Has anyones child took 12 sachets of movicol a day? Support needed for the next 7 days

[mummytopebs]

DD has had chronic constipation for 3 years and has been on movicol for 3 years, she has been on 1 sachet working effectively now for 18 month. She had never had a poo on the toilet as she developed a poo phobia and has only ever had a poo in a nappy.

She has been going to cahms now for 6 month and it has been decided to bring her out of her nappies for pooing at easter.

Started off ok she was quite excited about putting her nappies in the bin on thursday, however she then did not poo. We had upped her movicol to 2 a day at this point. On tuesday was seen by constipation nurse and was given picolax as she was severly impacted, she did do 3 explosions on the toilet after this. We have been back to hospital today and she is still quite full of poo so upped her movicol to 6 today, 8 tomorrow then 12 for a week!!! They are hopeing this will work getting her on the toilet as they feel the poo will have to be like water for a while otherwise she wont go.

She is in mega pain and her tummy is bubbling and thats just off the 6 sachets am dreading going up to 12

And am worried sick it is going to harm, please support me through this cos at the moment i just feel like going and getting her some more nappies, she is so scared

your poor DD. My DS1 (7) has chronic constipation but we use lactulose so I can't really help with moveicol. H is getting a little better as he gets older but he is 3 days without a poo at the moment.

I'm not sure what cahms is or how old your DD is, but we have been trying some of the techniques on the ERIC web site with DS1, and they are helping a bit. I don't know if she is old enough to understand the "Get going leaflet" but you might find it useful (4th leaflet down).

www.eric.org.uk/ServicesResources/LeafletsandPosters/tabid/95/Default.aspx

Would a potty be less scary for her or a baby seat on the loo?

We tried lactolose Hedgepig and it didnt work.

DD is 5, cahms is childrens mental health, she got sent here as the constipation has made her develop a poo phobia.

She will not use a potty because she says she is to old, she has a princess seat for the toilet.

She doesnt seem in that much pain this morning but i just feel so guilty cos i have sneaked 3 sachets of movicol into her morning drink

you mustn't feel guilty , it has to come out and the movicol will soften it up and help her.

I just gave DS1 double a lactulose dose hopefully that will get things moving today. I just feel so blinking helpless that I can't really help my child with thi,s our GPs don't seem to have any idea other than upping the lactose. Maybe I should as for movicol but I really want him not to be on medication for constipation at all, he eats well but probably doesn't drink enough tbh.

Movicol is fantastic, it is the only one that has worked for dd. I know what you mean about them being on meds, dd has been on laxatives for 3 years now, she has a really good diet to.

Doctors dont tend to prescribe movicol unless you ask as it is more expensive.

Can you ask your gp to refer to the hospital? DD sees a constipation nurse at the hospital and she is brill

Ds has had 'overflow' problems for years on and off.

The key for him is to drink lots of water (and I mean loads) and sit on the loo each day about 20mins after food (usually breakfast).

When we follow this regime, he goes most days but when we don't manage to i.e. during school term, he can go for up to 4 days without a poo.

OP I think you have to see the next few days/weeks as a necassary thing to get back on track. Try not to react if it doesn't go in the loo but goes in her pants. Just say it doesn't matter and lets go and change.

It will get better, I'm sure. I find it is one step forward, two steps back sometimes but we keep trying to sort it, just as you do.

Good luck.

My DS is 6 and we have the same problems - started when he was potty training and he would hold his poo in until he just couldn't go - he could go up to two weeks without going and this is still with a not bad diet and on lactulose as well - and I will leave to your imagination what it was like after two weeks.
He will now sit on the toilet at home but I think he has ignored the signals for so long that he really doesn't seem to be really getting them any more. And he will NOT go to the toilet when he is at school - says he is too embarrassed. So every day he is coming home with slightly soiled pants.
He is still on the lactulose - we get him to sit on the toilet a few times a day and also try to get him to drink as much as possible.
I'm taking him back to the docs tomorrow as his school nurse suggested that we get him a referral to the reflexology dept as they have had a lot of success with soiling/constipation.
But I have heard of Movical before - is it worth trying? Does it really make them go a lot - just a bit concerned as to what would happen if he really needed to go while at school.

Snooks I have never had a problem with movicol and you can really alter the dose so that hopefully he wouldnt soil himself at school

DD is doing ok i have weaned her back down to 6 sachets now and she has been going on the toilet for a poo, the first time in 5 years. I think we still have a long way to go as she is pooing on the toilet but it is still like water, so hopefully when it starts to firm up a bit she wont get scared and start to with hold again

Snooks dd went 2 weeks without going when she was 2 which was when all this started, i doubt dd will ever go at school either. When dd is well she is on one sachet of movicol a day and went every night at 6.30 in a nappy, so hopefully she will go back to doing this but in a toilet instead of nappy

well we have a doc's appt this morning so I'm going to ask for the movicol and we are all off on holiday this week so hopefully if we get him started with a good few doses over the next couple of days maybe he can get "cleaned out" before going back to school - but good to know that you can alter the dose as I would hate him to have a really bad accident at school.
We had a good talk about it last night - he's decided that his brain is the good soldiers and the poo is the bad soldiers so he just has to make sure that the good soldiers win - if it works for him he can imagine anything he wants!
Hopefully with your DD if she gets used to sitting on the toilet while everything is really soft then she'll still be ok when things firm up a bit.
Before becoming a mum I never would have thought I would be so obsessed with my child's toilet habits!

Hi I've been away visiting family for a few days, DS1 had huge poo leakage at his grandmas but eventually managed to do a poo which seems to have stopped the leakage for now.

mummytophebs I'm pleased that the Movicol has started working and she has done a poo on the loo, that is huge progress for her from the nappies

Snooks I would be really interested to hear how you got on at the gp, my ds1 sounds very similar to your DS. He will only go after his bath at night and if nothing "develops" than he won't go at school he also seems not to recognise the needed a poo feelings.

went to gp today - he was really good - I went with a full list written down of everything I wanted to discuss - he agreed that DS just needed a good "clear out" for just now but also as I have thought did say that this would keep being a problem until DS decided for himself that he would sit on the toilet whenever he got the urge - and that might not be until he is about 8!!!!!!
Anyway he gave us Ducusol - gave him a dose and after half an hour thought this is useless but then he had 3 poos in quick succesion so think it is working!
The doc did recommend that we only use this stuff at the weekend as we don't want any mishaps at school.
He also said that reward charts are a good idea - we have had these in the past for having poos but we have started a new one tonight - he gets a reward only if he goes onto the toilet himself when he gets a signal - hopefully this will stop him ignoring signals - so wish me luck.
For the first time in ages I feel a bit hopeful about this whole situation.

Snooks I think the problem is though that their bowels are so stretched that they jusy don't 'get' the signal that they need to have a poo.

Ds just about does get a feeling now but needs to go straight away still. That is why going at school is so hard, the loo is on another floor and he doesn't have time to ask and then get there.

The best way, I have found (after years of dealing with it!), is to have a set time when ds sits on the loo e.g. 20 mins after breakfast or tea. He can have a book, his footie cards or nintendo whilst he sits for 10-15 mins. He currently gets a reward of a packet of football cards after sitting on the loo, regardless of whether he poos or not.

The key, imho, is the routine of sitting on the loo every day for a length of time and lots of water (he has had rewards in the past for drinking more than a pint each day too)

Make the targets achievable. Having a target of a poo in the loo each day may not be achievable initially, whereas sitting on the loo is.

Hope this does not sound preachy

Thanks for all the messages - today has been pretty good - for the first time in months DS woke up with clean pjs! Have dosed him again today and he had a poo after lunch. He was out playing with his friends all afternoon which is always a dangerous time cos so far there is no chance that he will interrupt playing to come in and do the toilet.
But his pants are still pretty ok - I know we are still in for a long haul. And I do know that his system is prob so messed up that he might not really be getting signals.
We do also have set times for him to sit on the toilet - same as yourself - we go for after meals and yep he also goes in with books, toys etc.
But hopefully this medicine will keep things moving!!! And I know eventually he will decide himself that he is not going to ignore signals.

My ds is 9 and is still not 'right'. He will fart like a trooper, then run to the toilet then comes out after 30 seconds saying he doesn't need??! It's a long story, but last year I had to take him to the doc as he had pooed in his pants (at 8!!) and he told the doctor he never feels the urge to poo. You know, like we would get a few warnings before we actually have to go and do it - he says he doesn't get these.

He poos every couple of days I'd say and sometimes it's not too bad, but then we get these ridiculous days with the running back and forward to the toilet and me saying 'just sit there for a while!' and him insisting he doesn't need after all. He often does so much in his 'evacuation' that he blocks the toilet.

Thanks for all the messages on here it is turning into a really useful thread.

I to think that there bowels are so stretched that they dont necessarily feel the urge to poo until to late.

An update on dd she has been doing brilliantly and i am so proud of her, she has been going on the toilet when she needs it, i am still having to go with her and hold her hand but today she actually had a poo in the toilet at Asda, this was a massive step and one i didnt think we would see so soon. We have now reduced her to 4 sachets of movicol so it will start to firm now so hopefully she will feel she can cope with this.

Just out of interest how long have your dc been on laxatives? DD has been on them 3 years, i am starting to wonder if further tests should be done to see why she gets constipated as soon as she is not on laxatives? What does anyone else think, it seems strange to me to just keep her on laxatives. We have tried weaning her off but she gets constipated within 2 days

My gp did say that it would take a long time for the bowel to retrain itself (and probably as long as he had had the problem for), although ds has not really needed more than a few weeks of lactulose that he had initially.

We now are able to manage the problem with diet and water and the routine of sitting on the loo.

Perhaps go back to the gp and ask for help in weaning off the laxatives. I assume you are pushing the water and doing the usual dietary things too? Exercise also helps.

I think as your dc had a psychological reason for not going, it is important to work on that first but once you feel those problems are dealt with then it is worth looking at other issues that may be affecting her.

I am really hoping that we don't need to keep DS on laxatives for too long and I'm hoping that I will just need to use them for a back up at the weekends as I know that once he is back at school he won't sit on the toilet at all during the day. And as I work Mon, Tues and Wed he is out the house from 8 - 6 for school and aftercare.
DS doesn't have any pain when he is going and his diet is not too bad. I don't think he is so much constipated but gets impacted when he doesn't take the time to go properly for a few days and hopefully when we get in that situation we can use the laxatives to clear the impact.
I am going to keep going with the rewards system - a mark for each time he does a poo and a treat when he gets so many marks.
DH doesn't really like to do this - I think he feels that DS can make the effort for a reward then why can't he all the time - but I don't care if it works it works.
But if anyone who has been through this can give me any suggestions as to how we can get him over ignoring the signals and being embarrased about going to the toilet then I would be most grateful.
And Mummytopebs that is great that you DD did the toilet in Asda - I can completly understand how great that made you feel!