Health & Spirit Forum » Pediatric acupuncture cases

Irritability and loose stools

(6 posts)

  1. JenniB
    Member

    I have a question about my daughter Naomi. I had given her the modified xiao chai hu tang/ dang gui yin zi for about 8 weeks for the LPF. The lymph nodes did seem to soften a bit. She was definitely in a better mood and her stools were very well formed when she was on the formula. I stopped giving her the herbs about a month ago. Almost immediately after stopping the herbs she starting having very sticky, unformed stools on a daily basis. There is also quite a bit of undigested food. Her stools were looser before she was on the xiao chai hu tang, but not this smooshy. They often have quite a strong odor. Her appetite has also really gone down. She has always had an excellent appetite but after we stopped the herbs, it has gradually gotten worse and worse and she will now sometimes take only a few bites and be done. Also, she is very fussy since she stopped the formula - lots of tantrums and wakes up very grumpy somedays! She has also had ringworm and what looked like very mild athlete's foot - I treated both with the Blue Poppy antifungal ointment with great results. I am not sure if I should go ahead and start up the xiao chai hu tang again or consider something else. Any imput would be very appreciated.

    In gratitude,

    Jennifer

    Posted 1 year ago #

  2. soma
    Facilitator

    Well it seems to me that Naomi still needs Xiao Chai Hu Tang for a while. However, it is important to support her Spleen. Instead of combining it with Dang gui Yin Zi, you could give her Shen Ling Bai Zhu San instead. That should take care of her appetite and the loose stools. As her mood gets better, slowly decrease the Xiao Chai Hu tang. Make sure she also receives shonishin regularly.
    Keep me in touch of the progress.
    All the best,

    Soma.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  3. JenniB
    Member

    I wanted to give a quick update on Naomi. She has been on the herbs for 5 days. Her irritability has improved a great deal and she seems a lot happier. Unfortunately, I have not seen a change in her bowels. They are still loose with undigested food and a very strong odor. There were a couple of bm's the past few days that were actually more liquidy. She usually has about 2 bm's a day.

    It is interesting to note that her swollen nodes appeared after her bout with cradle cap as a baby. Cradle cap has a yeast/fungal component to it and she has recently had ringworm and what appeared to be a mild fungal infection on her toes. Do you think the loose bowels and irritability are due to the LPF being expelled? Do you think I should add heat clearing herbs to the shen ling bai zhu san or try something else? Her energy has been fine but she has not been sleeping as well since I started the new herbs - not for naps or at night. She has always seemed to overheat quite easily but now is seems more pronounced. Her head has been sweating at night and she gets flushed cheeks if in the heat for more than 10-15 minutes.

    Thank you so much for your time
    Jennifer

    Posted 1 year ago #

  4. soma
    Facilitator

    Hi Jennifer.
    Yes, this is the action of Xiao Chai Hu tang expelling LPF, yeast/fungi in the case of Naomi. If her diarrhea gets really smelly, you can use Jake Fratkin's intestinal fungus formula (from Golden Flower Chinese Herbs) for a few days. Of course stop the other herbs during that time and resume again after. You may also want to give her some children probiotic.
    Let us know what happens.
    Thanks,
    Soma.

    Posted 1 year ago #

  5. JenniB
    Member

    I wanted to give another update on Naomi and her loose stools. The stools are still loose with undigested food! I did end up giving her the intestinal fungus formula but she was not able to handle it and had gas, bloating and irritability. I ended up given her Blue Poppy's pediatric Bao he wan for a few days which helped quite a bit with the irritability and improved her appetite. About 3 weeks ago, I started her up on the shen ling bai zhu san again with a little bit of huang lian added. Her stools were formed with no odor for about 2 weeks on the herbs and then all of a sudden back to loose stools although not much undigested food and not quite as smelly. I had only been giving her 1/4 gram of the herbs 2X day because any more than that and she would have a a hard time getting to sleep and was restless at night. I am giving her liquid probiotics for about a week and a half and she has been very energetic and happy since but no change in stools. Any suggestions? I know she is allergic to eggs and tomatos but maybe there is something I'm missing. She doesn't eat gluten, dairy, soy, corn or sugar.

    Thanks for all your help!

    Jennifer

    Posted 11 months ago #

  6. soma
    Facilitator

    Hi Jennifer,
    Nice to hear from Naomi again. There must have been some reason why Naomi's stools suddenly became loose again. If there was no change in her diet or lifestyle or emotional well being, then the only thing I can think of is that her Spleen Qi needs more boosting. You might try adding Xiao Jian Zhong tang with Shen Ling Bai zhu san and leave out the Huang Lian for now, unless the stools get smelly again. She might be able to sleep better with Bai Shao (white peony) in the formula and take a higher dosage of the herbs. Whenever she gets more irritable or gassy, just do Bao He wan for a few days. And after a fever or infection, make sure she takes Xiao Chai Hu Tang for a few days.
    Hopefully her Spleen will get stronger in time and she'll overcome her sensitivities.
    Keep us posted!
    Warm regards,
    Soma

    Posted 11 months ago #

RSS feed for this topic

Reply

You must log in to post.