Very loose poo (DS5), Bristol 5, 6 & 7 - except constipation, what can cause this?

[asecretlemonadedrinker]

He has never had formed stools, seeing GP every 2 weeks now and Paed once, back again after 3 months which will be mid July (2 weeks now). Been on Movicol nearly 3 months, not much joy - been up and down dosage wise - 2, 4, 6, 8 then 2 for a few weeks, then another high build up and down to 4, then another high build up and down to 2 again, now up to 3. We are having some success in the past month with him feeling the need to go, and making the toilet, but still will soil afterwards and more often than not just soils himself without a toilet visit. I really don't think it's constipation - he's never had a hard tummy, movicol is doing nothing except giving him mad cravings for salt. What is usually the next step a Paed will take? What else can it be?

my son had soiling problems for several years before they x-rayed and diagnosed faecal impaction which was a surprise as he had always passed type 6 to 7 stool since birth. Somehow must have changed from diahorrea to faecal overflow?? Anyway he has been on movicol for a couple of months and less soiling but still type 6 poos.

Until the diagnosis (on 3rd opinion) all professionals appeared to have decided problem was not medical and was a child protection issue! However I still think if you have never had formed stools since birth like my son then there must be a reason and dont understand why they dont investigate reasons whether food intolerance or other.

Have you had any tests done or considered this if from birth?

child protection issue?? How? No tests done, bar a tummy feel. have a paed. appointment soon so hopefully they will start to test for other things after that. Does your DS go to the toilet well, or is he abit incontinent also? THanks :)

On iPhone so excuse typos !! My ds had poo accidents most days and had never really done a solid pop. I kept telling the docs something wrong - they kept fibbing me off .... He eventually aged 7 yrs got diagnosed as coeliac - he still doesn't do real poos and has 2 immodium a day but is tons better and has actually put done weight on

My son was incontinent but is much improved on movicol, not perfect but stress is removed for him and us as we can explain a medical diagnosis.

Interested to hear re the coeliac as my son has many of the symptoms ie low iron, lack growth, no normal poos since birth etc but it did not show up on blood test. I understand there can be false positives. Did you find this or did yours show up as soon as tested? Did they test for anything else?

Child protection concerns I believe are common in cases of toileting problems where there is no medical cause - in ours it was medical misdiagnosis of course!

The doctors didn't do blood tests as he is petrified of needles and he "looked" ok - his fav meal is fillet steak medium rare with spinach and cabbage !! He always was tall and skinny so nothing there. He had a pot belly - which he now gets if he has any gluten by mistake. They found out by biospy (and a blood test done whilst he was under confirmed it)

B4 the blood test you need to be eating a large amount of gluten every day for 6 weeks prior to the test

TBH I think they only went and had "a look" because I was banging at the door and wasn't going away (and my GP agreed here)

Notapizzaeater - Why were you so convinced that he had coeliac? Is it in the family? I have an auto immune disease but no coeliac in the family to my knowledge. What symptoms did your son have? Did you consider or test for any other allergies?

Our paed listed my sons symptoms as very poor appetite, poor growth, low iron levels, distended stomach, wetting and soiling. Plus anger issues but all those symptoms and lots of pain are enough to make anyone angry!

My son would have been eating gluten every day for the 6 weeks before the blood test so that would not be a reason for a false positive but I do feel there has to be a reason for his abnormal poos since birth. It is just too easy for professionals to blame it on my breast milk and then his healthy diet which does not explain why his siblings are fine.

I didn;t think it was coeliac tbh - I tried eliminating stuff myslef and had done gluten for 2 weeks (I now know about it being hidden in stuff) and that made no noticable difference, I then removed tomatoes/onions and that seemed to help (but with hindsight the tomatoes/onions where on pasta/pizza - so I'd removed them too) so when we went to doc's he was eating gluten but no toms/onions - he basically told me I was mad and that he had "rapid bowel transit" - well yes he did cos his bowel was smooth cos of the coeliac !!

If he has gluten now his tummy expands and he is "Mr Angry" - (we affectionatly refer to him as damien for about 2 weeks)

If you want to have a chat just PM me (am going out later so might be tomorrow)

Intresting to hear gluten makes him angry? Is that correct? my DS has some "anger issues", flicks from being a really lovely boy to a real horror to be honest. Is this usual in coeliac disease?

Interesting that the coeliac makes you angry but I think the soiling will make a child angry too and probably the pain from any cause of soiling or even side effects of movicol now so probably cant draw any conclusions as to coeliac from this.
Beware of suggestions that the soiling and anger are behavioural which was the type of suggestions that we faced rather that a child being angry because they are in trouble or teased at school for soiling.
Thanks for this notapizzaeater

I don't think the gluten makes him angry per se - I think the painful tummy makes him angry iyswim ......

Must admit he never used to complain of tummy ache but not long after taking him properly off gluten he announced it was much better now his tummy didn't hurt .... Suppose if it always had hurt you wouldn't know that it wasn't supposed to !!!