Daughter with ? Sluggish bowel

[Cath88]

Hi,

Urologist says my child is constipated which is causing her bladder issues ( 5 years and counting) She hasn’t been impacted but all her x-rays show moderate faecal load, i.e lots of matter but not necessarily hard. She passes a good sized soft poo everyday. Doesn’t strain. Osmotic laxatives don’t seem to get on top of this and the practice nurse mentioned possible sluggish bowel. I wondered if anyone else had come across this, what the symptoms are and how it would be managed. Particularly interested to hear about stimulant laxatives..pro’s and con’s.

Thanks all!

[Yaleamanda]

Have you disimpacted her before? You can use a stimulant along with an osmotic laxative, but ideally you want to fully disimpact and this will only really work with an osmotic laxative.

[Cath88 in reply to Yaleamanda]

Hi, yes have disimpacted twice with osmolax ( Macrogol). Works great to clear her out but I really struggle to get the maintenance dose right swinging one way then the other! I spoke to the GP re stimulants but he is dead against going down this road..reckons it will cause problems with peristalsis in the long run.

[CN4321]

We found with my son that senna was a real game changer, he didn’t have a problem with hard poo but just wasn’t getting it all out.

It could be worth asking about that

[Cath88 in reply to CN4321]

GP not keen for us to do a stimulant. How long was/ has your son been on it. Any side effects?

Thanks

[CN4321 in reply to Cath88]

He has been on it for about 2 years but we have had times where we have cut it out. I have asked several times if there is a problem with him being on it for a prolonged period of time, but I have been told not. This was prescribed by the specialist team we see at the Evelina hospital.

We haven’t had any side effects at all, apart from an improvement in soiling

[Anna908]

I would reccomend that you use senna as it helps push the poop out.