To go back to GP when essentially they’ve told me there’s nothing they can do

[Lampadusa]

Sorry if this is long. My five year old DD has always been very healthy and apart from the usual colds and coughs has never really been ill. 8 days ago she came home from school saying she had a tummy ache. By bedtime she was crying and rolling around with it so I called 111 for advice and a few hours later a clinician called back. He felt it was probably constipation and gave advice, and said if it was still bad in the morning to see the GP. She had a bowel movement that night.

I took her in and the GP took a urine sample, she didn’t really discuss any other possible cause for the pain but just said to wait for the test result and we’d see then.

Daytime wasn’t too bad, didn’t complain of pain as much

We had another night of crying in pain, I spoke to the surgery again and she was seen again. Urine result had come back clear. They said they couldn’t see anything obvious so just monitor her. Better in the day time again.

Fourth night of crying in pain, doubled up, wanting cold things on her tummy, wanting to lie on cold kitchen floor tiles, standing in front of the fan. Eventually went back to sleep, better again in the day

Fifth night crying and screaming in pain, inconsolable, we drove to A&E. ED doctor dipped urine, found leukocytes and blood (despite clear lab test that the surgery took) and prescribed 3 day course of trimethoprim for UTI and movicol sachets. Better again in day, opened bowels. Hopeful at this point that this and antibiotics would make the difference.

Night 6, slightly better, woke up with tummy ache but quickly went back to sleep. Pretty good in day.

Night 7 bad night again, crying in pain, rolling around, wanting cold on her tummy again. Called GP again in day, went in again, doctor basically said there’s nothing wrong, it’s just functional bowel pain, quite common, not much you can do. Keep taking movicol, bowels open.

Night 8 awake for two hours with pain

Night 9 (tonight) she has just woken up again rolling around crying saying it hurts, it hurts.

What can I do? Is there anything else I should be asking for? Any tests? If there’s nothing else that can be done then is this just life for her now? Disturbed sleep and pain every night and no sleep for us either? Because she’s a lot better in the day I’m not sure that the doctors understand how bad it is when it’s bad. I just don’t know what to do at this point.

Thanks so much everyone, we’re out now, the paediatric consultant was very sure it is constipation and wants us to keep giving movicol and keep a poo diary. He said if we can get her poo really soft within a week or so and the pain goes then that’s good, and if the poo is soft but the pain is still there to go back. He didn’t feel an ultrasound or x ray were necessary. I have bought some ovex too. I wrote down all the things you all suggested and went through them one by one with the doctor. So I guess we’ll see what happens over the next week. I really appreciate all your comments and advice, and question suggestions, you’ve helped a lot and made me feel a lot less alone with it! DD is currently running around and dancing so fingers crossed for a better night tonight.

Keep a food diary too because that's there next port of call see if there is any correlation between what is eaten and pain at night

OP, is there IBS running in the family?

Glad it seems to be sorted.
One thing I found helped is lots of fruit . In young ones it can be quite filling , so cook it off / puree . Add to yoghurt , add to breakfast etc , you can get a fair bit in by doing that.

Hey OP, just popped back to recommend a Facebook group called Movicol Mummies. Over 9000 parents whose kids suffer from constipation. It’s an amazingly supportive and knowledge community.

More water?

@Mangowood

Hi my sons appendicitis manifested initally as pain around the belly button, it didnt move to side until very late on and resulted in emergency surgery. He was first diagnosed with constipation by a GP. I took them to A and E as not happy, blood tests and a scan diagnosed the issue. Reading up on it later and talking with friends the pain around the belly button is a classic symptom in children. I read a piece recently where doctors were being told to trust parents instincts more. But fingers crossed it isnt anythong serious.

My son had exactly this too. Pain seemed worse at night. The blood and leukocytes in the urine rang a bell as they were also a feature of his early stage appendicitis.

My daughter was given Movicol but apparently it doesn't soften it just encourages things along (so to speak!) She was switched to lactulose which was much better.

@champagnetruffleshuffle I’m sorry to correct you, but that’s not the case. Movicol is an osmotic macrogol, which means it carries water into the large intenstine. I’m doing so, it definitely softens poo.

There are other laxatives which move things along, known as stimulant laxatives. These include senna and sodium picosulfate.

OP, one thing to bear in mind is that your DD needs to drink a lot of fluids on top of the Movicol. The Movicol doesn’t count towards her fluid intake so she needs lots of other drinks on top.

How was last night?

@RuthTopp thanks I will try making some compotes!

Thanks @Rainallnight

@StarsandStones she was much better last night, thank you

How has your daughter been , hopefully feeling better ?

@RuthTopp yes she’s much better now thank you! No pain since Friday and she has pooed a couple of times. We’re giving two movicol sachets a day. So relieved it seems to have resolved!

Oops name change fail!

Good news

OP, MNHQ can retroactively repair a namechange fail if you report.

That's good to hear, @Lampadusa!

Hopefully that is all it was and no more problems.