fuckity fuckity shite.

[sunshineandshowers13]

sorry for my language but actually am at the end of my tether. my beautiful dd2 is 7 and has had chronic constipation since a tiny baby:(. we've been through gps, consultants, bowel biopsies, milk free diet. Have tried Senna, lactulose, docusol, movicol, sodium picosulphate. She still has constant accidents both poo and wet. Am almost 100% sure its not overflow as was so used to dealing with it before. But if its not then what is going on????

Just finished a 7 day disimpaction on 12 sachets a day of movicol with no results. Have tried a cows milk free diet for the last 2 1/2 years, we saw an immediate improvment but then nothing else since. She still has to get senna every day to make her go.
What is actually worrying me more is that she is now so affected by this emotionally and socially. She has said twice now she doesnt want to be alive and why is she different to her brother and sister and friends. She has amazing help at school from a classroom assistant and her teacher but as she feels so crap most of the time i feel she misses out on a lot.
seeing her consultant tomorrow and i have already asked for a second opinion and a referral onto a paediatrician with more experience in this area - BUT fuckity fuckity shite! dont what else to do.

So sorry you're going through this. Hope that you consultant can give you some more positive help tomorrow.

sunshine, I'm afraid I can't really offer any help about what might be causing the constipation but just wondered if you have been told about gastro graffin or Klean prep as alternatives for a bowel clear out? 12 sachets of movicol per day sounds extreme (my 3.10 yoDD is on 5 a day and have no idea how you would get 12 into a child?) particularly as it doesn't seem to be working yet.

perhaps you could mention them to the paed to see if you could get your daughter a really good clear out before starting on a daily maintenance regime again.

I guess after all this time if your DD has been so badly constipated, her bowel could have stretched making it more likely she would bung up again. I've heard that senna can also make the bowels 'lazy' with long term use.

Sorry, I have probably told you things you already know but I really do feel for you particularly as it is upsetting your DD so much. Good luck with the paed and i hope you can find some answers soon

thank you both for your support. minty - 12 a day was quite a challenge i can tell you! part of the problem is we dont really think she is bunged up at the moment. but we cant seem to find anything that works to keep her going without causing frequent accidents. We almost feel as if we had to prove by doing the 12 a day movicol that something else needs done and to get the doctors to listen to me. Surely after 2 1/2 years her colon/rectum would have started to return to size again? i know it takes an age but no improvement? so many questions and so few answers!!

The whole senna thing really does worry me but as it took us so long to find something/anything that would work the paed was reluctant to change it.

imo it's the wheat you have to watch more then dairy, does she have cereals for breakfast? If yes, then you have to try cooked breakfast, coz it's mainly wheat (gluten) causes dairy intolerance.

I know going guten free is not easy unless you get desperate (like I was with my ds), but if you cut out wheat as much as you can you should still see improvement.
It's just so wrong to feed children meds to push the foods through esp when they can't absorb it properly. Take her off wheat and you almost certainly be amazed (I was).

I agree with nightcat.

I suffered all the way through childhood, felt ill most of the time and only pooed once every 2 weeks. A few years ago i tried cutting out wheat and i felt so much better and was no longer constipated (also cleared up my dry skin).

i have always thought that wheat/gluten would cause diarhoea and going often which is definitely not her problem!
tbh though am willing to do anything and would realy like (really really really) to stop all the meds until we know what is the cause. as they are not really improving the situation just changing the problem.

big deep breath, have got a list of what i want to say at the hosp this aft!

It can cause both as can IBS. Anythings worth a try.

Ditto the gluten - cutting it out aged 15 transformed my bowel habits.

Agree with wheat. Ds2 was very constipated and bloated when he was 4. Gp suggested cutting out wheat, which we did. Amazing improvement. Constipation disappeared. He was off wheat for about 3.5 years and then went back on as he had a coeliac test, which was negative. He has stayed on wheat and is now 10. However, have been considering reducing wheat again as he is back to doing one enormous poo every 10 days. He blocks the toilet with it and obviously suffers with tummy aches in the few days before he goes.

I used to block the toilet before going gf with my ds.

Sunshine, try doing a cooked breakfast if you can?

A friend's baby had this problem - was a wheat allergy/intolerance (although fortunately grown out of it now). Really hope you manage to find a solution, your poor daughter

Dear sunshineandshowers13, Its no wonder your at the end of your tether! I have had the same problems with my 4 year old since she was born! After all the tests etc by the specialist, they are saying that it is mental/phobia issues so they have referred her to a psychologist and also an incontinence advisor. We have been seeing a constipational/bowel specialst at our hospital which has given us more of an insight to what goes on with her bowels etc. Let me know how you get on with the consultant and maybe it might be worth asking about a specialist who deals with bowels etc if that is who you haven't been seeing. Good Luck

thank you everyone - gluten does seem to be the most common suggestion! saw the consultant yesterday - going to do 12 sachets a day and 10ml of picolax til sun and then maybe admit her depending on what has passed. the xray yesterday showed enough gas to fuel an air balloon and a largish softish lump of "poo", not impacted though.

Once she's clear then we have to start the whole reason why again - paed suggestioning dairy and soya free and i'm going to suggest gluten too.

she's really not impressed though as having to take yet more movicol! cant say i blame her though. bribery rules the day!

once gluten is out of the way, you might be nicely surprised, I found drs are not really interested in diet

Given that it's such a long standing problem, and that she's quite old (so won't like having her favourite foods taken away!), why don't you try a food elimination diet -in case it's more than one intolerance, so gives you the best chance of discovering any underlying cause? Ie take food right back to simple non-allergens like pear/rice milk/rice/meat etc, then gradually start introducing more if she's fine with the basics? A bit like doing weaning all over again?