incontinence due to constipation with overflow

[shortpants]

hello ther. not sur if anyone can help. i have a wonderful 6 year old son, who at the age of 14 months had a bowl prolapse due to being significantly constipated because of being on a soya based formula milk because of an intolerance to dairy. since then he has had no end of problems woth going to the toilet. in 2010 i took him to the doc's after having years of no one listening to my concerns baoput his weight and his toiletting issues and they referred him to a consultant. he was under consultant care for 18 months. at the momen he is on a medication called movicol of which he has to have 12 sachets a day. this of course has increased the amount of accidents a day. my daily life consists of cleaning my son up to 15 times a day because he has no messaging system to let him know when he needs a poo. this is driving me crazy as i am trying to hold down a degree at uni full time, look after my other child, live in two places at once and address his problem in school, who are supportive and help as much as they can but cannot physicall clean him due to child protection issues. is there anyone out there experiencing the same as me? is this classed as a disability? and is there a light at the end of the tunnel?
this may only be incintinenece, but until you live with someone who has incontinence quite severly and needs physical care throught the day everyday it is hard to gain an insight into how stressful and restricting it is for the whole family. i cant remember the last time we went out for the day!!! please help

[shortpants]

isnt it funny how so many oif us are experiencing this problem with our childen as yet each one as clueless as the other. it just goes to show what doctors consider to be a problemless disability. i read in this months nursing magazine that doctors and gps were going to raise awareness on constipation with overflow and the problems it brings however, i have recently learnt that even the school nurses are taking wetting and soiling off their list of jobs to deal with!!!!! crickey! my sons school ahve, after completing a CAF with the appropriate professionals agreed to putting in a disabled and showeer room for him as and when he has accidents. he has been off the movicol for a week now and has bunged back up completely. do i give a high dose to unblock him as the doctors suggests or do something else??? soooooooo effing confusing.
Hirschsprung's Syndrome seems to relate quite alot to my childs bowl movements but not sure to bring this up with the GP a a fear of being made to feel like an eratic mother with munchausens does not appeal. but who wil stick up for my son if i dont?

Toni27, not sure what to suggest. how old is your son? can he still get away with wearing a nappy or pullup? the feeling of padded comfort might be helpful as a short term measure?? lots of childen do have fear of pooing but normally overcome that in time. hoipe this helps. oh, have you tried allergy testing???

[magso]

Well done shortpants! And a disabled loo and shower will be useful for future children and staff too.
I don't know what to suggest on dose - this is where a specialist nurse would be useful! It really depends how long ago he last went. He may need other medications such as senecot (only if prescribed!) to give the stimulus to go - it all depends on why things are not regular. If its only a few days since he last went I would go back on the previous dose of movicol (assuming it was enough to keep him regular with softish stool) plus an extra sachet (ie 3 instead of 2). 12 would be too much at least for my son. Longer and it might need more and support from the GP.
Toni we were told (by specialist doctor) that it might have been pain that set up a fear of going (ds had regular tears as an young child poor child). The idea then is to keep the poo soft so it doesn't hurt so much and the tear can heal properly and the child learn it is not painful. Of course children on the spectrum often have unusual or seemingly illogical fears. When ds was obviously in pain and feverish (as can happen with tears and running through) -we gave calpol.

[Toni27]

Thanks guys, yes I find it bizarre that so many of us are experiencing the clay like poops too. I'm hoping our son will grow out of it as his tummy matures. I did try going dairy free and then gluten free but it didn't make a jot of difference. My friend had allergy testing done by clarion health for her son, he had to hold something that sent electrical waves through him apparently and it came up with results saying he shouldn't have yeast. But her son does not have asd and I don't think our son would sit through the test. I'm thinking of trying to give it a go tho as our friends sons constipation has been cured. But my son doesn't have constipation on movicols he just won't go. I wish I could help him get over the fear so much.

[hel23]

Hi just read your post my son is 5 and am going throw the same he as to wear nappies and he in school all day and I worrie cause when he as a overflow it smells bad

[clareoakery]

Hi I know how you feel my son has had this problem since birth. He saw a peadatrician when he was younger when he was in junior school I was called into school many times through the day to change him or take him home to clean him. No at secondary school it's no better. In fact worse he has seen another peadatrician who sent him for scans to find that he has Colon of the bowel his clothes are stained from the movical and even have leakages at night on bed sheets. Some days he can not get out of bed as in too much pain in stomach. Now school has assigned support worker Aarhus has effected his school life for around 6 mths as this is when has started to get worse.