Why don't the British like putting things up their bottoms?

[DuffyFluckling]

I have paracetamol suppositories for my children. I think I prefer them to paracetamol suspension syrups. No sugar or sweetner or horrid pink colour. No stickiness. No throwing up and wondering whether to give another dose or wait 4 hours. No struggling children who don't like the taste and don't want to take it.

There seem to be many advantages, and suppositories are commonly used in many countries, but not in UK. Why is this?

[SoupDragon]

But if you time a suppository badly you get shat on.

[curlygal]

When I was working as an aupair in Paris I was quite shocked when told to give the baby her medicine.....

Was fine

Much preferable to being asked to wash a 12 year old boy's private parts for him in the bath. I didn't stay long in that job, wonder if they got another teenager who was happy to do it

[pooka]

I remember having to have a suppository when I was constipated. It is, in fact, my earliest memory. I was about 4 and it in no way look like the size of a . More like a broad bean size. I was most surprised and not a little resistant.

[Flibbertyjibbet]

My eyebrows have still never quite come back down since the registrar 'popped' a finger up there to check for damage after the birth!

Then 4 days later a midwife gave me a suppository (I think cos my anus was still in shock ), told me it would take half an hour to work... I had to elbow her out of the way in the ward doorway 30 seconds later and what a sprint THAT was with stitches and everything.

So no, I'm not keen on having things put up my bum!

[BonsoirAnna]

Even in France (the birthplace and spiritual home of suppositoires) the psychological implications of taking medicine anally are highly contested . There is no need to stick pills (or a thermometor) up a child's rectum. Don't do it.

[louii]

Paralink suppositories would be pretty widely used by parents in Ireland.

Tried to buy them in chemist here for my son and was made to feel like a pervert.

They are the absolute best thing for a temperature.

[SuiGeneris]

Definitely a cultural thing. In Italy they are widely used and perfectly normal. I remember being given them as a child: much better than the capsules/pills that taste foul and are difficult to swallow. A popular joke at primary school involved a hapless hospital patient who told the doctor he had found the suppository quite difficult to swallow...

But then again, temperature was taken rectally and, as Franca said, we have bidets...

[paisleyleaf]

"but don't you have to use your finger to shove them up a bit further?

or do they come with an applicator?"

That's what I'm wondering (re size of a wink).

[asteamedpoater]

Well, I remember being given suppositories as a child to help ward off travel sickness (and having my temperature taken anally...). I still remember the uncomfortable feeling in my bottom, too, until the bl**dy things had dissolved. Maybe if you are really ill with a temperature you don't mind the sensation of having something stuck up your bottom (although I distinctly remember objecting to the thermometer when I had a temperature!!!!), but if you aren't actually ill at the time, it doesn't feel too good. Makes you want to doo a poo to push it out, in fact. I would only consider giving my kids suppositories if they really couldn't face swallowing their medicine, given my own unpleasant memories, although I concede that they can be useful in certain circumstances, and for some children may be more pleasant than having to swallow something they can't stand the taste of.

[MmeLindt]

They are quite small. About the size of lemsip capsules I would say.

Franca
We have a bidet too but it is not plumbed in. A friend has a pot plant in hers

[Beachcomber]

I live in France and use suppositories on the very odd occasion I give my children painkillers. Much, much better than utterly disgusting syrup crap that has aspartame, red food colouring and so on in it. Why would you want to put that crap in the body of a sick child?

The suppositories are very small and slippery. You do not have to insert your finger if you do it properly. My children do not mind in the least, it only takes a second and I have asked if it is uncomfortable and they say no.

BTW for anyone wanting to do it properly you need the child to be bending over with their head in between your knees not lying on their back with their feet in the air. In the former position the suppository pops in and my eldest who is 5 says she can hardly feel anything.

I did find the whole idea a bit odd when I first moved to France but now I have got used to it I prefer it.

[spicemonster]

I grew up in Belgium and we always had suppositories. It's a much better way of administering any medicine - it reaches the blood stream much faster than oral injestion

It's not remotely painful.

I suspect it's to do with the British uptightness about bottoms

[DuffyFluckling]

You don't have to put your finger up to push them in at all. They just sort of shoot up.

I do like the fact that they aren't full of sweeteners and stuff.

As I said before, my children are both still young, so I am still involved with their bottoms on a daily basis anyway. If they ever expressed a preference for syrup intead I'd say fine.

Suppositories are wonderfully effective for piles you know .

[AlistairSim]

I had valium suppositories when I had a back injury.
Freakin' fantastic, barely made it back to bed before collapsing in a drugged haze.

Mind you, I'm not even remotely squeamish. Shove it in and see what happens, is my mantra.

[pagwatch]

Ultimately I think we just don't know how to relax and enjoy ourselves.

[francagoestohollywood]

MmeLindt plumb it in , you'll never look back

[lljkk]

I'm not British, and I don't like the idea of sticking things up my bottom, either! Never mind doing it to someone else (yuck yuck). Sorry, that's just WAY too personal for my taste. Isn't it obviously an aversion to poo why people don't like the idea?

I was recently in hospital with very high temperature and frequent puking. To get the temperature down, I ended up with paracetamol being inserted up my bottom by the nurses (either that or another IV, which I really didn't want either).

I was very pleased when I could swallow tablets again.

I don't care what you all stick into your or another person's anus (presuming consent), but there's nothing wrong with those of us who feel sick at the idea.

[mousemole]

We were prescribed them finally a few days ago for DS2's absolute agony post tonsilectomy. 10 days of hysteria over swallowing medicine every few hours and finally I get a sensible approach to pain relief. popped it in when he was asleep and he didn't notice. A full night' sleep followed which was what he needed most. Personally I am also very happy to give his little liver a rest and his system a break from all the coloruings/flavourings. I am a convert.

[MadameCastafiore]

Bloody hell I am going to get a box - then if DS is whining about taking his meds again I will put on some big vinyl gloves (am allergic to rubber) and threaten to stick a suppository up his arse that will soon have him standing there with his mouth open!

[morningpaper]

Yes I find them GREAT

Basically I give my six year old the choice of up the bum or in the mouth. It is a good way of gauging how sore her throat REALLY is... But yes it takes a split second to do and is fine. No different to putting cream on them. Forcing medicine down their throats is hardly pleasant either!

[Elibean]

mousemole, we also had supps for dd2 after tonsillectomy (and adenoids, and epiglottoplasty) and thank god for them!

Personally, I've found there are some that are uncomfortable and some that aren't, and it depends on the drug. Voltarol made me feel uncomfortable, ones for piles didn't.

Got used to them during infertility treatment, and haven't minded them since - but also had bad experience of them in France as a child: one that stung like crazy, I'll never forget it!

[mousemole]

hi again Elibean ( thanks for all your tonsil tips - despite the pain I am so glad he had it done). I agree, they are great. I put a bit of sudocrem on it first so it goes in really easily. DH found it a bit more alarming than me !

[Mercy]

I can see how in extreme circumstances they are more effective but I don't like the idea.

My Dutch friend used to take her dd's temperature anally and got cross when she (the dd) objected - but felt free to call me a prude for not agreeing it was a good idea. Yes, my ds got cross with me when I tried to give them medicine orally.

Dutch thinking at the time was also to makekeep your attempting to cruise child lie down (ie, keep puttng them or even strapping them down) until they could pull themselves u up and do it completely unaided

[SlightlyMadSwineFlu]

FWIW the Japanese (as I understand) think the same about oral meds.

It is (apparently) practically impossible to market a new drug in Japan unless there is a suppository version.

One of the reasons that suppositaries work so well is that all the blood which has come from the gut with all of that oral drug nicely absorbed has to pass through the liver where (depending on the actual drug) much of it can immediately get metabolised to inactive or even toxic by products. I don't think rectally absorbed drugs go straight to the liver in the same way so there are actually some real scientific benefits to suppositories.