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SN children

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Original poster

severe constipation/impaction

11 replies

Macforme · 20/02/2010 21:54

DS2 (ASD, MLD hypotonia etc etc) has had the week from hell.
He's nearly 13 and so of course I don't go into the loo to see what he has been passing, so we don't know how long he has been badly constipated. We noticed a few weeks ago that he was going a LOT but assumed he was going, not not going!

However about a week ago I checked and found he was passing just blood and mucus.. lots of blood Started him on lactulose but it was so bad we went to docs..who confirmed he was badly backed up..said more lactulose. After a few nights with NO sleep we went to out of hours today and was prescribed LOTS of movicol. So far 8 sachets of movicol -half, but they couldn't Xray him as the local machine is broken!

he's in the loo every 30 mins..in pain (has an incredibly high threshold and has NEVER complained of pain in his life) passing NOTHING Needless to say he's not eating.

How long do we leave him? Obviously if nothing has come thro by monday I'm taking him back (and to A+E if nec) but I'm new to Movicol and don't know how fast it works.. or really how to tell when it's serious

Any thoughts from those who deal with this sort of problem regularly, would be welcomed as I am VERY worried

OP posts:

JJWMummy · 20/02/2010 22:34

Hi Macforme

Must be horrid for you all, I had Movicol myself a few months ago, only for constipation though not impaction, it took about 8 hours to work for me and that was 1 sachet (so considerably less than your ds)

The one thing I would keep a close eye on, apart from the amount of pain he's in obviously, is his temp, as everything backs up it can release toxins through the bowel walls back into his system causing an infection hence the temp.

At the end of the day you're his Mum and you know him best, go with your instinct, if you're worried take him to A & E.

Sorry I can't help more.

2shoes · 20/02/2010 23:03

sorry I can't advise as 2 sachets works for dd if she is "stuck"
I would say the movicol will hit tomorrow...big time.
if it doesn't work, i would seriously consider a pessery or purge.
we had to use a purge yonks ago on dd, not pleasent but did do the trick.
but would he let you put it up there?

Original poster

Macforme · 20/02/2010 23:41

Unfortunately the GP said an enema won't work because the blockage is high up (not that DS would be happy but he'd probably let me as he is in pain)
I guess it's see if the movicol starts working tomorrow..he's had 8 sachets so far so it's pretty bad

Poo vibes please DS is a really gentle sweet boy and he is anxious at the nest of times so a hospital visit would be really hard for him

OP posts:

2shoes · 21/02/2010 00:07

i so hope it works
my life is ruled by poo, so I really do send you positive vibes

madwomanintheattic · 21/02/2010 01:13

urgh. was going to suggest pessary too... we are a month into trying to resolve impaction here, but fortunately not quite so severe. paed has said it could take us 6 months to resolve though. do feel for you - sending vibes for ds xx

improvingslowly · 21/02/2010 08:06

once this is sorted, it might be worth having a look at the 'treatingautism' website they have info on gluten and casein free diet which does seem to help some people with digestion issues...

NKffffffffe4f80757X11c9d554c2a · 21/02/2010 09:37

My son started on Movicol last summer as he had become very bunged up. Pead said to start two sachets a day but could go up to four a day if necessary (my son only 5 so was Movicol Peadiatric and prob. different doses for an older child). Anyway it took 6 days and 15 sachets before I had a result! During that time he had continued to pass only the very small amounts he had been passing anyway. Then .... several days of diarrheoa while his bowel emptied. He spent most of two days sitting on the potty as he wasn't toilet trained and I couldn't keep up with changing him! But it really worked and cleared him out properly. He is still on it eight months later - was maintained on two sachets a day initially and for the last two months I have managed to reduce to one a day. Hope you have a result very soon.

HelensMelons · 21/02/2010 11:29

Same as NK, increased the number of satchets per day and eventually got ds2 (asd/ahdh) cleared. We have had some probs this week as well, he is always out of sorts when bunged up x

lisad123wantsherquoteinDM · 21/02/2010 12:30

We had years of this with dd1, and we ended up on movical which worked, but took a while to get doses right. Takes less than a day to work on her.
Other hints we have is sitting on loo blowing bubbles and a yachult (sp?) everyday really worked wonders. Hope he is improving

magso · 21/02/2010 13:34

Your poor ds!
My son has a long history of constipation and for him movicol seems to work much better than lactulose especially for impaction. Ds ( then 7 or 8) had to have about 6 sachets a day to start, and I think it took a couple of days to get things going! I was fortunate in having access to paediatric nurses for advice (mostly of the stay calm and give him more movicol) whilst we got started on movicol and sorting out ds impaction. We had to keep the dose high for a while then slowly reduce it and he still takes 1.5 a day.
If there is still no progress I would think urgent advice is required.

meltedmarsbars · 21/02/2010 15:48

DD2 also suffers with constipation and will do elephant poo once a fornight if we're not careful. We use lactulose every day, then movicol twice a week then Dulcolax at the end of the week if nothing has happened, to "clear out" overnight.

Best of luck. Hopefully he will recover and not suffer any longer-lasting physical or phsychological effects.

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