My 10 year old's constipated and soiling

[Wilbo85]

My 10 year old son has been suffering with (we believe) constipation causing overflow where he is almost constantly soiling himself. Back in July he had laxatives and it seemed to sort it out and he was ok for a bit. He has again started soiling and again is back on the laxatives. He soils every day and has to change his underwear up to 5/6 tines a day and has episodes where he wipes and has to just keep wiping as it just keeps on coming.

He has got quite a good diet already but I have increased his fibre and he eats more fruit and veg and drinks plenty of water.

He is so upset and self concious, it's affecting his schooling. I always stay positive, I never get cross with him and I constantly try to reassure him but it's so hard sometimes and it can be quite draining as I'm always worrying.

He has been back on the laxative for about 3 weeks now and in the last 2 weeks has had 3 what he calls "normal poo's"

Is this something that may take a while to settle? I suppose we just need to persevere but he gets so upset about it and he thinks it's never going to end.

[Alicass]

There's no quick fix for constipation. Have you disimpact him with Movicol or Laxido?

He may have lost the feeling of needing to go to the toilet. My son had that.

I would keep him on Movicol etc for a while. Hopefully you can get the problem better before he starts secondary school.

[Wilbo85 in reply to Alicass]

He hadn't opened his bowels properly for a while but has done 3 times in the last 2 weeks so im hoping that means the laxido is working.

Is your son better now?

The plan at the moment is to take laxido for a month and then review with our GP.

[Alicass in reply to Wilbo85]

Yes my son is better thank you but we're not quite there yet. He's been on Movicol for 2 years and we've done 5/6 disimpactions.

I would disimpact over Christmas so you're 100% sure he's poo free.

You could call ERIC to see what they say.

I hope he gets better soon. It's very frustrating for the parents and children.

[Yaleamanda]

You need to disimpact him, and once correctly completed remain on the laxatives for as long as the issue was there, i.e. if been like this for a year then stay on the laxatives for year. Always reduce the laxatives extremely slowly i.e. one sachet every three days.

[Bambie83]

I agree with Alicass - I would do a full disimpaction over Christmas. Just giving him a lower dose of Laxido or movicol won’t be enough to shift the blockage and could possibly make it worse (as the new sticky poo could coat the old poo inside).

I’m afraid it’s not a quick solution (I’ve been going since this time last year with my 4 year old) but it is totally worth it!

Keep going, you are not alone.