"Tenex"-long term adverse effects on child?

[PoohandPigletsmom]

Hi there:

I am usually on the MS forum, but I am inquiring for my friend. Her son has autism and is 5 yrs old. He was prescribed a drug called "Tenex" by a neurologist due to violent ooutbursts, biting, etc. The parents were not very much in agreement with putting him on meds, but got talked into it (to make a long story short). He was on the med for 3 weeks.

During the 3 wks, he became increasingly agitated and also developed a lot of additionaly, unusual "tics" or "twitching" (?) and has had unstoppable diarrhea. The mom finally stopped the med and said no more. He settled down a bit and although he is still having a lot of screaming, etc (like before), it is not as bad as when he was on the med. He has, however remained with the "tics"/"twitching" and has now had diarrhea for 8 straight weeks. He also has a temp of 99.6, which according to his mom is NOT normal for him.

They took him to the neuro, who told them to get him to stop drinking apple juice and give him more fiber (and offered a different drug, which they declined). By the way, that did not slow down the diarrhea. They took him to the primary doc's offc, where (at mom & dad's suggestion, and quite begrudgingly) they took a stool sample. However Doctor was on vacay and they only saw the P.A. The sample was only tested for C. Difficile and came back negative for that. They were also told that the kid's temp was of no concern because it's summer and that's his temp because it's hot out. Well, this kid is in A/C cooled house all day and nite! ~and mom says that his temp is NOT usually 99.6!!

They went back today. Doc is still not there, P.A. said maybe he should see a G.I. doc, and that maybe the Tenex is taking a long time to clear his system (??). Made no effort to refer to G.I. (!!!!)

I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this med or had any similar experiences? I will also post on the Autism and Medication boards... I'm so worried about this little guy. I love this family very much and I know he's gotta be feeling awful. I can't imagine having a sick tummy like that for every day for 8 weeks!!!!!

Any help or advice I can pass along to his parents would be very appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

xoxoxoxo

M

[Zonulin]

Hi -

My son had projectile vomiting and diarrhea on and off since he was a baby - it was only after we put him on a gluten-free diet that his stools had a "shape." He received the gluten from my breast milk (since I was eating a ton of it) and rarely slept, was colic-y, etc. Doctors always said "must be some kind of virus" for the episodes when he became so dehydrated that he had to be hospitalized. Terrible terrible. Tenex sounds like major bad news: http://www.4therapy.com/consumer/medications/item.php?uniqueid=124&categoryid=69 It sounds as though the mom needs to insist on an Antigliadin IgG Antibody test to see whether her son is producing antibodies to gluten (and whether those antibodies fall within normal parameters). Gluten can cause severe debilitating diarrhea!!!! Believe me, I KNOW! Also some malabsorption could be going on, which could be causing mental issues (no nutrients getting to brain/body = subsequent problems mentally and physically). More lab tests need to be done to find out why this is going on...once some type of "mental illness" label is put on someone, doctors nearly always start prescribing psych drug after psych drug until they find something that "works." It's all guesswork!!!! And is really unconscionable.

Karen