MOVICOL: How long till it "works"

[shhhh]

Been using it for months on/off and can't remember how long it took to work..BUT I know in dd's case it seems to take an age.

She has suffered with constipation now for around 10 months. We finally sought further medical help on monday and the consultant she saw is pretty such she has constipation.

Its now been (possibly) 7-10 days since she last went.
She was examined on monday and advised her tummy is soft. Told to push with fruit and veg (yeah like its easy..) and to give movicol regularly.

So, I started it on tuesday. tue-wed 2 sachets a day, thurs 3 sachets and today 5...NOT one poo.

She did poo in bed last night BUT guess beyond her control. Im now thinking its impacted..

She has had this before, but how long till I see results..?

Im sick of my own voice today (and half expected neighbours to knock on and complain.). She won't poo, says she wont and says it hurts. Says she would rather go to hospital then poo .

Im at the end..............

HELP....

TIA X

what's your upper limit for her? Are you increasing till the huge clear out comes?

We did that when ds went on them (at around 2yo ish) and I think he was up to about 8 before he went on massive clear out (and that went on for a couple of days ). Though we were allowed up to about 12 I think. So it can take a while. It really depends on the child and how blocked up they are and how much effect the medication has on them.

After that though we went down to a maintainance dose - at 4yo (now) he is on 4 a day but am thinking of reducing it to 3.

When it kicks in though she won't be able to hold it in as movicol forces the body to clear out - she won't be able to stop it. You'll prob be staying in for a couple of days - close to a toilet.

shhh poor dd

I can recommend using glycerine suppositories to soften the poo and make it easy to pass 92p for a pack of 12 from the pharmacist - they are perfectly safe to use

If it's impacted as you suspect then it will be sitting in a big dryish lump near her bottom hence overflow and fear of hurting

You pop one in and might get a result in quite a short time - say inside an hour so stay in, and prepare for horrid runs as the poo starts to soften

Good luck

once it starts building up again it will take a reasonably long time to clear. After that you will need to fiddle about with the maintainance dose until you get a level where she is going every day.

Hmm you do have to keep adjusting the dosage to keep the balance right IME. How come you have stopped and started with the Movicol? We were advised that it should be used daily continuously even if only at a low dosage (we used 1/2 sachet daily as a maintenance dose for a long time and upped the dosage when required)

I think you have to just keep upping the dosage until the blockage is clear. Your doctor should have advised you.

We used glycerin suppositories before...just hate doing as feel its wrong iykimw .Just of conscious of her being aware iykwim...

Not sure what her upper limit is. 6 I think BUT both the doc we saw on monday and our gp are vague as to what doseage wes hould give.

Feck, I hate this..

I know its impacted and hard for her to get rid of BUT I get so annoyed that she won't help herself..ds has hirschsprungs disease so our home is a shit home (literally). I go from zero poo with dd (or hours of on/off toilet) to up to 10 nappies off ds..

Dd is also being a nightmare with eating again..won't eat this or that and I know she won't starve but she is barely eating. I guess because of the poo'ing issue.

I have spent an hour on the toilet with her dd while ds napped, have sat her on the potty in the kitchen while ds eating. Im frustrated and feel a bad mum atm. I shout at her and I have little patience.

I guess tomorrow will prob be results day. Just what I need...

Dh away, and booked in for cavity wall insulation.Oh joy...

washersaurus, I stopped coz im a bad mum. I have so much with ds and trying to sort dd and ds and when dd started going again it passed my mind..until I realised it was days since she last went and so the cycle started again.

She isn't keen on us in the toilet when she is (down to pre school) and that way we loose contact as to how often she goes....also she tends to tell us when she goes, part of me thinks she says shes "been" when in fact she hasn't. Shuts us up iykwim.

I didn't mean to sound like I was criticising; I was more concerned your doctor hadn't told you how to use it properly.

It really isn't your fault; DS1 (nearly 4yo) has been off Movicol for months now after taking it for a couple of years and still withholds poo and has accidents alot sometimes.

Can you stick her in the bath, that often helps.

no, I know you didn't washersaurus...and im just quite down about it all atm.

dh been away a week and will be home 1.5 days and then away another week . Just find it hard sometimes...

Not thought about a bath. Tend to all shower togther atm. Will consider a bath...

Did/Do you get annoyed with your ds over withholding..? just feel im the only one who does..

I got so hacked off tonight with yet another cooked meal she wouldn't eat that I slammed a baby spoon down on her table and it rebounded off the table and hit her hand. Obviously she cried and I feel crap .

Forgot, the gp/doc hasn't said: try x dose for 4 days, then increase/decrease to x for x days etc.

Just said, give it to her till it works then give a few a day..

Oh no, you are not alone, I find it really really difficult - some days I spend more time cleaning up DS1 than I do changing DS2's nappies.

I did have a movicol leaflet with the Bristol Stool Chart on that gave guidance on dosage according to where on the poo scale they were. I gave my copy to LilRedWG for her DD, maybe if you google you might find a copy? I picked my copy up by chance in the hospital waiting room when I took DS1 in for an out patient appt.

Do try letting her play in the bath for a while - this seems to help DS1 especially if he is withholding because it hurts.

can you put the suppository in when she's asleep?

BATH BATH BATH definietly - nice warm water, lots of toys and bubbles - well worth a try and always gets results in our house. I think my dd just relaxes so much she doesn't even realise she is doing a poo! Just stay cose by so you can get her out ASAP if there is success!

Also, sorry if I am stating the bleeding obvious, but even if she is not eating much, is she drinking plenty? DD stops eating when she is bunged up but i make sure she drinks plenty, even if it is crap sugary drinks, just to get fluids in her.

We found it took about a month for dd to really clearout and now we are on just one sachet a day and have had no probs in about a year, so stick with it.

Good luck.

Aww thanks everyone. Been googling but nothing found yet. Will look for the bristol stool chart washersaurus.

I just feel guilt,dd has been trying over the last few weeks and I find that I shout or reason with her etc and once they are both in bed I sit her feeling gulity. Usually ends up with me bringing her into bed with me for comfort..

Couldn;t do it while she slept cargirl. She would wake.

So a bath is the way to go.....will try and do it tomorrow if possible. May get both dd and ds up before cavity wall guys are due and see if it works...

Yes, she is drinking loads..she is having the movicol with jucie and I have just made up 5 sachets worth ready for tomorrow..hopefully it will be nice and cold for her and take the hassell out iykwim. Means she won't be "aware" of what she's having.

she is also drinking inbetween movicol.

Have you tried circular massage on her tummy too?

yeah, tried that tonight when ready for bed and watching tv. She let me rub for a few minutes then said she had enough!

Bristol Stool Chart here and here

I know it seems obvious but it does help you to work out whether to increase/decrease dosage.

thanks washersaurus,hmm....but where does the chart come into effect..? sorry to sound dim..

Im not sure where dd is on the chart BUT i GUESS type 6 )although not really seen to access..only what she's had as an accident iykwim.

So I guess if suggested 1 sachet on tue, inc by one each day then today we should have been on about 4 (we were on 5) so although inc suddenly im not to far out..? although I guess I will have the opposite effect soon...

shhh, my DD1 was on Movicol for a year or so. When she got impacted, I used the glycerin suppositories - she was aware of what was happening (obviously!) but reluctantly accepted it as she could understand that it would fix the pain in her tummy. I also tried to do something special with her while we waited for the poo to come. She had it in the evening once, so I took her into my bed where we read stories for the 20 minutes or so before the performance.

If you do use them, insert them blunt end first - I know it's counter-intuitive, but there was research in the British Medical Journal to show that suppositories stay in better if put in that way and are easier to insert

Thanks poledra . Will see what result I get in the morning and then go onto suppositories if no success.

Thanks for the tip x

im off to bed, thanks for the advice so far..will come back in the morning to see if any more advice and will let you know how I get on x

shh, how is she doing?

Hi, sorry I haven't been around but did a midnight walk last night for our local hospice . 9 miles... My legs have been asleep since !

well, still no poo come saturday so I ended up using a suppository. She had been telling me all morning that she didn't need a poo etc so I decided to help her out. She had the 6 sachets of movicol on sat and still nothing.

However within 10 mins of the supository she was poo'ing . 3 solid poo's in one go and blood when wiping so I guess thats why she hasn't wanted to go..

Sat she seemed ok and it was managable...I made up movicol for today (2 sachets) and waited to see how she was..come 4ish tonight she started going again (movicol not used..) so far has been about 8 times and its very loose (quite a few accidents) so I guess maybe this is thrwoback from fri/sat's movicol..?

So, today I haven't given her anything and tomorrow I will give her 1 sachet..right..? Just hate the looseness for her but guess thats her system clearing out..?

I would agree that the looseness is probably the Fri/Sat Movicol coming through, so to speak. Your plan sounds like a good one, then see where she is on Tuesday. her bottom got so sore though. You'll probably have to fiddle about with the Movicol dose till you get it right. DH had a poo spreadsheet for DD1 (I kid you not!) of what Movicol she had had, and when she had pooed, so we could increase/reduce the dose as necessary.

Don't know about you, but I never guessed this motherhood lark came with quite so much talk about poo.....

BTW, well done on the walk - 9 miles at midnight - wow!

Yeah, thats what I thought...

well today I have given her 1 sachet with breakfast and so far she has had x2 poo's (no accidents and managed on her own which is fab considering sat/sun was not good..)

So, im happy for today iykwim. I have also had progress on the food front... She had for afters at lunch x7 raspberries which is amazing for her ! she also had x2 innocent smoothie tube thingys and a packet of kiddilicious (dried fruit basically).

Im happy with her today, she is my "old" daughter back again. In fact I have just called dh to ask if she was swapped at the wkd along with ds...

I guess with dd the fact she has got rid of 1 days worth of poo is giving her freedom and making her more comfortable, also this impacts onto ds as when she eats he will eat .

You are right, noone tells you this about kids prior to having them .
Lol at your dh having a poo chart !!

Thanks about the walk. Yeah, im proud of myself. Esp given the lack of sleep I have had this wk will dh away and the stress with dd..I am still feeling the effects now...im sure my legs are worried the car's broke .! Only took me 2.5 hours !