Bastard wanking chronic constipation

[treedelivery]

GGGGGGraaaaaahhhh!!

I hate it. Dropped dd1 [6] at school. She's cold, pale, shivery, lethargic and knackered. She's had senna, movicol, 300mls of water this morning alone and it will not fucking budge. SHe pushed and strained and pushed and strained. Her anus is dilated and her poor little bum is turning inside out. 5.5 bloody years of this, am drained with it.

I'm really miserable and needed a rant. Sorry for the language

Right. Oh God dairy free for poor dd. She'll hate hate hate it.

I can do it ok from my point of view, as I had to be dairy free when breastfeedng dd2, and then I had to wean her and keep her dairy free for 18 months.

DD1 will be a mega challenge though, especially as her school tuck shop and dinners are heavy dairy. Tuckshop especially [buttered toast, bagels, smoothies...]

Oh she'll hate it

Thank you for your ears though. It's good to moan talk. The movicol is now producing the mousse poo that spreads all over. Poor mite at school tomorrow.

poor her :(
is it an option to keep her home tomorrow?

can you send her some snacks she can have so she doesn't have to use the tuck shop?
or give them some stuff they can give her?

still, if she thinks it might help the pooing then she may be more amenable to it mightn't she?

If it's any consolation, DS (who loved milk) adapted very quickly to a dairy free diet at a much younger age - even then he understood that having things with milk in them "make my tummy hurt".

Also, if dairy is the problem then you can look at reintroducing things back in over time - in our case, it was actually eggs that are far worse than milk so DS has a pretty standard diet now.

Let's face it, it's not ideal but you do all learn to live with it pretty quickly.

By the way, just a couple of thoughts. Firstly, if DD2 was intolerant then it does increasingly suggest that might be the problem - that being said, before you think about that course of action, clearly worth speaking to a doctor to get their thoughts and maybe getting these blood tests which quickly tell you the answer. Secondly, if you do pursue a diet route, it does take 6 - 8 weeks for the system to clear out and for it to have an effect. It isn't overnight unfortunately.

Treedelivery - glad you managed to feel the lumps in her stomach - now you know what you're dealing with, and glad things are starting to move with the mega-movicol.

Looks like you might need several days of this to clear the whole blockage out. Sorry

Try a warm bath before going to the loo, to relax the body?

Also wash the rectum with a jug of warm water instead of wiping?

I feel for you treedelivery, constipation is no fun. My 3.10 yo DD has an underlying health condition which affects her digestion and has suffered numerous bouts of constipation over the years. Last year at a routine hospital appointment they xrayed her stomach and were horrified to see her entire large bowel was blocked with poo. Then followed an 8 day stay in hospital on a heavy dose of klean prep via NG tube - just like Pumbas DD.

She is now on a daily dose of 4 sachets of movicol but if she hasn't pooed one day then we have to increase the dose to 5 sachets the next!

What I wanted to say is that if lactulose, movicol, change of diet, enemas etc don't work there are treatments in hospital (not involving surgery) that can be done to help clear her out. I know of two at least - klean prep and gastrogafin

Also, DD is allergic to dairy on contact (swells up and comes out in hives) and although blood tests haven't identified any other allergies, it has been suggested that there could be other foods that she is allergic to that are causing her bowel to slow down.

good luck with getting things sorted. your DD sounds like a real little trooper, bless her

Treedelivery, please don't be too worried about the change in diet. Firstly it may be only temporary. Secondly it is very different weaning dairy free to eating dairy free. There are lovely dairy free treats now. I have 3 DS that are dairy free and they have some lovely things. The Swedish glade ice-cream is lovely, there are custards and desserts. Lots of chocolate items. Also don't forget there are lots of off the shelf supermarket things as well, most crumpets i've just noticed are dairy free, pink wafers, party rings, most haribo type sweets (check first), plain and salt and vinegar crisps and snacks. Dairy free ranges have jaffa cakes, chocolate muffins, brownies - tons of things.
I know that there's a lot of 'treats' listed, but i found those were the things that eased the 'its not fair' comments (which it isn't, but needs must).
Diarrhoea and constipation are very similar (apart from the obvious!) - what goes in, comes out - get what's going in right for your DD and it will be easier for her to get it out.

Hi all

Firstly a huge thanks for all your thoughts nad for sharing your own experiences. I know it isn't easy to dwell on these things and appreciate it very much.

I told dd again about the dairy free idea. She asked tonight if I wanted her to start - so maybe she has come around to the idea a bit.
As we were on her first little trip out for dinner with a friend, to a pizza restaraunt, it didn't seem the ideal time!

She has had tonnes of mousse poo today, mostly at the restaraunt. It was a horrible job trying to clean her in the cramped loo. Poor thing was jumpy and twitched for her big night out.

Oh I hate it. I hate it I hate it I hate it.

Your experience sounds pretty horrible mintyneb, so I know we are lucky it could all be harder. But this week, gosh this week it is really pissing me off.
Have meeting with school coming up, to fill them in on all the issues really. Filled with dread.

Hey ho.

oh poor you, treedelivery :-(. Cleaning up children in cramped restaurant loos is no fun at all. I remember having to change DD 3 times in 40 minutes at a garden centre last year when she was having overflow problems. Still not quite as bad as when later on that day we were at friends and she was playing with a toy whilst standing in a pool of poo that had just run down her legs!

i hate hate hate all things poo-wise and I don't think that parents who have never experienced bowel problems with DC have any idea how hard it can be, let alone how soul destroying it can be when you beat yourself up with guilt for somehow being responsible.

treedelivery, don't feel that you are better off than us, as its sounds like you and your DD have gone/are going through some awful experiences. I just wanted to let you know that you are definitely not alone.

i had to give DD extra movicol yesterday as she had been complaining of tummy ache so had to let her pre-school know that she might need to go to the loo. The only trouble is she won't poo in the loo (separate issue going on here to deal with)and will only use a nappy so I feel for whoever may have to change her :-(

Good luck treedelivery. Let us know how you get on.

Hope it all goes ok, Treedelivery, sounds like things might start to move soon if the mousse has started.

Hey all.

Thanks again for the support. I haven't a clue what's going on! All that poo on Thursday, now nothing just a huge bloated tummy.

I think it's the movicol, it makes her feel sick. Pah.

Have a new tip to give a bowl of jelly a day. DD much more impressed with that plan

Jelly sounds much nicer than movicol !!!! We struggle with movicol in large volumes as it makes my little one feel sick ........ Hope you are starting to get somewhere I am just preparing to start operation klean prep this afternoon !! Clean outs with a colstomy are even messier !!!!!!!

Yes it sure does. Have made a pint, so we'll see how it goes.

We haven't started our clear out yet, I am waiting to liase with school regardign some time off.

Good luck with yours. If you don't mind sharing, I'd be interested to hear what caused your dc to have a colostomy? I assume she has some other issue or cause?

We have no idea why dd is constipated, but it's chronic nature is entirely down to bad management on my part. And dh too, I mean her family in general.

DD2 is showing same instinct/trait to store poo and then make a huge movement. GO for her this week!!

I gave dd1 senna last night, which has resulted in a grumpy mardy girl today, but a simple straight forward trip to the loo just now. So I do wonder if it is the way forward for us.

It's a long story with my little one and I don't want to scare anyone but she originally was thought to have chronic constipation but she didn't respond to medicines or enemas so after countless trips to theatre for clean outs she had an operation to enable us to put fluid straight into her large bowel but she still was unable to poop so she now has a colstomy . We still have a long way to go as she still gets constipated !!!! We eventually discovered that she has really poor motility so can't move stuff through colon.... Ermmmm so much for everyone telling us for years she will grow out of it !!! Xx

Treedelivery- by far the best thing for my constipation was yoga. I was taught a specific exercise which stretched and sort of mobilised the gut. And wasn't difficult but quite relaxing. It guaranteed a 'movement' the next day!!

Have you tried that? (I'msure you have tried everything)

Hi Whelk. No we haven't tried that, although I had thought about paying a yoga instructor to come and give her a private session as I imagine it could really realy work. I wouldn't be comfortable taking her to an adult session really, plus she would need some pretty targeted stretches

Hi PUMBA thanks for that. Don't worry about scaring, I mean anyway my dd does respond to medicine, so I guess I don't need to worry too much and also it is important to hear that this can be a pretty big deal. I sometimes feel I am fussing over nothing, and I'm sure no one really gets how big a problem this is in our life. So thank you very much. How is she now? Will she always have this all is it something that will be reviewed as she grows?

My dd suffered really badly for years with almost exactly the same symptoms. I tried everything, movicol, lactulose, more/less fibre. It would all work for a while then the problems would start again, she was on 5 movicol satches a day to end up with. I have no idea how many times I had her back and fore to the doctors.

I got recommended a tablet from the Health Food shop by an eldery lady who my mum does health care for - Ortisan fruit cubes. My dd gets a sixth of a cube every second night and she has never, ever been better. She has been taking it for over a year now and never has the problems she used to have. Worth a try as they are totally natural fruit cubes.

Thanks for the tip Imfeckinpetigo great name btw. Have ordered a free sample! Jelly and a bit of fruit cube sounds the business over movicol.

Senna is working well, poo each day. Pain tonight though, and tonnes of wind. School meeting tomorrow to talk about when to do the clean out and general catch up. Still filled with dread. DD has written a letter to the head telling her little tale and her requests. Bless.

Your dd sounds lovely treedeliver.
I found Ortisan very effective too. And it doesn't taste that bad really.

I'm going to try to summarise the yoga stretch I find best as follows:
NB - as with all yoga it is all about the breathing!

Lie on your back with your arms by your sides (hands flat on the ground, pointing to your feet).

Exhale until totally totally empty - feeling your breath leave the top of your thorax, your chest and your stomach. Hold it until gasping.

Breathe in very slowly, filling your stomach, your chest and then thorax until you are full of breath. At the same time move your arms slowly in an arc above your body (keeping them straight) until they are above your head and you are lying in a flat long line . Stretch as much as you can (focus on the abdomen).

Repeat this say 3 times.
Then

Repeat this but switching the breathing round so that when your arms are above your head and you are stretching as much as possible you have exhaled and so are empty of breath.

(and vice versa, so inhale when you lower your hands to your sides to be pointing your feet and exhale as you raise them to above your head)

Your stomach and abdoment will be very flat at the point where you are stretched and have exhaled and so sometimes the massage can help at that point.

Repeat this exercise approx 5 times (although my instructor used to say any more than 3 time would result in a bowel explosion!! - certainly never in my case!!)

The exercise would be best done in conjunction with the whole yoga practice as I think the relaxation of the whole class plays an enormous part.

My granddaughter who is 8 is suffering badly with constipation. She has been in and out of hospital several times over the last 3weeks. Movicol not working. Movicol and senokot not working. We are at out wits end so we are taking her back to hospital. I never realised until I came on here that this is such a common problem!

My ds suffered with chronic constipation for over a year and I had been prescribed movical and lactulose and found it didn't work until.......

I gave half a tsp of lactulose each day
Humzingers fruit sticks one a day
Loads of fluids.......

One thing I found is when they do pass a motion it is often to do with the meds they had a few days earlier not today's meds IYSWIM. It is to do with accumulation rather than one huge amount.....

If we overdid it you just get a mess but the crucial thing is to regularly administer small amounts rather than king size amounts all on one day! You could try half a sachet of movical a day too!

My personal experience is less is more IYSWIM .

BE careful with the fruit cubes as they are senna and are not good for long term use unless guided by health professional!