Wee, poo UTI’s and constipation... what to treat and how... feeling a little lost!

[Cath88]

Hi all,

New to this group and I have so many questions!

Looking for some advice from anyone who has children with day time and night time wetting and have been told it is due to constipation. My 9 year old has had bladder issues for 5 years now, usually daily wetting and intermittent night time wetting and chronic UTI’s. We live in a rural part of NZ so geeing specialist support is hard and the local paediatrician and GP don’t seem to know what they are doing! A private urologist we saw 2 years ago put all the issues down to constipation, (ultrasound of bladder was normal and we had normal toilet training until aged 4 so have been told there is no physical problem for her wetting) Numerous X-rays show moderate faecal loading which basically means lots of matter in the colon but could be any consistency. She has been on different combo’s of laxatives and 2 x bowel clear outs but x-ray results always show “ moderate faecal loading throughout the colon”. She has a regular, soft bowel motion every day. Doesn’t strain or hold and the only time she soils herself is when she is on too much laxative. I wonder if the issue may be a sluggish bowel though? Vesicare for bladder helped to an extent but gave her such a dry mouth and I read it can cause constipation so we stopped it. We’re currently going through a bad spell with the bladder so have hit the laxatives (osmotics) hard again but I feel like I’m just guessing with the management. She does take daily prophylactic antibiotics to keep the UTI at bay. We have also done probiotics, D mannose, magnesium, psyllium acupuncture, diet changes, regular voiding, diaries, reward charts etc but haven’t found the magic management strategy yet!

Wondering if anyone else has had experience with doctors pushing laxatives to manage bladder issues and it made no difference? Also has any one had success with Senna or other stimulants to keep bowel function good and has this improved bladder function? I have concerns re trying Senna as have read it can lead to a dependency. So unsure re what to do!!! Sorry so many questions! ( and the muddled rant!) Feeling a little lost 🙁

[JamesParkin]

Hi, I'm sorry you haven't received any replies. You may be interested to know that I run a Facebook group called "Daytime Wetting in Children and Teens", where you are likely to find a response to your questions. It has over 400 members who are nearly all parents of children and teenagers with similar problems to your daughter.

facebook.com/groups/6512332...

[Cath88 in reply to JamesParkin]

Thank you so much, I will most definitely check this out 😀.

[giul8bruce]

My saviour is picosulphate 10 ml a day unfortunately without that my daughter can't go. Yes in past we had uti and she has sluggish Colon through ingesting shapes and x Ray we could see she doesn't digest fast enough. She also had blockage so I had to give her 80 sachet of movicol plus pico to disimpact her it was a struggle as she hated it. To cope with accidents I used pull up. Specialist also reccomended enema x 5 days at alternate days x disimpact ion miralax

[Slice]

I honestly don't know much about dealing with the intestines, but it sounds to me like she needs more thorough workups to see what is really happening. If she is having trouble digesting food, maybe changes in her diet may help with that. But perhaps better evaluation of whether there is something neurologic going on in her intestines. This will likely mean traveling to a major medical center to be evaluated. Another bit of advice is that she is old enough now to get really involved in her own care. Getting her to do as much as she can is going to help her feel that things are being done with her not to her. This can go a long way in how she copes with this emotionally. Good luck and I hope you find some answers.

[Heaven10]

Have you tried getting tested for Celiac Disease? My daughter has all of this and is now being tested.

[Cath88 in reply to Heaven10]

Hi, yes she was tested for this and doesn't have it. Since this post we have changed things again. Significantly reduced osmotic laxative which stopped the soiling. Have also stopped the prophylactic antibiotic and are 2 months UTI free, yippee. She is seeing an osteopath regularly and an incontinence Physio who started her on a TEN's machine. Combination of these seems to be slowly helping. Now pretty much dry overnight. Daytime wetting still happening but getting less volume of leakage. Diet definitely impacts so we watch sugar intake and processed foods, also dairy free. If things persist Physio is keen for her to start a low dose of Nortriptyline to calm a " twitchy bladder". I swear most of her issues were caused by lack of medical understanding and being given the wrong medications. It's been a hard battle!