Bowel cleansing

Yes, you read right – if the subject disgusts you, please feel free to not read this post!!   Poop-talk is very common in our household.   God designed our bodies to eliminate it, so I have no problems talking about it.   But if you have a problem reading about it, you might want to stop yourself now! 

I’ll begin with a bit of background information – My youngest, Jonah, has had many issues with his digestive system ever since he was a baby.  He’s been to see dozens of doctors and hospitals, been on prescription strength laxatives, gone through many bottles of supplements, been on many a diet, and he is still having issues.  In the last couple of years, his moods (which in the past we had always attributed to pain from his constipation) have gotten more intense – very giddy highs, bursts of extreme anger and bouts of depression that drove me to my knees in prayer for him.  He’s been seeing a therapist and a psychiatrist to help with this.  One doctor thought his moods were related to his digestive issues.  Another diagnosed him as bipolar and yet another said that he has an “extreme mood disorder”, whatever that means.  Many of the doctors are just clueless as to how to help him.  Scott and I tend to still think that at least some of his mood disorder is actually caused by problems in his gut.

Now, for a quick aside, my oldest son, Jaden, was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome two years ago.   He has had the opposite problem with his digestive system, which I understand is common among those that have AS.  When Jaden has to go, he has to go NOW.  Not in five minutes… but right now, so I’d better get him to a toilet quickly if we’re in public!   We’ve had to make quite a few mad dashes through the grocery store!  He goes many times throughout the day and it is not what I would call firm.

So, as I’ve continued in my research on how to help my children’s overall health, I keep running across information on detox diets or bowel cleanses of all sorts.  I’ve seen the pictures of what folks claim have, well, come out.  I’ve read plenty of testimonies on how certain illnesses were cured, etc.  But I was still at least somewhat skeptical.  Plus I hadn’t found any diet or system that looked okay to use on children.  And then a couple of weeks ago, I found myself once again thinking about a bowel detox for Jonah.  What if ALL of his mood issues are related to his digestive system?  What if a simple cleanse would be “the answer?”  Wouldn’t it at least be worth a try?

Then, I found an organic, herbal bowel detox program online that looked really promising, and it would only take 5 days to complete.   Dr. Schulze’s Intestinal Formulas – #1 and #2.  Some of the ingredients are senna leaf, oregon grape root, ginger root, garlic, psyllium seed, bentonite clay, marshmallow root, activated willow charcoal, and slippery elm bark.  It’s a really good combination of herbs that would work well together to get Jonah’s sluggish colon moving and get rid of any toxins that were stuck in there.  The 5-day-bowel-detox comes in a quantity for one adult and you simply cut the amount of pills in half for a child that is Jonah’s age (7).  So, I went ahead and ordered it and decided to put Jaden and Jonah on it at the same time.

They began their bowel detox on Sunday.  They are each swallowing a total of 28 pills per day.  All safe.  All herbal.  And amazingly, they have been happy to do it!  And at day 3, I have to say that we have all been amazed by the results so far.  Both boys have had some shockingly disgusting amounts of poop come out of them.  Even Jonah, who usually poops only once every other day, has literally filled up the toilet several times today alone!  There have been tar-like clumps joined together with thin strings of who knows what.  Just like in the photos on-line.  And no – I have not and will not take any pictures.  If you really want to see what it looks like for yourself, look here on another good site for cleansing for some examples.  This 5 day detox definitely works well.  Really well.  I definitely do not agree with all of the content on Dr. Schulze’s website, but if you or anyone you know if having digestive issues, I highly recommend this program.

I don’t know how all of this will effect Jonah’s moods long-term, but it’s definitely helping for now.  He has been much more even-keeled since starting the detox so we are hopeful!  I’ll write a follow-up blog after the end of the week to let you know how both boys are doing.  And as one more aside – Scott and I have been so impressed with the effectiveness of this product that we ordered some for ourselves this morning!