Medication & mental health guidance

[Nsin]

Hi, my nearly 11 year old daughter has been treated for impacted bowels since she was 5 by a gastroenterologist. She’s has 3 desimpactations, two of Movicol and one at the hospital with a tube up her nose. She is now only on 10ml of Senna a day. We’ve found when she takes it she gets belly aches, her poos are very runny and explosive and she has bigger accidents. If she doesn’t take it, she soils her pants a little bit, she doesn’t have belly aches and her poos are more of a porridge consistency. Is this an indication that we should be reducing the dosis? It’s really frustrating for her not to be blue to have a normal life because the need of the toilet and the messes, is there anything available to help her mental health?

[Yaleamanda]

What does her consultant say to do?

[Nsin in reply to Yaleamanda]

To keep on her medicine until she gets to see her in October

[Yaleamanda in reply to Nsin]

I would encourage regular toilet sits and ensure that there is a care plan in place at school for her. Speak to the school SENCO who can help and implement this for you. Senna can cause tummy aches as it stimulates the bowel, pain relief may help.

[Teddy500]

Hi, there should definitely be something available via her GP and/or school, my son had help via his school SENCO. Also just to mention that I now treat my son with daily magnesium (Together Marine) and a prune based smoothie (he can't taste the prune) along with swapping potatoes in his diet for bulgar wheat. I'm fairly sure the Movicol caused daily tummy ache and trapped wind. I don't think his symptoms were as severe as your daughters though. Best wishes hope you get the help she needs 🦋

[Mutterland in reply to Teddy500]

Do you use daily magnesium and prune smoothies instead of movicol? Does this work. I am desperately trying to find the right treatment for my daughter. Her school have not helped at all. I am looking at moving her in the New Year to start at a different school with a better SENCO. Any tips would be really helpful

[Teddy500 in reply to Mutterland]

Yes! No more Movicol 🙂 I know Movicol is meant to be very safe, but there is a lot of information about how it's not and it's so difficult to know what to believe. I did a lot of research on Magnesium - it is also a mind-field as there are different types of magnesium and there are some types which should not be used long term and evidence to suggest that it's not effective in a processed supplement (e.g. a kids gummy) however we're so much happier with the natural remedy we found in the end. The Together Marine from Holland and Barratt is 100% natural and the only one I felt completely happy to try (my son was 10 years old at the time) it comes in a capsule which I open and sprinkle the contents onto a buttered Nairns Fine Milled Oatcake (it sticks to the butter) and then top with thinly sliced cheese or ham. It has a salty taste so it could be sprinkled on chips even. I swapped Weetabix for Oatabix. He also has the Ella's kitchen prunes 70g baby pouch in a beaker mixed with the cloudy apple juice (as it's sweeter) and enjoys that daily - the sugar content of this will be quite high but all his other drinks are water. Since making these changes he has been able to completely stop the Movicol (after years of trying) and he has one daily soft bowel movement and so much less tummy ache, he's even been able to stop doing 10 mins of exercises every morning and night which he had to do to try and get out trapped wind and get his bowels moving. Best wishes and good luck - I know it's really tough!