We may be on to something here...

So a quick update on my "Cooper Theory."  

(I know, you are so thrilled to visit my blog only to have to read about poop.... yet again.  Believe me, I'm tired of it too.  Such is my life right now.)

Especially recently, I have felt VERY strongly that we are not on the right track, at all.  After being absolutely weighed down with exhaustion, frustration, and despair with this whole thing, I sat down to search the internet for the 8,000th time for anything about chronic diarrhea.  This is nothing new for me.  But for some reason this time, I came across a message board where a mother mentioned her toddler having Cooper's same type of situation, and after more than a year of struggling, her child was diagnosed with a type of sucrose intolerance.  It had a long, fancy name, but basically you can't break down and digest SUGAR properly.  So I googled that long, fancy name and my jaw just dropped.  Here's some of the things that sounded hauntingly familiar:

• diarrhea, bloating, cramping
• no weight loss or loss of appetite
• typically begins at 1 yr of age
• often misdiagnosed as food allergies - ding ding ding!
• these children have also been diagnosed with esophagitis (which is essentially what they diagnosed him with so far!!!)

Now, of course this is all just a bunch of similarity, not a guarantee.  Even still, it was pretty suspicious to me!  As a way to experiment, but not knowing all the rules of this disease, I tried to stop giving him all forms of sugar that I was aware of.  That does not just mean candy and junk food.  (He was not having anything like that in the first place.)  This means sugar as any ingredient, fruits, milks, and even some starches.  Since he is already so restricted, I still gave him some starches, but cut them back, and cut out ALL fruit and/or juice.  The results have been immediate, and nothing short of SHOCK AND AWE.

Typical day for Cooper:  3-4 messy diapers before lunch.  All liquid-y diarrhea.

Results of no-sucrose experiment:

Day 1 - 1 typical messy diaper after breakfast.  That was it!  Just one!?

Day 2 - 1 typical and 1 MUCH THICKER than normal.

Day 3 - 2 typical in the morning and 1 nearly solid (*!@#$%!?%$#@!) in the afternoon

Day 4 - 2 nearly solid, many hours apart

Day 5 - 2 "perfect" poops

Call me crazy - but this is amazing!  Just 5 days and he's pretty much back to normal.  I talked to the GI doctor's office on day 2, and they told me that his colonoscopy results tested negative for this condition.  So I may not have hit the nail on the head, but I'm definitely in the ball park!!!!!!!!!!  I can't even tell you, I feel like someone just took an elephant off my back.    

Because of my prodding, the doctors are also going to send his esophagus biopsy slides for a 2nd review at a different hospital.  That's a second opinion without having to repeat the procedure!  Wahoo!  I'm supposed to hear back from them by Tuesday.  If we hear that this esophagitis stuff was a mistake, then I will scream from the rooftops.  (Go ahead and listen, I'll really do it!)  That would mean no more allergy-free diet, and no more expensive medications!  No more fancy formula!!!  But I'm not counting on anything like that just yet.

Since talking to the doctors, and after a few more days of success with the experiment, I got BACK on the internet for time #8001, and I found another similar intolerance.  This one is called fructose malabsorbtion.  It's the same idea (and same symptoms) as the sucrose, but a little more narrowed to certain fruits and their sugars.  THIS is my vote for our winner.  We shall see!?!?