I have a son who will turn one next week who has been congested since birth. He has had a few 'wheezing' episodes - one of which resulted in his being admitted to the hospital for three days. Basically, he sounds like he has a chest cold all the time. Now, he is on a Flovent puffer once a day and it seems to help. However, he also has been having very large bowel movements - often they have a sand type substance in it. I brought it to our family drs attention a few weeks ago but he didn't seem concerned. We don't know this dr well, we just moved to this city in March. Anyway, my son has about 3-4 large bms everyday. One of my friends cautiously mentioned CF. She said I should ask the dr directly about having him tested. He isn't underweight, although he's quite short (10 %tile). I have two older daughters who are very healthy. I also don't know of any CF in the family so is it even possible? I will be taking my son the dr next week.Thanks for any input or suggestions!
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- Thread starter anonymous
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I am not sure if it is CF, but it is a possibility. We had no family history of CF either, as I think many people if not most do not have a history. I think it is great that you are looking for answers to your sons problem because doctors do not always know. I was diagnosed late in life and docs blamed my problems on everything from allergies to lactose intolerance. You may have to push pretty hard to get the doc to do the sweat test because it seems like a lot of docs would rather not do the test. If your son gets a sweat test make sure he goes to a CF center because they have the highest rate of accuracy and you mine as well get it done right the first time. The test is painless although its sort of time consuming, but it was a sinch. Let us know how things go with your son.
The main thing about the large bowel movements is....are they formed? People with CF who have digestive probs..have bowel movements that float ...not formed..and kinda greasy looking...not dark colored. There was also no family history of CF in my family...on either side....unfortunately...is how it usually happens. I agree with the other post...if you want him tested for CF....go to a CF center. If you need help finding one...go to www.cff.org...they have centers listed. Good Luck!Dea
Hi,The problems your son is having could be CF. My daughter had pretty normal looking poops until she was about 6 months old when her respiratory problems kicked in it seems that her digestive issues came up too. when she was born her pancreas was functioning but as she got bigger it became clogged/blocked by the mucus, that is when she started with the greasy, runny poops. He may be having normal looking bowel movements but still have CF. Some with Cf have no bowel symptoms at all. Does your son taste salty? give him a kiss and lick your lips. do his fingers and toes prune up in the tub quicker than you would expect? These things are common in Cf too. (the pruning is something the doc's never mention but most of the peple with CF or parents that I have spoken to notice this too) There are lots of things that can point to CF. If you think that it is a real possibility, have him tested at a CF center. We had no family history of CF either, but remember that mortality rates in our grandparents days and earlier were higher for infants and children and people often died of "pneumonia" or bad lungs when it could have been CF...........Good Luck, I hope it isn't CF.Andrea
It is good that you are exploring all possibilities. Cystic Fibrosis being one of those. Hopefully your child will not have CF.Two unscientific tests you can do at home are:1- See if his fingers/ toes wrinkle quickly when you give baths. (Usually in 2-3 minutes) If they wrinkle quickly , this MAY be a sign of CF.2- If your stomach can take it... take a poopy diaper and turn it over a toliet and allow the poop to fall in the commode. If the poop floats and you see a greasy film on the water, that too could be a sign.Like I said, these are unscientific and donot make a diagnosis. Best wishesDon P
Thank you so much for your replies. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> And for the information and suggestions. I just have a gut feeling that something isn't right and I just need to find out what's up. Of course, I'm really, really hoping that it's something else. But you know the saying "Better the devil you know". It's hard to know how to help him until we can find out what and if there is anything wrong.I live in Canada and I just heard that they may do routine newborn screening for CF but I need to find out for sure. Does anybody know?Thanks again for taking the time to help me (and my little guy). I will keep you posted.Heather
I live in Canada as well, and no, they do not perform newborn screening. CF is a difficult thing for Doctors to pick up on, once they suspect CF the tests to determine are readily available (sweat test, genetic test), however getting the Doctor to check for it is the difficult part. It took 6 months and 2 pediatricians and my wife constantly saying "something is not right" for my son to be finally diagnosed. There are CF Centres in every province, in Ontario (where I live) there is one in Toronto (Sick Kids), Hamilton (McMaster), and London (Western). I do not think they will see you without a referral from your family Doc, which is typically only made after a positive sweat test comes back. As such, I would push your family Doc for a sweat test.It could be a number of things, or hopefully nothing, however with young children the only way to find out is to start ruling things out (process of elimination). My advice would be to rule out CF.
I live in Canada as well. Our pediatrician had our daughter admitted to the hospital saying that something was wrong and one of the tests to be done was a sweat test. She was admitted for failure to thrive. We too kept insisting there was something wrong, and she had no respiratory symptoms at that time. It may be hard to get a sweat test if there is no history in the family but keep insisting. Keep changing pediatricians if you have to, until one agrees to test. Peace of mind might be all you need. If you live in Quebec the 2 hospitals are Montreal Children's Hospital (mostly English) and Ste. Justine's (mostly French). Good luck!