Poo!! (Serious question about Movicol)

Blue Frog

My little girl has recently started some new epilepsy medication and since then she has been very constipated, and upset about this. The GP gave her a big box of Movicol and vague instructions of giving her up to 3 a day. We built up slowly and 2 seemed to get things moving, but then when we stopped them - nothing!

Has anyone else come across this? Do you know how long it takes to work, what to be expecting? I am quite happy to give it every day to keep everything working, but am not sure how much - somewhere between
nothing and a poonami would be ideal??

Benedicta

Hi, Movicol is not absorbed - in my experience there are no real side effects - I have found that it is best to keep on a regular daily dose to ensure that the faeces are kept as fluid as possible allowing them to be more easily passed - my son was on one sachet a day for years but we recently increased it to two a day and I may well have to up it some more as it grows (he is now 10). I give him one sachet with the water in the morning and one again in the evening. However it does not 'make him go' - it merely makes it a little easier - I have found that the only effective way to keep him comfortable is to give him glycerine suppositories - but that was because his whole well being was seriously compromised by his bowels. Now he is much more comfortable and i have had to just reconcile the invasiveness with his lack of discomfort. The gastro has recommended I introduce a stimulant such as Senna, working out a regular dose (that is the hardest part) so that he fully empties his bowel. However when i have tried this in the past the cramps have been very painful which has made me reluctant to do it again - but it is probably a good idea.

I would suggest you stick to one or two a day for a few weeks and then increase if the stools are still quite hard - that will also depend on her diet. You can increase because as I said at the begining the body does not absorb the Movicol.

Hope that helps a little.

Minimum

Agree with Benedicta- better to keep up Movicol. Also, try to increase the amount of fluid by extra drinks to soften the stools as much as possible-preferably water, not juice as juice will cause dental decay. My daughter- 21 now- learning disability & autism, still has problems with constipation & has Movicol when necessary. She still has times when she can block the toilet with a very large, solid motion! It was worse when she was younger & she used to stop herself from going to the toilet- I think because it hurt to go. I was taught how to use bowel massage by a learning disability nurse trained in this. Ask if this is an option in your area. Good luck!

Blue Frog

Thanks to you both for your help, we are continuing with one sachet every other day and that seems to be doing the trick

Zeezee

Hi, my daughter who is two next week has been taking movicol every day since she was a couple of months old, she has quad cerebral palsy and her whole digestive system and bowels are very slow and sluggish, she does not have her bowels open at all without movicol. Movicol puts fluid into the bowel rather than irritate the lining of the bowel like senna and other laxatives so movicol is fine for long-term use and does not cause cramps ect (other than faeces beginning to move through bowels) but because the faeces has been softened by extra water in the bowel pain should not be a problem. Try to encourage your daughter to drink more water as I found that when my daughter was drinking only milk the movicol did not work as well. I give my daughter flavoured water from aldi as she wont drink plain water, there is only 0.5g of sugar in, which is barely a trace but be careful of volvic flavoured water as it contains 14g of sugar per 250mls which is similar to coca cola etc. I hope this is some help to you