Need advice ASAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Sydnee]

My brother and his wife have a 3 year old son whom they did NOT circumsize, they are very much against it. However, he has had numerous infections, and now it sounds like they will be circumsizing him. They are desparate for ANY advice on how to not go through with this, but also are frustrated at him getting so many infections. Any advice?

[alegna]

What kind of infections? UTI? Or foreskin? How have they treated? How are they manifesting themselves?

-Angela

[mama_at_home]

Well my advice right now is for them to not allow him to be circumcised under any circumstance. American docters are very eager to circumcise in order to "fix" problems. I am sure others will have some good insight into how to treat infections but in the mean time they should ignore the dr and leave him intact.

[AntoninBeGonin]

Has any doctor ever bothered to take a culture swab of the infection and had it analyzed by the lab? Often infections are just the same infection over and over that never got cured in the first place.

Neosporin is something to not use. It can irritate the area.

Do they know proper care of the foreskin? A lot of well-meaning parents know to leave their sons intact, but still rely on the old erroneous advice of pushing back and cleaning under the foreskin.

~Nay

[MommytoB]

Advice & question
What is the talk of 'recurring infection could you 'describe it' ? Because alot of cut happy doctor misdiagnose certain things & claim them to be infection wise like a reddish foreskin could be similiar like diaper rash, congential phimosis could be changed to pathlogical phimosis by the areas of 3 & younger when doctors have belief that foreskin is supposed to 'retract at a very early age by their standards & if not they may end up claiming the boy has pathlogical phimosis caused by balantitis which true phimosis can not be dx til nineteen. Redness & swollen could be considered an bacterial which in reality could be yeast & antibiotics increase yeast . Yeast can be cured the same way a girl gets her yeast infection cure.


No pulling back 'foreskin' to clean on glans
No soap just do warm water in bath with a lil tea tree oil
Avoid neosporion
Drink Cranberry Juice -the natural one
Do a 'swab culture-no need to retract for that all they have to do is 'swab the overhang area' the test should be ready within 24-48 hrs.
Is the child eating any new foods ? What's his diet contain ?
Has he been 'bagged or cathed for getting a urine culture ?

If he truly has some Urinary tract or kidney problems I would say a U/S would do the trick to see if their is kidney abnormalities or a urinary obstruction .

[mamaverdi]

They need to get a second and third opinion. My own son has had 13 UTIs ranging from moderate to severe to sepsis. No one has ever suggested taking off his foreskin to fix the problem. I can't vouch for my ped urologist that he's foreskin-friendly, but there are some at least that have some sense, mine among them.

It is not commonly known that there are mild genetic defects that can cause multiple infections. Also metabolic issues can lead to reactions with certain medications that can lead to infection.

Does the child appear to have any other health problems or strange/mysterious medical issues?

[+stella+]

they need to get other opinions especially because of how upset they will be when they do that to him and it doesnt help his infections. i imagine they left him intact for a reason and to put your child through a surgery requring general anthestia to find it did no good would be difficult. i imagine

[dynamohumm6]

They need to keep looking until they find a doctor that will offer another treatment option. If a baby girl got recurring infections (yeast, UTI, anything in the genital region) no doctor would ever recommend amputating part of her labia. A baby boy should be treated exactly the same.

Like another poster said, has a doctor bothered to take cultures to find out what's going on? Is there a possible allergy that's affecting him? Are they retracting him to clean him?

[glongley]

I asked Dr. Fleiss about "recurrent infections" at the NOCIRC SYmposium recently. He is of the opinion that it is primarily a "body ecology" kind of thing, i.e. imbalance due to too much sugar in the diet, exposure to irritating chemicals, dehydration, antibiotic use. You can read the basics on the things that can cause inflammation in the NOCIRC pamphlet on care of the intact penis. http://www.nocirc.org/publish/4pam.pdf
Besides correcting the obvious irritants, he also mentioned acidophilus locally or internally, and baking soda baths.

I have heard of a few other friends whose boys had recurrenet foreskin inflammations, or even recurrent UTIs, who had success in breaking the cycle by using alternative medicine, like Chinese herbs or homeopathy. Maybe this little guy needs his system built up a bit to help stave off the inflammations.

Don't forget, sometimes the foreskin can get a bit inflamed each time a part of the foreskin separates underneath, because of the exposure of fresh new tissue. This should only be transitory.

Doctors Opposing Circumcision also has a page on "recurrent infections."
http://www.doctorsopposingcircumcisi...recurrent.html

Gillian

PS. I thought i had posted this yesterday, but it doesn't seem to have shown up, so my apologies if later on it does and this is posted twice.

[enstar780]

I doubt that circumcision would be necessary to treat an infection. I think the foreskin is improperly blamed for UTIs when really, they have nothing at all to do with it. Did they ever do a culture to find out exactly what kind of infection it is? Oftentimes, swelling of the foreskin or glans can be mistaken for infection when there is none there. Often these conditions can be remedied by simply avoided using harsh soaps and chemicals in baths. Ive heard a soap like dove is less harsh.

The parents and doctor should also be aware of proper care of the intact penis:

http://www.cirp.org/library/normal/aap/
http://www.fathermag.com/health/boy-care/boy-care.shtml
http://www.mothering.com/articles/ne...uncircson.html
http://www.circumstitions.com/Care.html

I would also suggest that they insist that a non invasive way to treat this is found by the doctor, or find a doctor who will not circumcise.

Often times. in a recurrent infection, it is the same infection that was not killed off the first time around. It may be important to make sure this is being treated properly by the physician, cultured, right antibiotics used, etc.

Not using neosporin, and the baking soda baths, and acidophilus are good suggestions.
Actually it is probably best to go with a probiotic with a spectrum of organisms, such as Multidophilus 12 by Solaray, acidophilus isnt the only one. After the antibiotics have been given, the bacteria, including the beneficial bacteria in the body would have been depleated so it is important to recolonise them. The child likely has a low immune system, and perhaps something of this sort could be helped with some complementary treatments, such as herbs, acupuncture, chinese medicine, naturopath/holistic medicine, etc.

I am actually surprised how little information there is on the internet about non invasive treatments for infections and other genital issues, in order to provide an alternative to resolving these issues besides circumcision. If we want to make sure that people avoid circumcision they need to make sure that the information is out there on proper care and extensive lists of remedies and treatments to treat UTI. I have read some of Fliess's articles but it really doesn't give a whole lot of information. It was said he recommended Baking soda baths and acidophilus. Why isnt this in his articles? Also, perhaps should be discussed are what are the different infectious organisms and what are the appropriate antibiotics that can best be used to treat each one. Really an article is needed to lay out extensively the treatments needed to avoid this desire to circumcise.

These articles are not only to show the parents what and what not to do, but also for the parents to bring to the doctor to make them aware of treatments they may have not even been aware of. Often the doctors dont even know that there are non-invasive treatments and that circumcision is unnecessary, they may not been trained how to treat things like this non invasively. Parents often have to bring in information such as this educate the doctors since even they at times do not know that certian options are avialable.


Here are some websites with suggestions on some complementary herbal treatments that may be beneficial

http://nc.essortment.com/utiherbalrem_rbxa.htm
http://www.womenshealthchannel.com/u...reatment.shtml
http://www.deliciouslivingmag.com/he...tentID=1283006
http://www.umm.edu/altmed/ConsCondit...inWomencc.html
http://www.mothernature.com/Library/...cfm/id/1283006

Notice that cranberry may be a good option but, it should be used in moderation. It partly works by acidifying the childs urine, which can help prevent UTI, but also we probably do not want to give too much to over-acidify the childs system. Also, avoid cranberry juice with sugar or other additives. When I eat cranberry, I often eat just the raw berry, or frozen, rather than a juice.

For instance, some physicians seem to indicate too much acidifying foods might be harmful. Here is some information on this:

http://www.liferesearchuniversal.com/acid.html

The childs urine can also be tested to determine his urine pH to see where it is.

There is a lot of frightening advise on the mainstream websites about how to treat certian conditions with circumcision. This really needs to be countered with articles from doctors on how these conditions can be treated without circumcision.

For instance, take a look at this frightening article:


http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic51.htm

" * Patients presenting with balanitis but without phimosis should receive the following recommendations and treatment:

o Retract the foreskin daily and soak in warm water to clean penis and foreskin. "

We know that infants foreskins should not be retracted, this is really asking for trouble. and :

" * Patients presenting to the ED with phimosis as a complication of balanitis should receive the following care:

o Without damaging the glans penis, dilate the foreskin using a clamp. If the glans penis is adherent to the foreskin, the procedure may be contraindicated. Local anesthesia, analgesia, and/or sedation may be required.

o Perform a dorsal slit incision by cutting the foreskin over the dorsal shaft of the penis to enlarge the foreskin opening. This procedure requires local anesthesia and, possibly, sedation.

o Perform a formal circumcision (preferably in the operating room).
"

Obviously, if this is to be avoided, there needs to be an extensive discussion on the alternatives to these draconian treatments and how to apply them by physicians who know better.


I lot of websites with information on UTI seem to be geared at women, as if they seem to be ignoring or avoiding educating the public that non invasive techniques can be used with men. It seems there is much effort directed at women to treat UTI non invasively, but when it comes to men and boys, it seems the reaction always is "lets cut off parts of his penis!!!". We dont propose cutting off parts a girls vulva if she gets an infection, even if it is severe and recurring. Why would we then try to impose such mutilations on boys. The these things can be managed in boys just as easily as they can be in girls without cutting off parts of the body.

[Yulia_R]

I really don't have an advice about infections, but I just wanted to say that foreskin isn't the one to be blamed for them!
I'm from Russia, where circ is basically unheard of and none of the kids I knew or moms I talked to had ever ANY problems because of this! I think blaming foreskin for infections is a complete and total nonsense!

[DocsNemesis]

I totally agree with what everyone else has said. If the parents are taking care of the foreskin properly (ie not pulling it back, using iritants, etc) and he is still getting repeated infections, then they should do a culture in order to prescribe the RIGHT antibiotics. I also hate to say it, but perhaps they are not finishing the antibiotics they are being prescribed? I know so many parents that do that. Regardless, doing a circ will more than likely not help the situation. I know at least two kids who were circ'd because of recurrant infections and they STILL get constant infections. Their foreskins obviously had nothing to do with it....I also know plenty of cut guys who still get UTI's and the like on a regular basis.
On a side note, my baby girl has been getting recurrant infections down there-a combo of yeast and bacterial-and it seems to be triggered by cows milk for some reason. I dont know if it is an allergy or if it just puts her body out of balance. Anyway, I would suggest they try an elimination diet if nothing else has worked. We are keeping our dd off of dairy for now and her cooch seems to be clearing nicely. Good thing she isnt a boy, or they would have been talking circumcision (not that I would do it!).

[enstar780]

Yes, I agree. Recommending circumcision to treat UTIs is spurious. It is ineffective and unnecessary. A possible change in diet, the identification of possible allergens, are good suggestions. With girls we find ways to help them with this without amputating body parts. Boys deserve the same treatment and respect for their body. I think UTIs are just another excuse to circumcise, not a rational treatment for this.

[MCatLvrMom2A&X]

#1 if it is foreskin infection it needs to be cultured to be treated properly 90% of the time the dr will just prescribe broad spectrum antibiotics and the infection just keep coming back. If it is UTI then his foreskin has NOTHING to do with that at all. How have they been caring for his foreskin any retraction? has the dr been allowed to retract him? if so then this is prolly the problem and people need to keep there hands off.

Any further information you can provide would help with us giving advice.

[Sydnee]

WOW! Thanks mamas! I am going to give all this info to them right away. I know they are just beside themselves at the thought of circ'ing. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[grisandole]

What type of infections? UTI? There are many ways to cure/prevent most "infections". I'm a big fan of cranberry for UTI's, it works for me and the kiddos.....even though sugared cranberry juice isn't ideal, I have found that it does help; I've given Craisins to ds2, as well as cranberry capsules, as the juice is too bitter for him.

It's also important to drink lots of water and not "hold in" the urine......

I'm also a big fan of probiotics, if he isn't on one he should be, they help pretty much everything, and there are many brands for kids that taste yummy.


His parents should research the cause of the infections and ways to prevent them, as cutting off the foreskin isn't a solution, or a cause.

[paminmi]

I would definitely recommend probiotics. This is what I use: http://www.culturelle.com/

It can be given to children, just open the capsule and mix into food or liquids.

In addition, don't know where your family lives but there is a wonderful intactivist pediatritian where I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Even though I highly recommend a trip to my part of the country (the fall colors are beautiful here )If they can't or don't want to travel this doctor will do phone consults and I don't even think he charges.

PM me if you would like his number.