Poo problems

[familygirl]

My DS, 8, has just been prescribed Movicol for faecal impaction. We had been seeing a paediatrician as he wets most days, soils occasionally when not very near a toilet as he always needs to go urgently. He appears to not feel it coming and I don't think his poo has ever really been formed properly (mushy, 5 or 6 on the Bristol stool chart!). We had reduced his fibre intake (no weetabix or brown bread but still eating fruit & veg) as I thought it was too much fibre (he was eating 2 weetabix & 2 slices of wholemeal bread a day). He was tested for coeliac and dairy inolterance and then they did an xray which showed a very full bowel, hence the movicol. SO I am confused as he has never had a hard poo come out (as far as I am aware) although he has more recently described the feeling that he needs to strain on the toilet. Today-2nd day of movicol so 4 sachets, he has done a formed poo, light colour but formed. We were told to keep increasing the dose til he had liquid poo then reduce. Has anyone else had experience with this and would you expect a normal 'sausage' poo before the liquid clearout? Is it really likely to be constipation/faecal impaction? Sorry for the long post-I am totally baffled and could really do with some advice!

hi i've been trying to decide if to post on here or not as i don't want to scare anyone with my daughters history, But she too has a very long history of constipation and has now been to theatre numerous times for various operations............... Ecoli your gastro may be sending you to a surgeon to consider biopsies and there are other procedures than a colostomy that can be tried first, google ACE procedure as we have had this done along the way. I just wanted to get across my point that we too were told for a long time that this was common and behavioral , and i'm sure in some cases it is but for us after many operations we still aren't sorted..

PUMBA thank you for posting. I've googled the ACE procedure thanks. We had 14 days with no accidents last month which was amazing (although we are back to liquid poo accidents with a big soft poo every day again now) and it gave us some hope that she is getting a little control..but I like to have an idea of what might be suggested if this continues.
I get very cross with the doctors who suggest it's psychological - they should try getting told off for something that isn't their fault (as we were told to do to dd) for years on end and have it not affect their behaviour!

Ecoli do you know how long you will have to wait to be seen by the surgeons ??? Give me a clue where you have been referred to , we are in London.

Our son is nearly 3 years old and for roughly a year he has been pooing in the night when he is asleep. I do remember a possible 'bad poo' experience that may have brought that on. Sometimes we can hear that the pooing process seems to be difficult but most of the time he will go back to sleep after me changing him.

The puzzling thing is that while the doctors have said that he may be holding it in/constipated and have prescribed movicol - he identifies pain (which has been getting alot worse)in his penis. This pain seems to be there all of the time - sometimes if he is distracted he can deal with it - other times (which is increasing) he cannot deal with it and will cry/hold himself down below and roll about on the sofa/floor.

We are left not knowing whether we actually do have a poo problemm or a problem with his penis. We have been referred to a urologist but are waiting for an appointment.

Blood tests & abdominal scan have revealed nothing - a night in hospital did also not help as attention by nurses and his own TV allowed him to forget the pain for a while!

Can anyone help?

We have first gastro/surgical combi clinic appointment next week, in east London. I'm very much hoping it's just a chat at first. She's had blood tests to check for chronic inflammation and motility studies previously, so maybe a biopsy is next. Pumba - did/does your daughter have obvious constipation problems (ie. days with no stool) or is she like mine, poos but still soils?

I know it is not everyone's cup of tea but dd1 was diagnosed with faecal impaction and given movicol, however I found a visit to a homeopath much more effective as after taking the tablets she recommended she has had absolutely no problems at all. No constipation and no soiling (which was caused by the movicol). It was immediate which was great as we had been primed for it to take ages to get back to normal. As I say, I know a lot of people thinks it's nonsense but just thought I'd share a positive experience.

Reikizen,

Don't you think maybe the movicol sorted it before the homeopath got there?

Please don't turn this into a Homeopathy thread or I will go and find a nice solid brick wall to bang my head on!

reikizen - yes it's nonsense - but glad your dd is better now.

just wanted to say thank you to daftapeth for mentioning the eric website...i phoned them yesterday for some advice on my dd and the lady was so helpful and explained all about the n.i.c.e guidelines regarding movicol and maintaining soft poos. she also talked about NOT taking her off movicol as soon as the impaction has cleared as her bowel will be distended and bigger and fresh poo going in will sit there for longer than before and go hard again and we will be back to square one! i just wish my gp had explained the proper process to me than just saying take two of these untill the pack runs out!!

That's really good to hear Miarosemum . I have never called the helpline but had heard that they were so helpful to those who had phoned.

Good luck with everything.

Strangely i had a call from my DS' gastroenterologist today. I told him of my problems with the fybogel and senokot - and he asked me what i'd done and if it had improved the situation. When i told him that i'd ditched the senakot and kept with the fybogel but on a reduced timing, but not dosage - he hmmed and said that's interesting - keep doing it and let him know how he gets on. I thought, yes, which pretty much goes with what i keep mentioning - that he has digestive issues that do not revolve around constipation - that he seems to be fixed upon. He has never shown obvious constipation either Ecoli