10 year old son / Movicol and horrendous pain under his left ribs and tummy

[Poopolice]

My 10 year is impacted, had back up and overflow we’ve been on Movical for just over a week, it took the hospital 3 weeks to diagnose this, as they originally thought he had suspected appendicitis, he is experiencing awful pain under his ribs and tummy, I was hoping as he disimpacted and emptied his bowels, the pain would ease but there has been no change. I can only describe the pain almost like a contraction, it grips and releases he is in pain from the moment he wakes till he goes to sleep, he can’t walk with the pain and has been off school for 4 weeks. We are on a high dose of Movical and his bowel movements are now very soft, we’ve had watery stools in the past 48 hours, so I dont understand why he is still in so much pain. He was never constipated to start with, and never complained about any toilet problems, he just went to the toilet about 4 weeks ago and collapsed with the pain. I had hoped his pain would be subsiding by now, but there has been no change in the level of pain he is in and I’m not sure what to do, is he still in pain because of the impaction or is in the Movicol causing further pain. I’m worried if I switch to maintenance too soon this will be the wrong thing to do. Any advise greatly appreciated, I’m at my wits end with it .

[TippyGreen]

Have you explained this level of pain to the GP? I’d expect an ultrasound or something to see what’s going on.

[Poopolice in reply to TippyGreen]

He has had 2 X-rays and a CT scan, at the hospital, when I contacted the doctor hospital they told me if he is in pain it means the Movicol is working. I’m beside myself though we are day 11 and the pain is still there.

[Robinia]

My son has hospital admissions to disimpact when the pain was too great. Are you using a stimulant? Hospital would do an x Ray and see where the blockage is. Movicol is the answer but if the pain is too bad and the disimpaction is difficult to manage at home and they’ve had 4 weeks off school and the pain is very bad I would be tempted to considering admission if it were me.

[Poopolice in reply to Robinia]

No they never prescribed a stimulant, but I’ve researched about them and I’ve heard of people using muscle relaxants aswell to help with the cramp pain and wondering if that would help him. We have been admitted once already but they were trying to tell me it was a muscular issue, I knew it wasn’t and kept pushing them, he had 2 X-rays, 5 lots of blood, various different tests before they spotted he was impacted on the 2nd X-ray. I’ve also been told to take dairy out of his diet. I’m just not sure what to do now, we got to the watery stools stage and we were on 12 doses a day, but now on maintenance but the pain is not subsiding, is this normal ?

[Ejcrossman1]

Hi, so sorry to hear your boy is in so much pain. We have recently been in the same situation with my 3 year old, he was in absolute agony for over a week where we tried to him disimpacted. I thought the movicol was causing him to be in so much pain but looking back is was definitely the impaction. If he’s got diarrhoea it could be overflow so he’s probably still impacted. I would keep up with the dose of movicol you are giving him at the moment. Really hope he feels better soon, it’s absolutely horrific to see them in so much pain. X

[Poopolice in reply to Ejcrossman1]

I followed the disimpaction plan and it said to switch to maintenance once we’d got to the watery stage, but feel like I’m losing the will as there seems to be no improvement with his pain, this is week 4 and he can’t walk or stand up when the pain grips him. It seems to be any movement makes it worse. 😢😞

[Ejcrossman1 in reply to Poopolice]

It’s so so awful 😞 the doctor told me that I should give him calpol and ibroprofen together as it would help with the pain so not sure if you’ve tried this? How many movicols is he on a day now? I just feel if it’s watery poo the impaction hasn’t completely come out yet and this was the case with my son and causing him the pain. xx

[Poopolice]

Ibroprofen made things worse for us, he has been on 12 Movicol a day, we had lactose in the beginning and that didn’t really do anything either. I’ve spoken to a friend today who tells me sodium picosulfate is the best thing to ask for to get things moving and was the only thing that worked when it happened to her daughter. Do you think I should keep on the high does then ?

[Robinia in reply to Poopolice]

If I were you I would stay on the high dose until you’ve had 3 days of rusty water coming out. Then taper down very gradually. The pain is usually caused by trapped wind. Which can be agony. My son used to find it easier to pass wind upside down and used a gym ball to help him, doing a handstand move against it and releasing wind that way

[Longhaul]

My 13yo daughter has suffered for ever and has frequent hospital admissions . She still has these awful pains . Our consultant prescribed mebeverine / buscopan tabs- used to take 3 times a day but now when particularly sore( like this morning ).