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Original poster

Laxatives

16 replies

theDudesmummy · 08/06/2013 17:53

Hi, just wondered if people had any experience with getting Movicol into a child? DS is on Docusol at the moment for disimpaction of a distended lower bowel, but it's really not having any effect (even with concomitant v high fibre diet) and the paediatrician has told me to change to Movicol if the Docusate did not work. The thing is, while the Docusate is syrup and therefore easy to get into him via a syringe (with a bit of a choc Hobnob bribe), the Movicol is a powder in a sachet and I don't know how we are going to get it into him.

Will it dissolve in water enough to also use a syringe? Or would the volume be too much? He won't drink anything other than water or milk. Would putting it in milk make the milk taste horrible? I don't want to put him off his milk (which is what happened when I tried diguising omega oil in yoghurt, he just never ate yoghurt again). Any other ideas?

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dev9aug · 08/06/2013 18:00

It completely dissolves into water or any juice with no after taste, so it should be fine. The volume of water depends on the number of satchels you are using. You have to stick to the measurements because the water you add is supplied to replenish the water movicol takes out of the body to bulk up the stool.

Original poster

theDudesmummy · 08/06/2013 18:02

Oh that is helpful. It would be OK in a bottle of milk then?

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Original poster

theDudesmummy · 08/06/2013 18:03

I have been told to start with one sachet

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dev9aug · 08/06/2013 18:23

Yeah, can't see any reason why not.. Just make sure it is dissolved properly if you are using milk.

dev9aug · 09/06/2013 11:24

Have they suggested any stimulants to go with it..? Also have they given a schedule as to how many sachets to go to as maximum and over how many days etc...

chocnomore · 09/06/2013 13:00

we are on movicol and dissolve it in juice or tea. i find it has a bit of a funny taste but dd does not mind.

have you had some more guidance re dose? usually you start on 1 sachet and then you increase it daily. we had a clearout about 10 days in. also, make sure you decrease the dose only slowly once things are moving rather than cutting down quickly.

magso · 10/06/2013 10:31

We used to mix movicol in diluted juice, but now ds copes with it just in water. It does have a mild taste - sort of Epsom salty. Taste decreases by volume so if dissolved in a larger quantity (than the minimum) it becomes less noticeable.

dev9aug · 10/06/2013 13:16

Really sorry thedudesmummy, it seems I was wrong. I honestly couldn't taste anything and ds1 has occasionally about 6-8 sachets in a day all mixed with water mostly.

I hope that I haven't ruined anything for your ds1 with my rubbish advice.

Toni27 · 10/06/2013 18:56

My son will only drink movicols shaken up in a fruit shoot. Tried loads of different ways to get it down him over the years and this is the most fool proof method I have found. And I have to disagree with it not tasting bad, I think it tastes gross, a bit salty, so a fruit shoot disguises the flavour xx

Original poster

theDudesmummy · 12/06/2013 08:46

Don't worry dev, we have not actually started yet, but I am just working out how we are going to do it! I may even start with syringes, which he will swallow without complaint, although of course there will have to be a lot of them! If he goes to more than one sachet however I think we will have to try mixing it into something!

DS does not drink juice (he looks at you with genuine shock and disgust if you give him any, and spits it out if you give it to him in a syringe, as I have tried with prune juice!). He does drink water but he "takes it and leaves it" so if you give him a cup of water he may drink it all or drink some or none of it, which means you would not be sure to get all the stuff into him.

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Original poster

theDudesmummy · 12/06/2013 09:03

Another MNetter has mentioned Oxypowder to me. I have looked at stuff about it on the web and it looks interesting. Has anyone had any experince with it?

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Original poster

theDudesmummy · 17/06/2013 16:55

Well the Movicol has proved quite easy to get into him as he does not notice it mixed in milk! It might get a bit harder if he needs much higher doses however, but I have him on two a day for now, in some milk. Not much result I must say, his stools are loose but they always are anyway, that is the problem we are trying to address.

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salondon · 17/06/2013 17:19

Did the doctor say what you should be looking for as a success factor? i.e. lots of poop? because as you say, its a laxative and it will cause the stools to be loose.

Original poster

theDudesmummy · 17/06/2013 17:32

We are looking for totally watery stools (the theory is that his chronic diarrhoea may be caused by the overflow behind a blockage, which needs to be flushed out by the whole colon basically being rinsed out! On X-ray the lower colon was distended, therefore this approach).

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chocnomore · 17/06/2013 17:45

are you increasing the dose daily to work yourself up to a higher dose (8-10 or so)?

Original poster

theDudesmummy · 17/06/2013 17:48

Yes, but I have just emailed the consultant as he was not entirely clear about what maximum we can aim for with the Movoicol (he remembered to tell me the max dose for Docusol, which we reached with no joy, but not on the Movicol. I know some people go up to 8 or 10). Any thoughts on how quickly I should do any increases?

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