Alternative to movicol and sodium picolsulphate

[updownstairs]

Hi

My child is 12 and has a school trip this half term which is 8 days long. Normally we work on a good routine at home but it will be impossible for them to have movicol whilst away as it may be seen by friends. Normally my next go to would be sodium picolsulphate which we have slowly removed successfully. But I am wondering if there may be a tablet of some kind that works in a similar manner that would be more subtle for my 12 year old to take. Due to the nature of the medicine it needs to be done quickly and privately. Anyone got a solution that worked?

Would Dulcoease capsules be an option? I'm guessing you'd need to have a practice week first to make sure it works as an alternative.

Dulcoease is not even in the same ballpark as Movicol or Picosulfate.

It's far far milder.

@AnnaMagnani what would you recommend as an alternative to movicol that is more discreet?

Thank you both for ideas and feedback I will have a look at those tablets and may try and see the pharmacist to see if they think it will help for the short term. Its so difficult as its something that needs absolute privacy.

We used dulcosoft. It's a clear liquid

Thank you, we have the sodium picolsulphate and have done that for shorter trips it is orange. It's just such a long time and also may be more obvious with 9 individual bottles of the stuff.

My son was on cosmo col sachets (from a toddler up until he was 10). As your son in 12 could he not privately put the power in his drink and quickly drink it? Even if it’s in the loo on a morning?

You can get senna tablets, but they're nowhere near as good as pico. You can also get senna chocolate (bought from American Amazon but they ship to the UK).
How many movicol sachets does he take each day? Could swap to lactulose as each 5ml is equivalent to 1 sachet of movicol.

He can just cover the label maybe?
Are people really going to pay that much attention if he pours the sachet into a bottle and drinks it?
Think of a line to say if anyone asks (lie).. e.g it's for my allergies

Will the teachers not be willing to hold it for him and he could be taken aside discreetly to take it?

There isn't anything that really compares. Could he just mix it in his water bottles in the morning discreetly?

As an option could you put the movicol powered into zip bags and leave your son/daughter pour it into a bottle that way? Buscapan can cause horrible cramps (it does for my daughter) I would make sure you try them on any option before they go. Is there an option to have it staff controlled and they can go somewhere private to drink it and then be able to continue that way?

Are people really going to be that bothered?

He won't be the only one with medication and probably not the only one with laxatives.

How many sachets do they have a day? The small clear fruit shoot bottles are the right liquid volume to do 2 pediatric (ie 1 adult) sachet. I don't know if you'd be allowed to send lots of full bottles of fruit shoot, but you could send an empty bottle for him to use to measure the volume and you can also get tiny squirty bottles of incredibly concentrated squash you could send to flavour it with. The movicol sachets themselves are tiny so easy to travel with discretely, and making it up is just a case of ripping the sachet open, tipping it in the bottles and shaking. (We did it when out and disimpacting my then 3 year old).

Lactulose is a smaller volume but it comes in large glass bottles, needs measuring spoons and is very sticky so easily makes a mess. It might work if a teacher had the bottle, but I gave up travelling with lactulose for me as it was such a faff.