Aibu to just want my daughter not to be in pain?

[Feelingsolost1]

Hi, im looking for some help, my daughter is 7, and has been in a lot of pain in her lower left side of her abdomen. It came on out the blue last Sunday night and has got worse. We have visited the hospital twice and the doctor twice. They have taken bloods but couldn't see an issue. Her tummy hurts when being pressed, urine seems clear. No heavy lifting, not muscle pull or anything. I'm honestly at a loss, pain medication doesn't do much, doctor is going to check which bloods were taken and call me after lunchtime. She's passing poo and wind. This pain leaves her crying, doubled over. Any ideas?? Thanks

I don't give her ibuprofen unless she's had something to line her stomach before, and with the doctors advice, as long as I'm not giving more than the recommended 3 doses a day, she will be fine

I remember being in pain for a while after. Partly to do with there being a lot that needed shifting and also partly because my inners were fairly distressed by it all.

Fuming at the discharge letter though. That's appalling.

OK, @OhLookHeKickedTheBall that makes sense yes, I guess her insides must be a bit sore and stressed.

Yes me too, although I feel pretty proud of myself for being able to stand up to the consultant in hospital and also to stand up and fight my corner in regards to the discharge letter, never knew I had it in me 🤣

You lot are brilliant x

Yes, DS is often in pain after a big bowel movement.
Sorry to put it crudely, but IME we know when DD has finally cleared an impaction because he blocks the toilet.... One bowel movement may well not be the end of it.
DS is currently 6 months past his last impaction and still on 2 sachets of Movicol a day, and I'm expecting that to go on for several months more yet, based on past episodes.

DS, rather

Precocious puberty? Any chance her clothes are too tight? I get horrendous tummy cramp if my clothes are too tight (even when they don't look too tight!!).

Umm, have you read the thread?

I have been following your thread. My daughter has had similar pain over the years and then started getting overflow leaking age 5.. We waited almost a year, but now see a specialist continence team. It's transformed things with movicol and sodium picosulphate liquid. We didn't have to do a full disimpaction , but many do. If you are on Facebook and are considering a disimpaction see movicol mummies. We now use dulcosoft instead of movicol as my daughter didn't manage to take it it well (salty taste)

Also this video is just brilliant at explaining it all.
www.thepoonurses.uk/

Keep going with the movicol. So often people stop as soon as a few poos- but haven't cleared it and after a few days end up stuck again.

Think of her bowel like a stocking- stretches and returns to shape. Normally it stretches as poo goes through then goes back to normal. With long term/ impaction it has been building up , not moving, and stretching the bowel immensely without going back to normal size. You are going to have a lot to clear. 'New' poo is lighter in colour,'old' poo is hard, dark/black. You've got to clear it out of all the nooks and crannies its squished into in the overstretched bowel. You need to get to water/ clear liquid to know its all out. On7-12 sachets a day that can take 5-10 days. You should then expect to be on a maintenance dose for ages ( years for us). You will need to be in there checking her poo a lot- bristol stool chart-- so you can increase/tweak daily dose to keep things moving through so her bowel can resize.

I suggest you get a referral to your community bladder/bowel /constipation clinic- usually nurse led. They will help you manage/monitor- and you can call for advice. Google the details and call them to see whether you can self refer or need GP to

@Feelingsolost1 how is she tonight? Have you heard anything from your letter?

Evening @Orchidflower1 DD is feeling, hmmm, maybe the slightest bit more settled. She's been up and down. Managed to pass another stool today. I spoke with our doctor today in regards to the letter, I made sure she knew I was extremely upset by how it was worded and the way we came across as one big pain in the bum! But in regards to hearing anything back from the hospital, no.
Thanks for popping by to see how she is x

The poo nurses are brilliant.
Watch the video and follow their advice to the letter.

That video is brilliant. It's a really tough thing for parents and kids to go through but hope she's feeling much better soon OP, just keep up with the sachets - the advice in the video is bang on regarding impaction and how long it can take to clear.

I'm back! Sent DD back to school yesterday after 2 weeks off, ended up having to go in half way through and give her medicine because she was in pain. Sent her in again today as she seemed OK, but she's been sent home. She's passing stool every day, but she's still in quite a bit of pain, colour drains from her, I've called the docs, waiting on a call back but I'm just absolutely clueless! I don't know what to do next, I feel like all avenues have been looked at..

It does just take ages for their bowel to get back to normal. I remember DD being pale and sometimes dark circles under her eyes +tummy pains for months when it all started for her.

But things will get better but in months rather than weeks. Often people stop the laxatives too soon and just end up back at square one. Keep the laxatives going daily and watch out for foods which may aggravate things - for us it was always 'party food' so probably the mix of excitement and artificial colours! I would only ease back on the laxatives if going 3 per day or totally liquid otherwise keep maintenance dose going.

In the mean time I found hot water bottle was a good soother and Calpol of course when feeling particularly sore.

The advice from ERIC is that you have to continue the treatment for at least as long as the problem has existed. Sometimes twice as long, sometimes for years.
As pp have said, stopping treatment too soon is very common. Unfortunately it usually results in going back to square one.

Just passing stool everyday is not clearing an impaction- that is why she is still in discomforting. you need to be basically aiming for diarrhoea for a week to the point it is all out and just water coming out to fully clear it out. When we've done disimpaction we take a week off, 8-12 sachets a day and stay in because the volume of stool that cones out is astonishing. Had to do a couple of times because we didn't give high enough maintenance dose and got backed up again over a period of months. We took years to get back to normal because the bowel had stretched so much.

Get onto Your community constipation clinic, GPs really aren't best for managing chronic constipation in my experience.

I've got no advice just wanted to say how sorry I am that she is still suffering. I do hope things start to improve.

I am still giving her her movicol daily, I don't know where I have stated that I've stopped her medicine. What was concerning me is that DD began to get better, then quickly went back to being in agony again. Doctor now seems to think it may be stomach migraines.. And that I've just to book a follow up app in a few weeks. DD has been on both Paracetamol and ibuprofen for 2.5 weeks straight now. That can't be right? I'm feeling stressed out by it all.

OP, have you rung the ERIC help line?
Maybe talking to them would be helpful.

I would second talking to ERIC. If it was me I think I'd be wanting a further scan to see if the blockage has actually cleared. Maybe worth another call with the GP to ask for one? At least then you would know whether you need to keep up very high levels of movicol or start moving towards a maintenance dose.

I was also going to suggest talking to ERIC.

@Feelingsolost1 how are things now? Would a tonic of some description help to boost her generally - something like minadex?