Movicol help needed

[2shoes]

still new to this. dd is on one sachet a day. now if she doesn't go for a couple of days, can I just up the dose to say one and a half.
or should I chck with doc first?

did they give you any guidelines when they gave you it?

Is she on the paed stuff or the adult stuff?

DId you start on a very high lose and lower it down?

With ds we increased it as he needed it. So if 1 didn't work we went up by half doses until we were getting a result, and then found one where he was pooing regularly but it wasn't too sloppy. If he was having a bad day we upped it by a bit and then brought it back down when he had a better day.

we were specifically told to do that though.

Talk to the dr 2shoes. One of the main principle of using laxatives is not to chop and change doses - the dose may need to be changed slightly to find the right level as TheArmadillo explained but the effect is not immediate so changes are done slowly. What happens otherwise you end up getting runny poo because you gave too much, so stop, then 2/3 days later it is hard again, so you increase and it goes runny etc.

It depends on the size of the problem (as it were) but I tend to tweak by tiny tiny amounts. DD1 only uses something like 1/6 of a packet, probably for a week at a time as needed. When I say 1/6 of a pack, I worked it out in half teaspoon measures I think.

The issue if you give too much is they still may not go for a few days (because that's partly about how fast the body shoves it through rather than consistency as you're using a stool softener not an irritant) and then it comes out like an explosion in a paint factory. I'd probably put it up after she'd done another hard poo rather than because she hadn't done anything yet.

Having said that, don't think one and a half sachets is a "large" dose as such - I know they give 5 or 6 when there's a real problem. So I don't think it'll do any harm. You just might get a bit of a surprise!

hiya 2shoes.DD has just been in hospital this week for a kidney infection and they told us they thought she wasnt on enough movicol and it was affecting her bladder being so constipated all the time.

they have put DD on 2 sachets a day now,she was on 1 before and a couple of times a week we had to increase it.

ive been to the GPs many a time to say im not happy with her being so constipated and they have just said oh increase it,but not told me what too,but now at least she is going to be an outpatient witha paed and we may get more help.

thanks folks.
I have pit a note in for the nurse at school. dd never goes at respite. so by tomorow sh won't have been since tuesday.
but we can normally get her going again iynwim.
up until now one sachet has worked.

this Lothian joint formulary page might be useful, covers movicol and other laxatives

www.ljf.scot.nhs.uk/exist/xmldb/db/ljf_v2/c_unified/c_unified1_6.xml

section (a) gives initial dose/failure of maintenance dose

section (b) gives maintenance dose once everythings "going" normally

a very useful reference site for all sorts of childrens problems and medications, just click on the links on the left

thanks will chexk that out. The nurse has rung me and said it is fine for me to up the dose to upto 3 a day.

ds was on 5/6 sachets of movicol a day at one point and still didnt go so we have switched to sodium picosulfate 2mls a day and he goes like clockwork

update
got her home at half 3 and gave her a drink at 4 she went on toilet and.........
went