Almost 3 weeks ago my 15 yr old was involved in a car accident. Even though the car was totalled, all the occupants came away mainly with scapes & bruises (that's our big miracle of our summer). My son needed some stitches where his glasses dug into his eyebrow, other than that, he suffered some whiplash to his back and bruising to his abdomen from where his lap-seatbelt had been.

About 4 days later, we had to take our son to emerg because of severe stomach pain. The dr poked around the stomach area and felt that it was just nerves from having come through the trauma of the accident. He gave our son some Zantac and then sent us home with a prescription for more. For the rest of the night, my son writhed on the floor in pain and continually wretched his way through to daylight. Finally, and 7:30 am, I did my own examinations & found that the appendix area was where the real pain was (the dr hadn't even tried poking that area). Returning back to emerg, the new dr took things a little more seriously (I guess being bent-over, ghastly pale, & wretching helped to draw their attention). She ordered bloodwork & xray. Nothing showed. They called the surgeon & he ordered my kid to be transferred to another hospital for CT scan & ultrasound. Being drugged with Gravol & Demoral, my son was taken via ambulance. After the tests were all done, nothing could be diagnosed other than internal bruising from the seat belt. After a 2 day stay in the hospital, he was discharged & we all expected a speedy recovery from there.

Things were going fine until this past Friday ...the pain returned with a vengence & so did the vomiting. With this being the Civic Holiday weekend the only thing open was emerg & I wasn't interested in more Zantac. With finally being successful in keeping pain killers down (after 5 attempts), I was able to ask my son a bunch of questions ...what have you all eaten lately, when was your last BM, how much have you been drinking. Info was vague but there was no question that this kid was constipated. I also looked into a medical encyclopedia I have and the symptoms sounded like Spasdic Bowel. For the next 24 hr I attempted to get this kid loosened up. Oatmeal porridge with raisins & cooking bran added, LOTS of liquids, a dose of Metimucil later on in the day, more liquids, by nightfall I even resorted to a bit of Exlax (I never used this stuff before ...in my desparation, I remembered that I had a small sample pkg in my 'junk drawer'). The rest of the night consisted of more writhing and wretching again. By morning, my son finally passed a little 'rock'. Occasionally throughout the day he passed more 'rocks', then by nightfall things started to show that the stool softeners had taken effect. With the aid of Gravol, my son was able to put in a whole night's sleep, but by 7:30 am the pain & wretching started again. This time he was able to keep down pain killers on first attempt. He eventually was able to eat some breakfast (oatmeal with added cooking bran). I gave him one dose of Metamucil later on in the day and then made him drink like a madman all day. He was able to keep down a couple soft boiled eggs for both lunch & supper. Tonight, he's more comfortable, yet (upon going to bed he told me this) he was only able to produce one little 'rock' again for a bowel movement. I gave him some Gravol when he went to bed to help him relax so he could sleep.

With all the information I've read, it appears my son may have developed a spastic bowel as a result of his accident. Could that be possible? The surgeon won't be in his office until Tues. morning for me to take my son in for a reassessment. Could anyone offer me some enlightenment or educated questions that I could pass on to this surgeon? It would be nice to get to the bottom of my son's problems. Do you have any other suggestions for me to consider while we wait for Tuesday morning to come (to see the dr)? Foods? Proceedures? (I realize this forum is not a medical cure-all organization, but there sure are excellant ideas that come up that have been as much or more practical than what medical science has come up with.) All your input is appreciated!