I read your post with great interest. Ugh...I can only hope that my kid won't have to endure what you've gone through.

As of now, things seem quite stable as far as the spastic bowel thing is concerned. However, as I read how you downed Maalox / Mylanta, I couldn't help think about how much this son needs something for his stomach too. On our last visit to the surgeon, I brought it to his attention how often my son needs Tums to settle his stomach ache. This had gone on well before the accident (+1 year prior) & things were not getting any better. I explained to the surge how I had gone to our family GP regarding my son's stomach problems & how the GP finally said "I think the problem is more that mom is a little more concerned than what is necessary about the situation" . I was ready to slap the doctor's face! How dare he verbalize such an unprofessional statement! The problem we have here in our part of Canada is that the shortage of doctors has hit a critical point, and, if you have a doctor, there's no way anyone else will take you on just because you want to change ...there's not enough doctors to go around. So here we are with a 'fat-head' of a GP, and my kid is still not getting over his stomach problems. The surgeon sent us home with some samples of Pantoloc ...I'm sure it's just another brand of Zantac ...saying to take one before going to bed at night. Great ...another dr not willing to find out what the root cause is.

My son has gone through a lot of stomach aches before & after the accident. It has occasionally kept him home from school in the mornings (he needed to get some sleep since he had been up most of the previous night with stomach aches). I have countlessly thought that one of these days this kid is going to end up with an ulcer.

...Then you sent me you post!

I have an appointment with a complementary dr next week. I had been thinking about asking him how I can help my son with this situation. Here again, this fella is so busy that I had tried for 1-1/2 years to get on his waiting list, & last Nov, I called again pleading for the dr to be willing to look at my health situation. The secretary called me back a few days later and said the dr was willing to put me on the waiting list, and in Feb I got a call, saying I could come in April. Amazing! So, with the dr being insanely busy like that, I can only hope that as I present my son's problem to him, he might have the compassion & time to look at him, run a bunch of tests on him, and attempt to find the root cause of my son's problems.

I hope you don't mind that I keep your post & email address in a reference file to have available if someday I feel I need some input on things should my son start showing more symptoms similar to what you have described. I will definitely keep my eyes open to possibility of Crohn's symptoms ....my husband has a cousin who suffers from that -things like that could possibly run in the family. This cousin has also kept his symptoms well under control by following a strick diet. I don't know exactly all that the diet entails, but he has said that "if God didn't make it, I can't eat it" ...and with this diet, he's been able to lead a pretty normal life.

Thanx for sharing your information with me. I too have rambled on so you will have to excuse me as well. I'm sorry you had to endure so much pain in your life. I can only hope that you will continue to enjoy good health with your cautious eating habits & lifestyle. Good luck!