Poo phobia

[Cats49]

My 9 yr old DD has been on goats milk since she was 3 as it stopped her being constipated. She wanted to go back on cows milk in the summer hols like her friends so I agreed, thinking she would be fine now.She got terribly constipated (I hadn't realised she hadn't been) and was in absolute agony going one day, screaming on the loo. I think this resulted in a fissure, as there was blood. She then started holding onto her poos and we ended up on Movical which did solve the problem. We got her down to just 1 sachet per day. We then tried one every other day and missed 2 days last week by mistake. Today she has been screaming on the loo not wanting to push the poo out, which was back to being more of a normal solid consistency. She says every time she needs to go for a poo, she thinks it is going to hurt like the time it did originally. She eventually went this evening and admitted that it didn't hurt her bottom but in her thighs. I think she is getting so anxious and tense that that was why her legs hurt. I think she is getting a phobia about doing a poo. I have given her 2 sachets of Movical today and will go back on more regular doses but I was wondering if anyone thinks I should take her to a psychotherapist or someone like that? I feel her problem is due to her anxiety about pooing. She is back on the goats milk and she pooed normally for 6 years without any problems. I don't want to keep giving her movical for too long.
Any advice is much appreciated. Sorry for the lengthy post! I will look tomnorrow for replies as going to bed soon!

Poor thing, could she have an intolerance to wheat as well as cows milk?

I had the same problem as a child and ended up in hospital at your dd's age, it wasn't until i was older and tried cutting out gluten when i saw an improvement.

For now i would up the movicol as you have done and just keep reasuring her that its not going to hurt now she is back on it.

I hope she feels better soon xx

Thanks Marne - we did see a homeopath who tested her and said she is not intolerent to wheat. DD has admitted that she 'tenses up' every time she has to do a poo. Oh well, I will see what happens now I have upped the movical dose. How long can children stay on movical?

Hi Cats49 - my dd is much younger - she is 4.6 years but she has been on movicol since she was just over a year, so about 3 and half years now. It is likely she'll have to stay on it for many years to come due to a medical problem so I wouldn't worry overly about the amount of time your dd is on it. Our dd also withholds because she can remember the times it hurt her so it's a vicious circle. Hope your dd is better soon. Good luck.

Hi 13lucky, My daughter has been on movicol for the 3 years too and also picosulphate too (She has come off that now). She has recently had all blood tests done to see if she had an intollerance to wheat etc but she hasn't just very bad cronic constripation. The specialist said to keep her on 2 sachets of movicol and to encourage the use of the toilet as she has a fear of using it and still does everything in her pull ups! We are been referred to a child Psychologist to help with her fear. How are you getting along??? i feel like im banging my head against a brick wall half the time as i just cant get inside her head!
Sorry about long message x

Hi funkygoodies (sorry Cats49 - don't mean to hijack your thread!). My dd is 4.6. She always had a problem with poo-ing even from newborn and I got fobbed off and fobbed off by health visitors and doctors, being told that this was normal for a baby (had I had my ds first, I would have known this wasn't true!) Anyway, when she started walking at 15 and a half months, it was evident that her ankles rolled over very, very badly and the doctor finally referred us to a paediatrician who immediately put two and two together and diagnosed her as having hypotonia (low muscle tone) and hypermobility (in the basic possible terms double jointedness). Anyway, the long and short of it was that her bowel muscles aren't strong enough to push the poo out. So she was put on the movicol at 15 and half months.

BUT, because it took so long for them to do this, she had already got in the habit of also trying to hold the poo in - because when she did do a poo it hurt. So we were in a very negative vicious circle. It is completely exhausting funky, I completely sympathise with you. Sometimes our whole day revolves around trying to persuade her to do a poo as she is so umcomfortable. But the more you mention it, the worse it is.

It did improve a lot for us when we toilet trained at 2.9 years and recently things have been pretty good. But dd was quite poorly over christmas and things have gone backwards a little and we've had to increase the dose again.

I'm sure you've tried everything funky - how old is your dd?? Did you try the story of sending the poo off to pooland in the toilet??? Sounds completely bizarre but it kind of worked for my dd...but she was younger at the time...just before she was 3. Also bribery - but I'm guessing you've done all this.

Sorry for complete ramble...good luck.

Have you seen this before?

www.norm-uk.org/circumcision_alternative_treatments.html

omg so sorry i didnt mean to put this here!!!!!

Hi 13lucky! Thanks for replying! My dd is just 4, starting school in September so i think thats why its stressing me out abit too! We have got her to sit on the toilet in the last 2 weeks, but not much else so far! We are all abit less calmer now than 2 weeks ago! LOL. Her bowels muscles have become so weak with all the 'holding on' over the last few years and thats why she has alot of leakage. She is on 2 sachets of movicol at the moment. Back at the specialst tomorrow for a check up but i think when we get the referral to the child Psychologist, only then will we be able to see how we can get through to her abit better!