Movicol Dosage- confused mum of toddler on Movicol

[CheshireMama]

Looking for some help... we are in contact with the GP but I thought I’d reach out to the society here for advice.

Daughter is almost 3 & has been on Movicol for a couple of months after discovering a cycle of constipation & withholding in October that didn’t improve with lactulose.

On 2 sachets / day the consistency goes from a Bristol Stool Chart healthy number 4 to a loose number 6. Some days she passes large amounts of soft poo (and I mean huge amounts) & other days she struggles & passes a few small, yet soft amounts of poo. We’ve recently potty trained & she sometime seems to need to run to the toilet in a panic, not sure if this is potty training related (ie getting used to the sensation & knowing when to go) or if related to too loose stools.

Has anyone experienced varying consistency & frequency of stools despite a steady dosage? Does it matter if some days she has huge poos and other days small poos?

After a few days of decent amounts of medium soft stools (number 4/5on chart) she started struggling and we then increased the dosage to 2..5. But no results since, just very small soft poos.

I feel like this is taking over my life (poo diary, potty cleaning, encouraging on potty after all meals, pushing the liquid intake, calling the GP). Will it get easier??

Can we up and down the dosage depending on how she’s doing ? What’s the lag time of impact of the medication on the bowel movements?

Thanks

[Bambie83]

Did anyone mention if she might be impacted? If so then the movicol will be softening the poo in her bowel and may need a full disimpaction to completely clear the blockage.

I found when doing a disimpaction that even at 6 sachets my daughter was almost normal and then sudden it all came out. They’re would also be a mixture of soft poo and more grittier stuff.

[CheshireMama in reply to Bambie83]

The GP never mentioned impaction, I’ll ask today. She’s passed some huge huge poos and I’ve seen seeds and corn which I believe means things are coming out quite quickly and easily.

Thank you - I’ll bring it up with GP.

It’s so tiring

[Bambie83 in reply to CheshireMama]

Don’t be surprised if they no little about it - I only got help when I had finally got through to ERIC.

I was confused in the beginning because my daughter was also pooing regularly and I couldn’t understand that she was even constipated. Then someone described to me that it’s like a motorway and the blockage is the traffic jam and so the poo that you’re seeing is actually leaking around the blockage (down the hard shoulder) and stretching the bowel as it does.

It is tiring I know but it will get better.

[CheshireMama in reply to Bambie83]

Thank you x