AIBU to think faecal impaction should be easily diagnosed by the NHS?

[medicalmisdiagnosis]

Have been following a thread on AIBU about a DD wetting herself. Several of the responses are from parents whose DCs have experienced misdiagnosis of faecal impaction by GPs or paediatricians. We have also had a dreadful experience of misdiagnosis resulting in my DC being in constant pain for years and being bullied and called stinky at school and having the other parents asking for DCs removal from school for reasons of hygiene.

Surely professionals should be able to follow the comprehensive NICE guidelines and the map of medicine website in order to carry out all the necessary assessments to ensure it is promptly diagnosed. 95% of children with soiling problems have this condition according to NHS research and it is also a very common cause of wetting so it would be reasonable to rule it out before concluding that the problem is due to behaviour or abuse.

Are you the Poo Troll?

In my experience, doctors are very poor at diagnosing anything now.

and, in fact, our CAMHS department - 'specialist nurse' and 'child psychologist' honestly believed that adhd simply involves running around a lot

They must obtain their qualifications through christmas crackers

Siamonellamerda - My life has revolved around poo for the whole of my DCs 7 years of pain so my sense of humour for comments about trolling poo is non existent when I continue to see so many children suffering in the way my DC suffered due to total incompetence from the NHS.

I would just like to prevent anyone else going through what we and many others went through and raise awareness to ensure it is correctly diagnosed in future. Be thankful you have not had a life revolving around medical professionals - well I presume you havent from this unsympatheic remark.

I thought the same as Siamonella.

If you wanted to talk about it you'd go on the health boards plus poo makes me laugh

But it's horrible having to see your DC suffer, thanks for sharing.

Your poor DC. DS1 had an acute faecal impaction last summer and it was really scary. For a child to be in so much pain and so exhausted is traumatic for any parent to see. It was the consultant who finally diagnosed it, with three paediatric registrars he saw at the hospital and the GP unwilling to admit that was what it was until he started on Movicol and was better after two doses.

And to go through all that at school too...

I had my appendix out 21 years ago because they told me I had appendicitis. They only diagnosed acute fecal impaction when they opened me up and saw it. Once you have suffered with it, you are more likely to have it again, so now I go in and tell them I believe I have fecal impaction, can they please check and medicate to deal with it. Been hospitalised several times now, mostly during pregnancy, for the same.

I find the more simple something is, the less likely they are to spot it. It's as if they have no common sense. They're just not trained as well in diagnosing these days.

Poo funny , faecal impaction not funny , especially when it reaches the point where you start to vomit faecal matter or the only place for the liquid to go otherwise is to run down your leg in any public place.
For any parent worried about this possibility , keep a stool chart , check the Bristol stool form scale out , and give it to the Doctors , they really should know this shit , pardon the pun

Agentzigzag - I dont want to talk about it I want to raise awareness and I understood that this is the board with the most traffic. If parents think it is behavioural not medical problem they wont be on the health board.

If anyone has a better suggestion to raise awareness on MN or elsewhere to prevent other DCs suffering please advise.

if faecal loading causes bowel obstruction (which is very uncommon as it is usually just symptoms of constipation )then it will be easily diagnosed and treated.
Sometimes it isn't picked up on as parents aren't aware of their childs bowel habits once they become independent.
Prevention is better than cure.. fresh fruit and veg, good hydration and spotting a problem well before it gets anywhere near the painful stage.

itsaheartache - are you a medical professional? Please can you explain how it is easily diagnosed if ther is an obstruction?

My DC had faecal incontinence and soiling many times a day but never strained to pass stools as the blockage was so huge the only stools that could pass around it were almost liquid. Sorry if TMI.

'Poo funny , faecal impaction not funny'

Definately.

It was the faecal title and friday night combo.

How is your DC doing now OP?

I have a young relative who suffered very badly with this. It is not a laughing matter at all, and it's very unkind to disbelieve and joke about a serious OP.

I hope your DC is much better now you have a diagnosis. Regular medication has made my relative much better, but it was very painful and embarrassing for them.

there are some really nasty responses on this thread - those posters should be ashamed of themselves.

'Nasty'?

'Ashamed'?

Don't be so inflammatory cornsilxsxy.

I don't see how that's more inflammatory than unnecessarily pointing out that a child's medical problems amuse you.

I've never heard of this so thank you for posting it here, I would never have seen it otherwise.

Or you Forie, honestly, making out I'm sat here chuckling at her DCs pain

Don't be ridiculous.

medicalmisdiagnosis I just wanted to let you know that you have raised the awareness of at least one person. I had only sort of heard about this condition before and now thanks to you I know more. Wikipedia and google helped too though

I'm fairly new round here and maybe it is breaking the "rules" But I don't really mind when people use AIBU to raise awareness.

Having said that, I wouldn't want every AIBU thread to be about worthy causes. That would.... BU.....

Could someone in the know tell me, if there's a faecal impaction, could the child ever do solid poo's or would they always be runny? Also is there always pain?

I do understand the condition, and it's awful- I've been told that it could take my dd2 eighteen months for her distended bowel to shrink back to normal and develop some control. Anyway, I shan't go into detail, as this isn't in Chat and will be archived. But parents should press for a referral to the continence service if they suspect an issue with their children, as they do know their stuff, as do the consultant paediatricians, IME. I agree that awareness should be raised among GPs, but if you can get referred on quickly, the NHS is excellent at providing support.

This thread was not the place to announce how funny poo is. Time and a place. I think they're showing Beavis and Butthead on cable tonight though.

OneNostril- solid poos can still happen, yes.

Thanks LeBOF