Movicol causing stomach pain

[Cath88]

Hi,

We are about 1 month into a change in laxative meds with my 9 year old as previous plans didn’t stop the constipation. After disimpaction using Osmolax ( active ingredient is Macrogol which is same as that in Movicol) we are on a maintenance dose of 2 sachets a day. Still not quite there with the correct dose (either too liquid or too solid) but in the last 2 weeks she is complaining of very painful stomach cramps and is farting like a trooper. We were in ED at the weekend it was so bad. Doctors were clueless. My question is has anyone else experienced these side effects with Movicol/Osmolax ( I can’t think of anything else causing the cramps) . I also wondered if any one has done a mixed laxative plan using lactulose and movicol as this may be my next plan of action.

Thanks team! 😁

[flowerlov]

I know that Lactalose caused so much pain for my daughter, then so did Movicol, not as bad though. I came to the conclusion that it was because very old poo was finally coming away from bowels and moving, causing pain as bowels so tender. But check ingredients in case allergic to them. Dont stop, movicol, it can take months for old compacted poo to slowly come off bowel walls. Take care, you could always ask for MRI, this would show every fine detail, any tight narrow bowel, or if any problems. But I would suggest lactulose did cause my daughter a lot of pain. Demand to see specialist in bowels. Good luck, all the best.x

[Robinia in reply to flowerlov]

How do I make them do an MRI? My son is being admitted for a week this week - irrigation not working annoyingly - nothing ever works for long 😖 they just keep doing bowel transit studies and I’m convinced there’s something going on they haven’t found yet. I think an MRI might pick it up. I wondered about offering to pay for the MRI privately but obvs still need his surgeon to look at it and make sense of it (he’s under a surgeon now) . Would you say the MRI is deffo worth doing? He’s had severe problems for 2 years now and we are no further forward (apart from having reduced the anger now because we’ve reduced the movicol)

[Cath88 in reply to flowerlov]

Thank you Flowerlov! I never really thought about poo being stuck on the bowel walls but that makes sense. The pain seems to be lessening so I think we will try and ride it out. I feel if I change things we could well end up back to square 1. Unfortunately there is no chance we will get an MRI, we had to pay privately to get x-rays as the hospital doesn’t believe in doing x-rays for constipation! Don’t think our budget will stretch to private MRI but I will bear this in mind if we get stuck.

Cheers

Cath

[Robinia]

My son’s pain has massively decreased since decreasing movicol but he can’t poo so it is tricky 😖 we have had a bit of success with using natural alternatives such as herbal capsules from the chiropractor and magnesium oxide (available on Amazon). It’s worth looking at what else is out there. You might be able to supplement the movicol with something. Also worth using a stimulant alongside as well such as Senna or bisocodyl.

[Cath88 in reply to Robinia]

Hi,

Interesting to hear similar issues. We did try the natural route, psyllium and magnesium but it back fired and we ended up all bunged up again. I would be tempted to add the magnesium back in though to supplement. My GP and dietitian were so dead against adding Senakot or senna they have made me very wary. I was told this could cause lots of discomfort for her but also dependency. Again will bear all options in mind if the current situation deteriorates.

Thanks for your thoughts

Cath

[Robinia in reply to Cath88]

How interesting that they are dead against Senna. Do you have a continence nurse working with you? We had a really good one who was very knowledgable. It seems to me that movicol does cause problems for some children, it never used to for me son but it does now. I think it’s because he can’t poo anymore so it gets stuck inside him and causes wind to build up (like colic). If the problems persist I would push for a referral to someone who is more specialist. Also seeing a good chiropractor helps with pain. I wish we had gone to one years ago as my sons problems are now so severe surgery is the next step. Good luck

[Cath88 in reply to Robinia]

Hi Robina,

Oh that’s so tough for you guys. The more I read the more I see that the time it takes to get on the right path can make such a big difference. We saw a “continence” nurse once. She told my daughter to drink more and then discharged us. We saw a paediatrician once who told us to come off all the laxatives and then discharged us! Thankfully we have a great GP but as good as he is he isn’t a specialist. We did have a private paed urologist who gave us the best management plan so far. May be worth another visit. We’ve done a year of acupuncture which helped me mentally as the practitioner was a great sounding board but I don’t think it’s really helped with my daughters symptoms. I’ve never considered a chiropractor... would love to hear more about the why’s and how’s and successes of this if you have time... nothing is better than other’s experiences!

Thanks again

Cath x

[Robinia in reply to Cath88]

It’s great you’re coming at it from all angles. Someone I’m in contact with through this site has been seeing a functional medicine practioner, along with a chiropractor, says it’s definitely helping. I think the important thing is to find the right practitioner. My sons chiropractor is amazing but he now has mega rectum due to all the severe constipation and that’s going to take years to get back into shape. No regime has worked for him yet, he’s being admitted tomorrow for 5 days and I’m expecting the surgeon to say surgery is next as his irrigation isn’t working now. If you’re interested in the functional medicine practitioner send me a private msg and I will try to put you in contact with the parent I’m in contact with. It’s not cheap but seems to have helped her son. The magnesium oxide was great when we used it but my son really struggled with having to take loads of capsules, it makes him get trapped wind and feel sick.

[Kajayla]

Hi Yes my girl was always complaining of stomach cramps but its wasn't until we got it all under control did they subside. She is now on one movicol a day and thankfully hasn't complained of stomach cramps in a couple of months.