Sacral Dimple & Encopresis (Constipation)

[quelindo]

My son, now 5.5 yo, was born with a sacral dimple. His ped monitered it and said he was able to see the bottom of the hole when he was a baby, so we didn't have any testing done. Henry has had no problems developmentally -- walks just fine, etc.

Now he has constipation, probably encopresis, where softer poop comes out around the harder poop stuck inside. I know it could just be constipation, but I'm wondering if it could be connected to his sacral dimple. Anyone have any experience with this?

[scsigrl]

The chances of it being a bigger issue is pretty limited as long as the Doc could visualize the bottom of the dimple.  That is what I was told with both my dimple kids.

[grisandole]

My best friend dealt with this issue with her now 8yo. For him, there was an issue and he needed to have spinal surgery.....after seven or so years of being told that there was no connection between his dimple and fatty patch and the encopresis problems. Not saying that to scare you, as it could be nothing, but it doesn't hurt to go to a specialist to check it out.

[quelindo]

Did her son have any other symptoms? I mean, my son has no issues walking or running at all, and I'm just wondering if that rules out a problem with his spine.

[utahmama]

My son has that and was dx with Chiari Malformation I.  He is a very healthy boy, occasionally gets headaches and we noticed some coordination/walking issues when he was around 2 (very minor which he grew out of by 3 1/2), minor speech delay and in hindsight now I can see he had a swallowing problem (baby reflux and would never take a bottle) but that's what he was dx with after an MRI.  We haven't had surgery and he just gets an annual MRI to make sure the Chiari is not worsening.   He still deals with encopresis, which is hard on him and us.  He has accidents when it gets bad.........

Not to scare you, but sacral dimples can be tied to Chiari and/or tethered cord.  Hopefully it's not that, but if it is, it's totally manageable so don't freak out if you google it.

Good luck!

[lookatreestar]

i personally think sacral dimples are connected to bowel issues in general.

has he always had bowel issues?

(my ds and my dn both have dimples)

[quelindo]

No, he hasn't really had bowel issues much. He was late to potty-train, but I think that's more because of his personality. He was dry all night long even when he was in diapers from the time he was about two years old. He did have the same issue last summer for a few weeks, but that was after months of no problems whatsoever. Then after that he was fine for months and months before the problems started again. Part of it may have to do with my having a baby, which he was/is not happy about, and this winter he's hardly had much exercise (or drunk as much water as a result).

But it's always in the back of my mind that the sacral dimple *could* be connected to something...