When Your Child Can't "Go"

Yesterday I had one of the most frightening moments of my life.
E had been sick the night before - I'd assumed she'd eaten too much or caught a flu bug going around, so I brushed it off. Then, yesterday morning, I woke her up to get her ready for school. She had seemed like she felt better - playing with the puppy in her bed, smiling, and laughing (as she does). She headed back to get dressed and I went to get her clothes. I heard her in the bathroom, retching and my heart sank. I hate when my kids are sick - my heart just breaks for them. So I went in and helped her, then decided to help her back to bed - there was no way she was going to school. When we got to the door between the living room and the dining room, she stopped. I heard the scared tremor in her voice as she cried out "mama I can't SEE!" I ran to her and looked at her face. Her color had gone from her usually pale pink to an ashy grey-green. And her eyes, in a fully lit room, were completely dilated. My heart racing, I quickly helped her sit in a chair and called my mom, in a panic. She rushed over and we planned to take E to the ER in the next town over.

As time went on, she looked better and acted like she felt better, so we decided to take her to her pediatrician rather than sitting for hours in the ER.

Then, something dawned on me. E had been constipated (severely) the week before. We had done a clean out routine that involved Miralax and a suppository, and she had gone, but I didn't know how much (she wouldn't let me look). As it was, she hadn't gone to the bathroom since. Apparently, the clean out we did did not take and she wasn't completely cleaned out.

So WHY did it not work? We're talking 17 capfuls of Miralax in a pitcher of water and a suppository. And it wasn't until the suppository that she actually went.

According to our pediatrician, when some people digest their food, their bodies remove TOO MUCH water, causing what's left over to become too dry. This puts them into a continuous cycle of constipation. And not much can help with it. Miralax will, for a while, but once their bodies get used to it or they come off it, the cycle begins again.

FINALLY we're beginning to get some answers.
This explains EVERYTHING.

We have had issues with this since E was 3 years old. Now I know why.
The constipation was so bad that it caused Emily to get sick (this has happened before).

So what now?

Well for this initial clean out we have been told to use drastic measures after which we will be doing an unconventional treatment - suppository therapy.

We're praying this finally works for E. It's time for this cycle to end.