Views on suppositories

[SCPK]

Following our initial few visits to the gp, and it being difficult to administer the amount of movicol required for disimpaction, as our toddlet drinks very little, the gp tentatively offered suppositories.

For us it was such a relief as after weeks of no stool being passed and months of the witholding getting progressively worse, our daughter passed two solid stools and then the backed up stools which had been treated with various medications, all started to pass.

Without the suppositories, we feel the overflow stool and length of time to wait for movicol etc to work would have caused further issues. This was after weeks of what felt like constant leaks and nappy changes and and feeling very lost as to what to do.

We are now trying to get the right maintenance regime with a combination of movicol and lactulose and a further benefit is knowing the suppository is an option if we are in a desperate situation again, given the difficulty administering movicol.

I'm interested to know if anyone has had a similar positive experience of using suppositories occasionally and the clinical reasons if any, as to why this is not a standard approach.

I get a little frustrated by the constant reference to movicol, which I understand is due to it's effectiveness, but given that it is so difficult for us, and many others I believe , to administer such large doses, I feel this was a good solution to get things moving without further delay.

[clmls123]

we had no luck for a number of years from age 3 til 5/6 with all the usual regime of progressing through movicol/lactulose/senna etc etc. & she didnt do a formed poo in all that time!!! luckily for us a specialist nurse at the childrens hospital thought outside the box & suggested suppositories....yey & behold that (without any of the other meds) actually worked, we had a couple of months of extreme stress using them with a 6 year old but then she produced formed stools for the first time in years & shortly afterwards became continent of bowels. we thought they actually retrained her bowel to produce normal bowel movements whereas all the previous meds had just resulted in what we used to describe as cow pats! i dont think anything is a substitue for drinking the right amounts of fluid but i would agree the focus on movicol can mean other treatment options can be omitted, there is a never a one size fits all. i would also google stomach massage( & also reflexology) for constipation & suggest you try that for your little one, best of luck.

[SCPK in reply to clmls123]

Thank you, and In so pleased for you that you've come through the years of stress x

[Robinia]

Thanks for posting- we have used suppositories (glycerin and bisocodyl) and deffo think they can be part of the solution. I think you make a very valid point ☺️

[SCPK in reply to Robinia]

We felt so relieved as to continue to try to get such a large amount of movicol into our daughter was causing us all stress and the frequent overflow poo was so difficult, luckily she want in nursery/school at the time.

I wonder why the suppositories are not often considered.

[Robinia in reply to SCPK]

It’s just NICE guidelines to start with oral meds and only introduce suppositories much further down the route. But I think it’s cultural tbh. Other countries are much more comfortable with it and use pessaries for administering meds.

I love this forum because there’s so much shared experience- very helpful to all share ☺️

[SCPK in reply to Robinia]

Yes my other half thinks it may be a cultural thing too. Are the NICE guidelines regarding chronic constipation and/or witholding? Ill definitely take a look.

Yes I'm so glad for this forum🥰

[Hidden]

It probably is a cultural resistance. My sister lives in Germany and brought up her children there. They routinely provide suppositories for many childhood conditions - paracetamol for routine fevers etc. It's a much quicker and more effective way of getting the medication into their system as it is readily absorbed through the bowel wall. Very useful if, like one of mine, they cannot stomach medication when poorly.