The story of Elias's stomach- *warning there is lots of talk about poop here

It's a very long story, but I'll try not to leave out any details. When Elias was 6 months old, he received the standard vaccinations. Within two weeks of receiving them, he began to suffer. He spiked a high fever and may have suffered a febrile seizure. I took him to the ER, where they, after much ado about the status of his foreskin, a spinal tap, and many tears on both out part, came to the conclusion that he might have a UTI, and put him on high does antibiotics. Then there was the 2 solid MONTHS of pure liquid feces, and the doctors recommendation that we put him on more antibiotics, different antibiotics, and a painful and traumatic VCUG ("because his urine might be spewing in the wrong direction- to cause the questionable UTI- that is a definite cause for concern because babies this young don't get them, etc."- at least so they tell me). It was a sad and miserable time in this little angel's life.

About 3 months after all of this occurred, my research led me to conclude that there was a strong possibility that this was a vaccine injury. It fit the criteria on the vaccine injury compensation website.

I now believe that the vaccine started the situation, and the antibiotics made it worse (by absolutely destroying his gut flora). I took him back to the doctors repeatedly and was told there was nothing they could do, repeatedly. He was not dehydrating because he was nursing.

We went on with out lives.

Elias's BM continued to be loose, always, and even though I knew it was not the norm, it was not until my daughter began solids and I saw the normal progression of BM from baby style to adult, did I realize just how bad it was. I could count on one had (until last week) the number of BM's that Elias has had that were below a 5.5 or 6 on the bristol scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale). I considered lots of possibilities with regard to the continued BM problems. I also thought maybe breastmilk helped keep his poop soft and that it would get better when he ate more solid foods. (Elias was not very interested in solid foods. At 1 year breastmilk was still 90% of his diet, and when we weaned at 2 and a half year it was still 70%)

As he aged, even though he was still nursing (till 2.5), I started to think there was more. I explored many possibilities, including saliva testing. The test determined that he was soy and dairy intolerant and allergic to plums. It also showed an intestinal parasite. The plums ( in any form) did create an obvious reaction ( a 7+ on the bristol scale- bad!), and we took dairy and soy out of his diet and mine ( since he was still nursing).

It didn't seem to help, so I decided to see if conventional medicine agreed about the parasite. Fecal tests confirmed that there is a parasite in his gut. My family physician consulted with CHKD who told him, and then he me, that this was a common parasite that lives in most people, and most people have no issues with it. I still have no idea what parasite they identified was, as I can not get them to release the record to me (some red tape issues). Medicine had no treatment for me and I had ruined the homeopathics that were sent to me (and was admittedly skeptical about them, and kind of afraid to give my baby something I didn't understand the origins of). I looked at the heritage for a parasite detox, but it didn't have directions for children under 4, suggesting to me that it was not intended for babies (he was 2.5ish). I decided after a while that maybe they were right, the parasite was not the problem (a decision I am questioning again at this moment).

I needed to wean him because my milk supply had dried up due to pregnancy, and nursing had become very painful for me. When I did so, he had been dairy free and soy free for over 2 months, and he had only had a few good BM's. Mostly it was still 5 or more on the bristol scale. I determined that I didn't think it was working, and was very worried about leaving anything out of his diet since he was so self restricting in his diet. He ate very little, some of which was dairy, and I was worried that he would starve. I gave up on the dairy and soy free.

I have considered that his problem is systemic candida, and added probiotics to his diet. It seemed to help at 1st, but then we were back to high bristol again. It was perplexing. I continue to give him the probiotics since we are a family that is very prone to yeast. I have considered the possibility that systemic candida is the root of all his problems.

I recently heard about a doctor who lost his licence to practice medicine for suggesting that research should be done on a connection between the gut and autistic behavior. We have been seeing an increase in some rough behavior lately, and had bouts of it over the years. Another check mark on the gut.

Conversations with Sarabeth, Jackie, Casey, and my sister have all added to my thoughts over the years about all of this. Jackie recently told me that her twins suffered a similar episode at 6 months, and behavioral issues as of late. She also told me that keeping gluten, dairy and soy out of their diets makes thing 100% better. Casey has mentioned the same thing with her daughter.

Jessica has told me so much. Simply considering how much autoimmune issue there is in her family lends itself strongly to a genetic component in OUR family that contributes to these issues. She is diabetic, 3 of her kids are diabetic, 1 has celiac, and two are allergic to dairy, so all 4 have food issues.

Since Elias has been gluten free for 2 weeks, we have seen three 4's on the bristol scale, and a few where part looked like a 4 and part looked like a 5/6. It doesn't seem to be consistent yet, and there may also be a relationship to the oatmeal he has eaten every day for breakfast for a year or 2 now, (because we moved to a treat of gluten free pancakes for breakfast to help him feel better about the transition, and the couple of days we gave him oats instead, were definitely followed by loser stools), but there is something here.

What next? Confirmation? I am not sure I want him to go through the confirmation process, especially since it's not really true confirmation. There is a blood test and a colonoscopy. There is no way I would subject him to a colonoscopy, but I might consider the blood test. He's a sensitive kid though, and even that might not be worth it.