Movicol - Waiting For Lift Off

[HLBug]

DS (3) is being 'flushed' out with movicol and dulcolax this week. He's been struggling with chronic constipation for about a year and we finally had an appointment with Gastro at the kids hospital yesterday.

I've read some of the other movicol threads on here but wondering if anyone out there is going through anything similar at the moment? Today we're on 4 sachets a day (2 sachets in the morning and 2 in the evening), working up to 6 per day, then 8 per day or until we get a complete 'flush'. He's also on 10ml of dulcolax.

I'm terrified. What if the 'flush' makes him upset and even more afraid to poo? When should we expect 'lift out' and how long will it last? Can we leave the house?! I've taken him out of nursery for the week.

He's done one ridiculously long sausage shaped poo this morning with absolutely no fuss whatsoever. Normally it's a 20 minute + saga of tears and tantrums. Is that all we should expect for today?

Once we finish the 'flush' we've to go down to a maintenance dose of 4 per day and then start to (eventually) wean him off them once we're in a regular routine. I'm really hoping this works and it's not celiac disease or something else that is the 'cause' of the problem that we're just not seeing / treating.

Any advice / handholds very welcome!!

Hopeful bump...

My son is 8 and just been through this. I was told to sit him on the loo with his tablet to play on after every meal. Its taken a few months to clear his blockage but he was on a lower dose. Its cleared and it went like porridge. I was expecting it like water. It was hard work with him so not too sure how long it will take you. Good luck

Thanks both - we've since had another ridiculously long poo. Miaow that's what I'm worried about - if we clear out but then he just gets blocked up again and we have to keep doing the 'flush out' but not solve the underlying problem. I guess that's why making sure the maintenance dose is right is important. Good luck at GP tomorrow.

Chubby is your son back to a 'normal' routine now?

I was told that you want to keep upping it until it pours out like gravy. That's the way you can know it's cleared.

You can get adult movocol over the counter which is the same but double strength. forgot to take it on holiday

Something to look forward to Witchend... oh god...

Maybe you've already tried this, but when my kids stopped up a little I just gave them toddler magic tea. It worked like magic. And to keep them regular, I'd mix this tea in their bottles every day once or twice.

Yes. I haven't been able to go back to the Science Museum since my dd had her Movicol breakthrough in there...
Once you've reached ground zero and empty bowel, you might find that senna (which stimulates the bowel and sends the brain the sensations of needing to go without the griping pain that movicol gives) might work better for ongoign training rather than maintenance movicol (which simply liquidises and means they cannot help it / have no control over whether it comes out or not). senna is v old fashioned and has no drug company reps pushing it but the incredible doctor we saw ( paed gastro specialist and part of the ERIC charity) was adamant, and it worked for us.
It sounds like a great result so far by the way.

I've done this twice with my 6year old daughter. We did a whole week on 12 sachets a day! But it hasn't really solved her accidents. I'm not sure what to do next x

ripa81 what is magic tea?

KatyBerry he's only been toilet trained for about a month so leaving the house is a big deal at the moment even without an impending poonami situation. Your post did make me chuckle, thanks for that. I need to remember that I'll look back on this in years to come and laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of this whole situation.

Before this movicol / dulcolax combo he was on lactulose and senna but the senna seemed to get less effective the longer he was on it. Dulcolax I think does the same thing by acting as a stimulant?

Is movicol known to cause pain I didn't know that. Something else to look forward to...

it caused severe pain in my dd because she was so desperate to withhold against the poonami. Senna - you have to gradually increase the daily dosage until you're getting one / day (which you can set your watch by pretty much) and then reduce down again from there (same as movicol).
The lactulose / dulcolax also cause stomach discomfort because of all the gasssssssss

Miaow that's awful!! Can you see anyone else any quicker? I'd be fuming.

Day 2 today and we're still on the long sausage shaped poos - 2 so far and a bit of an accident after poo 2.

Just in case anyone looks back on this thread in the future (and to help me remember) I'm going to keep a log:

Day 0: 2 sachets, 0 poos (gastro appointment PM)
Day 1: 4 sachets, 4 long sausage poos
Day 2: 4 sachets,

He's not been complaining of any pain (phew) but is definitely more tired today. Poor lamb.

Probiotics daily can help

My oldest DS is 28, I can look back and laugh now but he had his movicol poonami at the Castle they film Harry Potter at. It ended in him needing a new full set of clothes, we consider him a movie star as "his" path features in the movies.

Don't know if this will help OP, but I did a very unladylike snort at you keeping a log.....Sorry 😉

Haha Mirren, maybe I'll call it a record instead?! On a similar note, I scoffed a chocolate fudge earlier and instantly regretted it

Day 0: 2 sachets, 0 poos (gastro appointment PM)
Day 1: 4 sachets, 4 long sausage poos
Day 2: 4 sachets, 2 curvy long poo plus couple of little squirts in potty
Day 3: 6 sachets

Hi we are having withholding by my 3yr have been given lactulose but stopped it as doesn't seem to help him.
To those pp who have suggested sienna can you get this over the counter? I think he needs the regular need to go and and where do you get the probiotics from?

Thanks sorry to derail

yes senna is over teh counter. Buy a giant bottle and a dosing syringe which has as small measurements as possible so you can increase the dosage by 1ml / day.
Time your dose carefully for 12 hours prior to desired arrival time of poo! (we did it at bedtime for morning evacuation, you could set your watch by it)

Yes Stick you can get Senna and Lactulose over the counter. We had a handy little measuring cup which DS drank it out of. He wasn't keen on the taste of the Senna, but took it anyway. We called them his 'special vitamins'.

Miaow that's not so good We have a rubbish doctor at our practice too and I always dread we get him if I need to make an emergency appointment

Long term Movicol mum here

Sending

Good luck with upping the dose. It's astonishing how much poo a child can carry around inside them.

He shouldn't experience pain even when he's taking the maximum dose. He may feel he needs to go urgently, but it's not usually accompanied by gut cramps.