Child’s prolapse. Can any doctors comment?

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I wonder if there are any doctors or nurses who can offer any advice or comforting words.
I can’t sleep.
My 8 year old developed a sudden rectal prolapse last week on the toilet. Now it happens with every bowel movement. There is also mild bleeding associated with fissure and pain under the right rib cage each time.

We were told this was not an A+E case.
Doctor thinks it’s caused by straining and will just correct itself and showed me how to “put it back” which I am so uncomfortable with. Usually it goes back alone thankfully.

My child is distressed every toilet trip.

My GP is contacting the rectal surgeon about this and I have to await a letter telling me what , if anything, happens next.

Reading online tells me at this age, it’s rare.

It tells me prognosis is ominous. My child is due to go on holiday with friends and I doubt it can happen now.

What is going to happen? We or on laxative medication but so far consistency of stools aren’t making a difference to the prolapse happening after a bowel movement.

It feels as if doctors are taking a very relaxed approach. I am left at home with an upset child who is so embarrassed and very upset every time it happens or is mentioned. I have to just push it up if it won’t go back itself.. I feel out of my depth and unsupported.

Has anyone been through this?

Praying there are no sinister reasons that this could have occurred so suddenly.

I can’t sleep

Basically, *some" people with hypermobility can have less elastic connective tissue. That can be the same on the inside as on the outside. So the walls of the rectum, being pushed down by the straining, don't have as much of a spring back impulse to oppose the pressure downwards. Hope that makes sense.

Thank you all for reassuring me.
No change here really but will have a few more things to discuss at the next appointment. Hoping it’s not too far away.

@FishesThatFly
That all sounds familiar.. also flat feet and hyper flexible child here.. unsure about low muscle tone or what that involves though

Hi I am hoping I can get some update update from you on this. my 8.5 year old had a minimal prolapse 10 days ago so I have put him on miralax as he had a bit off on an on constopation due to traveling last month... seems to do better on miralax but I am petrified as I was through this when he was 4.5 during putty training and he had constopation then too(he easily gets constopated) after seeing so many GI and ped surgeon, they all said his is very minimal and because it just goes back in and small he has high chance of out growing it, so we did miralax for 6 months then switched to magnisum for about a year and then cut down on that and just good diet of vegtable fruit prune etc and I monitor every time and he was good for a week short of 3 years, till we did some raod traveling where he was probably not able to empty his bowl well and following week noticing he is back up and notice it is started to peak again after 3 years, so back on softener to get the stool soft and no straining. but I am sure of what is his chances of outgrowing this or if there is underlying cause, we have ruled out CF, I do not see any obvious history or hypermobility to point to EDS and have done an MRI which was ok...
wondering how things turned out for you

Hi I Hope you do not mind me reaching out to you, my son at 5.5 during putty training experienced minimal prolapse where it peaked and went back in when he stop pushing...did bunch of test xray, MRI, blood test for CF and all seemed ok, we did not do coloscopy as it did not happen when changing diet and stool softener keeping stool soft. it did nt happen for 2.5 years old but last month few times off an on constopation and maybe straining and noticed he had a relapse, contacted GI and hey seem to be laid back as again with softener and diet seems to not happen and the hope is he will outgrow. i do worry beyond i can describe as I know from some adult support group that this can be a bad chronic issue in adult, i am wondering how old was the one person you know when they experienced it and at what age it stopped to ever happen? i appreciate any info you can provide that may help me gain some hope. thanks

My daughter had bowel issues - also hypermobile. They think hypermobility is linked to IBS now - the muscles in the digestive track don’t work as well.
Sorry I don’t have prolapse experience but you mentioned hypermobility and meltdowns - wondering if your son also has infant reflexes that have not gone dormant. Children with hypermobility sometimes adequately go through the different physical stages that trigger brain development and this can result in some hyper sensitive behaviour traits. Worth googling infant reflexes not going dormant.

thank you for your reply. what are symptoms of hypermotility, I know he is not flexible or had a hard time doing split during his karate classes earlier this year... these are some of the symptoms I know as i have heard, or he does not have long hands or long face etc, he did have a fine heart echo two years ago when we though he may have a heart murmur which was false and he did not. I do worry of EDS just because of prolapse but EDS does not run in our family either. have not had any experience with injury yet. any other symptoms I should watch for related to this? thanks

we done CF test negative, spine MRI and Celiac blood test all ok. I just hope this will pass without it being any thing serious but I have not had one day that i do not worry about what this could mean for his future I will do my best with diet and hopefully wearing him off miralax but I worry it may come back, as I have heard kids that experience this before 5 have a higher chance of outgrowing it vs older age (he is 8.5 ):(

I've just found this thread.

@needprayers how is he getting on?

DD (6) has recently started having a rectal prolapse (RP) again after several years without. At the time, we tried a toilet seat, a 2-step stool and trying to discourage straining and toilet sitting for too long. All that and a toilet seat helped vs. a potty. She is hypermobile but no CF.

Have found @nocoolnamesleft's replies here especially helpful, thank you!

I rang the GP today to discuss other toilet issues and have agreed DD will try Movicol for possible impaction. DD didn't tell me the RP had been happening again regularly until after this phone call. I haven't phoned them again yet and was nervous about whether addressing the impaction/constipation will solve the prolapse. (hard to identify because there are little soft, bad smelling bits still getting through. She's going/weeing too more frequently though.).

I'm nervous to try Movicol and about the idea of her being on it a long time. But hoping it will help and glad she'll start it at home rather than when back at school.

Can I encourage you to try natural alternatives to all these chemical ways of softening poo?

There are lots out there... one of the nicest is linseed - you can buy it with different flavours added in health food shops and just sprinkle it on cereal or yogurt. Another is Psyllium husk, though that is less tasty. Oatbran and oats are also great for bulking and softening stools.

Do do talk to your local health food shop - try them yourself and see the effects. Great to find a natural healthy way of doing this

I just use linseed whenever I need to use something

Not medically qualified OP but I do have personal experience of this. I have a condition called Ehlers Danlos, this causes hypermpbolity that affects various things (everything in my case) including the digestive system. I developed rectal and bladder prolapse (mild to medium) as a child, symptoms as you describe.

Am 33 now and obviously it causes some discomfort and issues toileting but it is workable and causes no real pain. I have also had biofeedback therapy with a specialist physio for the bladder and bowel, dietitian consult to support an appropriate diet that prevents constipation and use an irrigation system (rarely) if I have any issues with incomplete evacuation, or medication if needed.

Surgery wise I was told no while I was still growing, no before I'd had children and then simply no because I have hyper mobility so am not a candidate for successful surgery. It is not always a given, or needed/appropriate.

There are a surprising number of non surgical ways to manage this. Firstly diet and fixing constipation which will make a huge difference, but specialist physio also can work wonders, as these are muscles, they can be strengthened or relaxed as required with appropriate exercises. Proper toileting can also be taught- eg 'squat potty' and applying strain in beneficial ways vs damaging ones, applying fingers as a support and so on.

Obviously he is young so the approach will be presumably slow and all non invasive areas tackled first. Hoping you get some answers.

We are going through this now with DD who is 6.

She had several episodes of RP from when she was 1 until 3. Because it was idiopathic, we never tried using laxatives / management etc. We were recommended surgery, which we agreed to. When she had surgery (banding), it was successful for 3 years. The surgery experience was incredibly stressful, awful and traumatising. I'm glad she was so young and hopefully remembers none of it.

She had another episode recently when she was wretching and screaming on the toilet whilst ill. I guess this caused enough pressure for it to happen. I don't understand the randomness though, it isn't the only time she has been sick or distressed. Perhaps it was the perfect storm.

Since the surgery we have found out that she has Mitral Valve Prolapse. She also has hypermobility so we are suspecting it is relating to EDS (hEDS?) somehow but we don't have a diagnosis.

How are you and your DD getting on @HelloMist ?

@dontgobaconmyheart Thank you for your post. It's really helpful to hear how things have turned out over the long-term for you, and interesting to read about your hypermobility.

@Fundoo sorry to hear of the worry and stress you've both gone through.

Dd is doing ok, thank you for asking. We stopped using laxatives for her a few months ago after continuing at a maintenance dose then gradually reducing. It's less of a worry now but I try to keep an eye on whether she's gone a few days without a BM (or they look hard) and get her to drink more water and eat things that might help if so. Don't want her to fall back into problems again.

The 2 bowel related charities have helplines and were quite supportive if you need some advice. (British Bowel and Bladder charity and ERIC).

Hi is the prolapse resolved on own or surgery was done?my 5 yr girl is suferring ...doc do say surgery but m waiting as m very scared of surgery ..3plzzz reply

Plz reply guys if any1 reading this msg..prolapse in children resolves on its own or surgery was required plz share ur lil 1s experience..

@Jancar I can’t advise but just want to say we are in the boat with our 11 year old. She has had a rectal prolapse for two years now. Finally had her appointment to see the paediatric surgeon yesterday who stated that he would not operate on it. He stated it should sort itself out once she grows a bit more as a teenager and everything become less stretchy 😳 He basically said years ago surgeons used to think oh here’s a problem let’s fix it and he said now that is not the route they take 😳 I honestly don’t know how I feel about my daughter struggling with this for a few more years yet and I really hope it does go like he says 😫

Hi dear thanks a lot for the reply..hope ur daughter is good..my girl is 6 yrs old now..just turned.daily prolapse is occuring..dont know wat to do ..doc i showd so many doc some said its hemmorohoid some said its polyp n some rectal prolapse..so stresed to heard n go through this..but all said surgery which i cant say yes to ..she had got diarrhea wen she was 4 ..that time doc dint tell me the correct way to handle it n m also waa not aware of it..doea it look like strawbery but purplish black in colour plz share as doc confused me ..m still confused wat it is ..no pain bleeding sometimes lil..goes back in byitself