Witholding poo but refuses ALL medication

[JAStribs89]

My 4 year old son is withholding poo, sometimes for as long as 2 weeks. We have been to GP and health visitor and have tried Movicol, senna, lactukosr and others but he will NOT have medicine. We have tried putting it in drinks/ food offering rewards etc. He says he is scared of the toilet however he did overcome the issue once before and was able to poo on the toilet regularly. He overcame it without any form of medication so it is definitely a psychological issue. Please any advice would be greatly appreciated as I am extremely frustrated for us all. It's so tough to watch him hold it and to see him so upset about it. He is in reception and I don't know how it will impact him if he finally let's go at school and has an accident.

[Sunna]

Hi it’s so frustrating my 4 year old daughter is going through the same thing she is scared off toilet she withholds her poo and is in pain when she try’s to poop she is on movical buts it’s getting really hard to give her the medicine, she started reception the school is supporting my daughter she is allowed to wear her pull-up as she is scared to sit on toilet, I have Educational therapist working with us to help her physiological fear off toilet.

[JAStribs89 in reply to Sunna]

I'm sorry you are experiencing this too, it is so tough. My son won't wear pull ups so it is a case of cleaning out pants constantly. How did you get the therapist involved? Is it something you have seemed privately or have the school helped? I don't really know what to ask of his school as we don't know what to do ourselves!

[Sunna in reply to JAStribs89]

You need to speak with your school to maybe arrange a meeting with the school senco and explain everything about your child’s condition and tell them how can they support you and your child and if they agree to help you that is fantastic so you will feel a bit off relive knowing that your son will be getting support and with the EP I went to my local children’s Center as they have EP working with them and spoke to them explaining what my daughter was going through they took my detail and got EP contacting me , it’s very helpful, if you don’t have any local children Center then go to your GP ask them if they can refer you to an EP. Hope that will help you take care.

[Aethawk]

We had the issue of not wanting to take the medicine. We have had the poo problems from birth, but ironically he was going poo almost every hr. but then became impacted at about 2. Movicol just gives him the runs (he drinks loads of fluids, so doesn’t need any further meds to increase fluids. and senna does not seem strong enough. We have found that he needs a muscle stimulant, so he is on pico sulphate.

At 5, Getting him to take the meds initially was a nightmare. We overcame it by putting the syringe full on the table beside his breakfast and a drink. I then just said it was up to him to take the medicine that he needs to get better. Basically made him responsible for it and not hovering over him with it) Reluctantly he took it and has done so ever since. He is now 6.

Hope this helps.