show any problems.

When my son was about three months old, his stool became watery and it came several times a day, containing varied amounts of phlegm, black bits and streaks of blood. I started administering probiotics and went on a strictly non-milk diet for 2 months (I breast-feed). There has been no change. We waited for a gastroenterology examination for 5 months but when it came, the doctors only recorded my son´s problems and did blood and stool tests (the results were in norm). We have to wait until May for another consultation. When my son was six months old, we started giving him complementary food but everything came out of his body undigested.

Five weeks later only a part of the food was digested, and now my son digests most of what he eats. I still breast-feed and my son thrives. Since birth he has had some mucus in his airways. When a swab was taken, haemophilus was cultured in his sputum but he wasn´t treated in any way. I´m afraid that he might have CF. Both our paediatrician and gastroenteorologist mentioned the possibility when asked, but neither recommended any futher tests. Can you help me, please?

Answer

Hello,

We understand that you are worried about your son´s health. You are probably afraid that he might have cystic fibrosis, since you mention constipation and a great amount of mucus. CF can be easily ruled out with the help of the so-called sweat test, during which iontophoresis is carried out on a small patch of skin on the forearm. Philocarpine solution is used for this, as it stimulates sweat glands to produce sweat. The sweat is then tested for salt concentration. The test is simple and painless and your son can be treated as an outpatient. However, it is crucial that it be carried out by a laboratory which has relevant experience with this type of testing. You can get an order form for this test from your paediatrician. Should any problems in this respect occur, a specialised CF centre would definitely not refuse your request. We hope that the source of your son´s problems will be discovered and, above all, eliminated.
Dr. J. Brázová

16.11.2011