Hirschsprung’s disease is a disease of the large intestine. Your large intestine is also sometimes called the colon. The word bowel can refer to your large and small intestines.

Hirschsprung’s disease involves an enlargement of your colon due to bowel obstruction resulting from an aganglionic section of bowel (the normal enteric nerves are absent) that starts at your anus and progresses upwards. The length of bowel that is affected varies but seldom stretches for more than a foot or so.

Hirschsprung’s disease causes constipation. This means that bowel movements are difficult. Some children with this disease cannot have bowel movements at all. The stool creates a blockage in their intestine.

Hirschsprung’s disease is known by other names. It is also called congenital aganglionic megacolon, aganglionosis and congenital aganglionosis.

Hirschsprung’s disease occurs in one in every 5,000 babies born n the United States. It is responsible for one-fourth of intestinal obstructions in newborns. Hirschsprung’s disease is five times more common in boys than girls and sometimes occurs with other congenital conditions such as Down syndrome.

The effects caused by Hirschsprung’s disease may vary with the severity of the condition. Sometimes they show up right after a baby is born. At other times they may not be evident until a baby becomes a teenager or adult.

In newborns, some of the effects include:

• Diarrhea
• Constipation or gas that can make a newborn fussy
• Failure to pass stool within the first or second day of life
• Vomiting that includes vomiting a green liquid called bile. This is a digestive fluid that is produced in the liver.

With older children, effects include:

• Lack of gaining weight
• A swollen abdomen
• Infections in the colon, especially in newborns or extremely young children that may include enterocolitis. This is a serious infection with vomiting, diarrhea, fever and sometimes a dangerous expanding (dilation) of the colon.
• Problems absorbing nutrients that lead to diarrhea, weight loss or both, and slowed or delayed growth.

In older children and adults, the effects can be:

• A low number of red blood cells (anemia) because blood is lost in the stool
• Chronic constipation.

Your child with disability may have Hirschsprung’s disease. This may be the cause of their disability.

You may have tried to get financial help for your child with disability by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because of the disability caused by Hirschsprung’s disease and/or other disabling conditions along with it. Was your child with disability denied?

If you are thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration, there is something that you should know. People who are represented by a knowledgeable disability attorney like the one at SocialSecurityHome.com are approved more often than those people who are without a lawyer.

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