Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
General health

Mumsnet doesn't verify the qualifications of users. If you have medical concerns, please consult a healthcare professional.

Original poster

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

118 replies

DuffyFluckling · 27/04/2009 17:34

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?

OP posts:
Mercy · 27/04/2009 19:41

MP and MC, I can't believe you mean that.

morningpaper · 27/04/2009 19:43

Why not Mercy?

bronze · 27/04/2009 19:48

I dont have to force any of my lot to take their meds to maybe thats why I cant see the need for doing something I would hate.

Mercy · 27/04/2009 19:58

Why?

Because it sounds like a threat. I wouldn't treat an adult like that, less so a child.

And yes, I have had to do the pinning back arms bit with a syringe.

But not with a 6 year old.

morningpaper · 27/04/2009 20:00

It's not a THREAT, it's a CHOICE. She chooses whichever is the least painful option for her. She would rather NOT take the medicine. That part is NOT optional.

NorbertDentressangle · 27/04/2009 20:06

I vividly remember being given a suppository aged 11 after having my appendix out -I was mortified!

At that age I don't think I was even aware that meds could be given in that way so it came as a bit of a shock.

Posters talking about taking temperatures anally reminds me of the expression on our cats face when the vet sticks the thermometer up her bottom -it looks a bit like this !

I think I'd prefer to stick to the oral way wherever possible.

Mercy · 27/04/2009 20:08

I said it sounds like a threat (from your post) not that you threaten your child with one or the other.

Ime, at 6 years it is an option if as you say it's just a sore throat (as opposed to mousemole's example which is quite different)

morningpaper · 27/04/2009 20:11

nah mine has continual strep throat infections

she has to be pumped with meds or get IV'ed which is much worse for her body

so it's not an option

sachertorte · 27/04/2009 20:11

Why not use a suppository for a sick baby when it´s so difficult to get a syrup down? With DD age 4 I avoid suppositories now, she is probably old enough to feel psychologically uncomfortable around the idea.. but physically, I don´t think it causes any discomfort. I just think it´s invading her personal space.

PigWithaCold · 27/04/2009 20:11

I wish i had used them tbh - Mine used to vomit wiht calpol

morningpaper · 27/04/2009 20:12

Hmmm I think there is a lot of uptight British projection going on here

Why would a child feel psychologically uncomfortable about this?

Why is it different from a thermometer in the ear / doctor's throat swab ?

MmeLindt · 27/04/2009 20:18

DS had suppositories when he had a really bad tummy bug. No way would he have kept medicine down if he had been given it orally.

Btw, the pear shaped ones are supposed to go in thick side first or they pop back out again according to our paediatrician.

I normally held them in my hand (while still in the foil) for a moment to soften the end and make them easier to insert.

Mercy · 27/04/2009 20:21

'uptight British projection' - what does that mean?!

If you mean from an adult pov, yes it hurts having something put up your arse however well intentioned (I have had a rectal exam) and I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

MP, you didn't say recurrent strep, you said sore throat - that is different.

Mumcentreplus · 27/04/2009 20:24

Dunno about this malarky! ...if my DDs had issues with taking medicines then perhaps..bth..unnecessary...tbh which would you rather?..

morningpaper · 27/04/2009 20:27

DD says it stings but only for the tiniest second

Doctor swab in throat makes you retch and gag and it horribly unpleasant - why isn't that psychologically scarring?

tattycoram · 27/04/2009 20:33

Interesting. I would have given DS antibiotics up the bum in a shot, trying to get him to take them last autumn when he was really very ill was a stressful nightmare.

BigBellasBeerBelly · 27/04/2009 20:38

I was very English about the whole idea until I actually had some...

They were bigger than a but just sort of zipped up! No trouble. Totally converted.

Very fast acting too - it's true about the blood supply being better and so it gets absorbed quicker etc. That's why some people like to take other, ah, non-prescription drugs anally rather than nasally IYSWIM.

It is just an English/British thing - the idea of anything being poked around our backsides is pretty outrageous to us. You only have to look at the number of bumsex threads - things up yer bum is pretty naughty and giggly to us - and not something to be undertaken lightly, if at all

Vaguely · 27/04/2009 20:40

i have medicine refusing children.
i only insist on medicine when its absolutely necessary, antibiotics or for raging temp control. these occasions are the ones where it is a constant battle to get them to take a dose and the battles are traumatic and not v soothing for the sick child in question, not to mention a no doubt overtired me.
so im all for suppositories as an option for those of us who would use them.
i asked for the last set of ab's in suppository form and couldnt get them.
incidentally, the doc did manage to find a much more concentrated version of the suspension so there was less volume of yuck-taste to hide 3 or 4 times a day.
as an adult i have had suppositories for pain after an operation and for piles after having kids. i find them painless, easy and effective.

francagoestohollywood · 27/04/2009 20:41

A rectal exam is a totally different story to a suppository.
It doesn't hurt to insert a supp... I was partial to glycerine suppositories when pg.

AlistairSim · 27/04/2009 21:15

Has anyone else found that if they do use a suppository, that their bottom just seems to suck it up?

Which seems odd to me because surely bottom-muscles are more used to pushing out, not in?

BigBellasBeerBelly · 27/04/2009 21:17

Yes I found that alistair.

The sucking is apparently something that happens, and is always mentioned accompanied by a dire warning from on other threads to do with things up bottoms...

AlistairSim · 27/04/2009 21:20

Thank you, BBBB.

I clicked post and then suddenly thought "NO! Don't talk about your arse muscles on mn, what if you're the only one this happens to??"

DownyEmerald · 27/04/2009 21:22

I was in hospital in France after a car-crash. Luckily my dad was with me when they left the thermometer on the bedside cabinet for me to take my temperature and my anti-inflammatory medicine.

I was in my early 20s - I had no idea suppositories existed!

Tortington · 27/04/2009 21:24

i think this is a ridiculous question!

why are Europeans so ok with having things shoved up their arseholes is a question worth asking on the other hand

BalloonSlayer · 27/04/2009 21:25

As an aside... a child I know with SN had to leave his mainstream school (which he loved) to go to a special school (which he hated) because the drugs he needed to take could only be administered rectally, and no staff member at the mainstream school was willing to do this for him.

I'd have done it for him, had I known him then. Despite me feeling slightly unconfortable about it. I'd have got used to it; he obviously had.

Swipe left for the next trending thread