I'm new. Nearly 8 year old son constipation issues

[thisandthat]

I think this site may just save my sanity! I've only just discovered it, despite my son having had problems for most of his life (he is 8 soon). I have read about people being worried, cross, puzzled. My husband and I have felt all of these things. Up until now, I have been thinking that this pooing in pants is just being lazy or fearing trying to pass a big poo. I have had many occasions where things have got bad and I have been to the doctors with him. They have felt his abdomen and found that he has poo 'stuck'. We have then been prescribed Movicol one a day until poo is 'normal' again. It always ends up back where we started. He wont go at school as he is scared of being locked in the toilets. Tonight he has been crying with agony and he has been bent over double with pain (we've had this many times). Desperate to help him, I found this site. I read some things people had been saying and it sounds just like us. Every single doctor has said he will grow out of it! The most recent doctor said that I shouldn't worry, as her 10 year old son was still soiling his pants sometimes and he was just being lazy, so my son would be ok when he was older. He tends to have runny mess - I'm thinking now that this is overflow runny poo going round a blockage. Also I didn't realise that stretching the rectum can lead to a loss of sensation until it is recovered - is this right? He often says he can't feel when he needs a poo. I just haven't believed him - feel like such a bad mum! How do I get the doctor to help me more than just prescribing a sachet a day of Movacol? I'm worried that as he gets older, things will get worse and his friends will notice and it will become a huge emotional as well as physical issue for him. HELP!

[SallyandPaul]

Bless you what a nightmare!! This is all so familiar to so many of us on here. Have you watched the poo nurses video? It is really helpful and explains many of the issues. It does sound like your son needs to do a disimpaction, details of how to do this come under faecal impaction on the movicol box. Senokot also helps with the movicol. It helps with the feeling of needing to go for a poo.You are not a bad mum at all,it is very difficult for us to know how it feels.Constipation stretches the bowel and this causes a loss of sensation so they genuinely can't feel when they need to go.GPs often don't understand either,try again but maybe go to someone else if necessary. Good luck x

[thisandthat in reply to SallyandPaul]

Ah thank you so much for replying. Will watch that video and see what we can do. I think the first step will be to go to the docs again tomorrow. Bit worried about sending him to school tomorrow. Does the bowel recover from the loss of sensation when they begin to recover from this? Thanks again SallyandPaul. It's a real relief to talk to someone who's not just dismissing it as laziness!

[SallyandPaul in reply to thisandthat]

I'm hoping it will recover eventually although our daughter is nine and has had this for six years and it hasn't returned yet!! Things have improved though,occasionally she says " I need a poo"", never thought I'd hear those words. The thing she needs to have most is loads and loads of drink but she's very good at that. We are waiting to go back to the consultant who spoke about injecting Botox into her bowel. Keep going honey things will improve X

[Sarah01234]

Oh dear, you poor thing!! My son is nearly 8 too and although he’s stopped doing this, we were in a similar situation a couple of years ago. We has the laxatives too, which made a great improvement, the only difference being that he took it every day for about a year. Using them longer term seemed to help him and his body adjust to ‘going properly’ and the accidents reduced drastically. He’d previously come home from school smelling of pop every day as he’d have an accident and not do anything about it. We eventually weaned him off the laxatives but we monitored him very closely when we started reducing it in case it was still needed. We also noticed that he struggled at times when his diet changed - eg on holiday when he ate more bread - as his normal diet does include quite a lot of fruit/fibre. Although he’s not on the laxatives anymore, we make a conciliatory effort to make sure he eats well or he struggles again - we even took them away with us this summer as his diet in France was largely made up of baguettes and snacks!

Good luck!! You’re not alone in this!

[Yippieyay81]

Oh I really feel for you and understand how you feel, although my daughter is younger. I would advise you to phone the ERIC helpline (it’s on their website). It’s run by very knowledgable volunteers. It can be tricky to get through to them on the phone but keep trying. From what you’ve said it sounds like your son needs a disimpaction regime where you get high doses of Movicol to clear backlog. ERIC e mailed me documents to take with me when I visited the gp including the NICE guidelines for dealing with childhood constipation. If I hadn’t had these documents my gp would have fobbed me off. My daughter has just finished disimpaction and it took 2 weeks. I think a lot of people with school age children try to disimpact during school hols. Sorry if I’m repeating what you already know! If your gp isn’t cooperative I would push for a referral. I’m feeling like we’ve come to the end of the support that our gp will give us so that’s what I’m planning on doing if my daughter doesn’t improve soon (I’m not sure if a lot of gps know enough to give proper advice). Hope that helps!

[Frustratedmum1]

Hi ya. I'm feeling your pain. To be honest i have been where you are. Don't punish yourself because it does take some time to get your head around it.

My son had no sensation until we managed to get the blockage out of his body. When it came back he didn't know what to do and it now comes and goes. It just takes.alot of persistence and one minute you feel you may be getting some where and then the next you feel you have gone drastically backwards. It is a weird rollercoaster.

I have found to get referal and to push gp you need to have some knowledge which eric has helped me with ie there are tests that can be done. The other thing i have found you need to chase up everything and remind them you are there and you are not going away. Never loose your temper as it goes against you. Keep notes.

I was lucky as the school nurse was the only person in my corner initially and helped me fight for things.

Take care and good luck

[Isabel-123]

I know just how you feel. My daughter will be 8 in January. She has had issues with constipation since potty training. Most of the time I as sure she was just lazy and parts of me thinks she still is. She use to hold her wee till last minute so sure that also lead to her having constipation. Over the summer I sat her down and we talked at length. She told me she sometimes feels it bit doesn't want to stop playing to go to toilet . We watched 'operation ouch ' on YouTube, they did a programme on constipation and she really enjoyed it. She then went on to watch other videos (get well soon) and she has really tried hard. She understands more on why she has to poo and it's nothing to be ashamed or embrassed about. I still need to remind her to go and she is still on movicol but she has been clean everyday since 12th August! I am sure we still have a long way to go, but we are all so much happier . Hope this helps x

[Amanda-87]

Have you tried the elimination diet to see what’s helping him go poop with the movicol my 3 year old (4 next week) has been on a dairy free elimination diet for the past 5 months and it seems to help her also recently fully diagnosed with cmpa x