Maintenance following disimpaction

[fionab23]

Hi, I need some advice!! My 7 yr old daughter has recently been diagnosed with coeliac.

She has struggled on/off with constipation since she was around 2 and that may or may not be linked to the coeliac. She was dry day and night from about 3 till recently!

Prior to diagnosis she was impacted but we managed to clear that very easily. She has recently had a scan that shows her rectum is 2cm larger than it should be and whenever she gets 'backed up' she had daytime wetting accidents and she has wet the bed every night for the past 6 months.

The wetting is really difficult and I'm thinking about getting her a watch to remind her to go. It feels like she has no sensation of needing anymore.

Anyway, I'm finding it really hard to know how much movicol to give her to maintain her. Too much=poo accidents; not enough=wetting accidents.

Any tips out there?? Also how long before you found that your child's colon returned to 'normal.'

This is all so hard isn't it?!?

[fionab23]

Oh and I should probably add, we use dulcolax (at the consultants recommendation) when we think she might be a bit bunged up. It works too well for her!! The next day is a disaster with multiple changes of clothes!!

[Georgina1475]

How many is she on daily? With a regular routine of sitting at the same time every day and plenty of water during the day to help the movical work one is enough for my 8 year old son but every child is different and he is small for his age.

[fionab23 in reply to Georgina1475]

Thanks for this. She is 7. I think we have neglected the water and are trying to get her to sit everyday late afternoon. She is on half a sachet a day at the moment.

[Georgina1475 in reply to fionab23]

So half isn't that much really. When you say accidents is it like a real poo or just what we call wet fluffs which are more like smudges and are caused by soiling due to being constipated. We too found the dulcolax to be too much and opted not to use it unless he was really bunged up. Try giving more water daily and keep up with the toilet sits after school and then about 20-30 mins after dinner as this should stimulate the bowls into going and getting into the routine after being off school for the summer the routine seems to have been lost with us!! As has his sleep pattern to. See how she gets on. If you haven't seen any improvements then I would as her doctor for a referral to see an Incontinence nurse if you have one in your area as they are better clued up on constipation matters I too am a coeliac and it plays havoc with my tummy so I feel for her, it has taken me years to know what I can and can't have and I find more and more things are giving me trouble these days. They put me on an exclusion diet for 3 months after diagnosis and I became more intolerant afterwards.

[fionab23 in reply to Georgina1475]

Thanks for this. When not on dulcolax there aren't very many soiling accidents and when they do happen I think they are just little bits of poo that fall off the end. I'm hoping that regular sitting and more water helps. I've changed my working hours so that I'm around in the afternoon after school more.

[fionab23 in reply to fionab23]

I think the wetting is when there she needs a poo. Did you use the reminder watches??? I'm thinking about getting one of those for her.

[Georgina1475 in reply to fionab23]

We did have episodes where he wet or dribbled when his colon was full, this has stopped since we got the poo under control.

I have set an alarm in my phone for when we are not at home, but generally he walks in from school and goes straight up there and after dinner too. We were told that maturity plays a big Part in getting this sorted and it has been true for us.

[ParentwithsoilingDD]

Hi Fionab23

My daughter at a similar age had constipation and was bed wetting ( see my earlier posts ) and had been on movicol which made more poo accidents which were very messy.She hated this and started to have sit and try times saying goodbye to movicol. She got good at making it come out but would then withhold particularly at school, not wanting to use school toilets but also if it hurt there was no comfort for her.

Overall we would not go back to any laxatives and manage using sit and try at set times. My DD does have occasional pants accidents more due to getting the urge and going with that rather than withholding. Clean ups are not really messy and she copes herself with those.

I know that a lot of parents just want the issue to disappear but to me an easy to clean mess is better than her getting backed up and then needing movicol or similar with the resultant multiple messy accidents..

Jas