Movicol - how quickly does it work

[agnesf]

Folllowing on from my earlier thread re Lichen sclerosa my DD (8) started on Movicol on Friday.

LS makes it painful to poo and so she has had problems with minor constipation for a year now but was ok with lactulose. Things all went downhill over Xmas. Had sennakot which did work to shift 6 days worth of poo but then went back to nothing but sludgy pooey pants for days.

Anyway since starting on movicol have had a couple of rather small agonising poos and other wise just small lumps of nothing much/ dirty bottoms. She's in a lot of pain as well - seems to get spasms and can hardly move, gets on loo but nothing.

Anyone had experience of this in older kids (fully potty trained no previous poo problems). How many days do I need to keep going with it before getting something? Is the pain spasm thing normal.

I'm worried that she's going back to school tomorrow and will struggle to get through a whole day.

BTW she's on 4 sachets a day

When my son was on it he pooed his pants the whole day. It was an absolute nightmare. He was 9 then and we stopped it against consultants advice but then he didn't have other probs like your daughter, he was just constipated. I don't know if you will hear better stories from others and maybe my ds was just very sensitive to it but what I do know I will never have it in the house again, ever! Sorry if this is no help, hope it works out for your dd.

Movicol is the drug of choice for children with severe constipation, and should help if the dose is right. Have you been told to increase the dose gradually?- you can go up to 8 sachets a day, which might be needed if stool withholding has been going on for a long time. There should be some information about this in the leaflet inside the box.
I agree that for some children it causes loose stools, and some parents give half or a quarter of a sachet as a maintenance dose.
Nurses don't give enemas to children very often now; they were needed more often before movicol was available. If she would let you give a child size glycerine suppository it might help start things moving.
Could you keep your daughter off school or send her in for half a day until the constipation is a bit better? Or ask the school to call you if she is in pain and needs to come home. I hope things improve in the next day or so, but if not I would go back to the GP.

Thanks for replies. Currently the GP has only said 4 sachets although I have read all the stuff on the box about giving more for impaction but thought I'd give it a go on the lower dose first. So I was wondering how long I should wait before going back to the GP.

I work 4 days a week school hours and have had Fri off and have tomorrow off as was hoping 4 days would show some results but given the performance to date am not very optimistic.

When DD has it for her impaction problems it can take a few days to work. However, if your DD has been impacted then I woould increase dose tomorrow to 5 sachets and keep her home. When it comes she will not have any warning or control ime.

I don't know if she is impacted or not. The GP didn't say she was but having said that she didn't examine her.

She really wants to go to school tomorrow but as I'm home I have said to her I would be able to pick her up if she had a big accident. Amazingly she is not perturbed at the thought of this happening but maybe because she can't really imagine what it might be like

If she is letting runny poo out that stains her knickers and she has no control over then I would say she is impacted. But really the doc should feel her tummy as they can feel it.

Still no action expect for dismal little squidges.

Think I'll have to make an appt with GP for later this week - can always cancel if nothing much happens. She has eaten so many beans/ lentils they will soon be coming out of her ears.

Just an update for anyone who is looking for the answer to this question in the future.

Nothing had happened by Tues & couldn't get docs appt until thurs so on Wed upped the dose to 6 a day on Weds.

Had a bit of a breakthrough on Wed pm (probably before the additional dose actually took effect) and now am dealing with vast quantities of poo a bit like Hercules & the Augean stables (although have no river to divert through my bathroom).

Am seeing doc tonight so can hopefully work out what to do next.

It's good that it's working, and hope that she is more comfortable now, and that you and your GP can work out a suitable maintenance dose if she needs to continue with it.