TMI - healing internal hemorroids in 4 year old

[DesertBlossom]

So, long story short, my 4 1/2 year old is having problems with internal hemorroids. It started when he was about 3. He's an incredibly picky eater and was drinking a lot of milk, so he was straining a lot and it hurt to go. Then he saw a dead scorpion in the toilet and refused to go at all for a while. For a while, pooping was a big bad scary thing. We've done prune juice and apricots and all sorts of things. But since then I just not been able to be consistent enough with him to heal this. And I'm so frustrated.

 

He's been to a pediatric GI twice now.  He's on a daily dose of miralax to keep his BM soft. (almost 6 months now?) He's taking a gummy fiber supplement. But he's still a picky eater, though he drinks very little milk lately.  

 

The problem is if I forget even a day to give him the miralax, the next day his poop is hard and it's bleeding again. Right after he's had a bm, you can see the internal hemorroid bulging through the skin. Not protruding through, if that makes sense. But just pushing through the skin so you can see the purple 'rroid.  That won't go away completely but it only appears right after a BM.  Both times he's been to the GI they've looked at him and he looks fine just because he hasn't JUST GONE to the bathroom. Though they seem to take my word for it that's it's there.

 

It's especially frustrating to me because we can go weeks without any issues (with him being on miralax) and then once I forget a day, we're starting over from square one with the bleeding. We're never going to get this healed. I have another follow-up with the GI in a couple months, but besides "give him more fiber" I don't know what else to do. Can you make them go away completely? Is this just because I'm not being consistent enough? Or is he going to have to be on miralax forever?  UGH!  Feeling like a failure today.  (Today's painful poop is actually because I forgot 2 days ago to give him Miralax. Yesterday I gave him a double dose, but that wasn't enough. *sigh*)

[AK_Mom4]

DD13 was in similar straights when she was young thanks to some meds she needed for her kidneys.  The hemorrhoids did eventually heal, but it took time and perseverance.

 

What really made the difference was:

 

First: we moved up to a more effective prescription constipation med (Lactulose).  Gentler and 'way more effective. Since it was more effective, missing a day did not cause the "back up" we saw with Miralax.

 

Second: we did allergy testing and did a full-out elimination of EVERYTHING that she tested even slightly allergic to.  Potatoes, Barley and Rye were the culprits for her.  Food allergies made the constipation much worse for DD, even though the allergies themselves were not that severe.

 

DD was on a quite limited diet for about a year while everything stabilized.  After a full year, we started weaning off the Lactulose and then adding in more foods gradually.

[Kathryn]

DS was on Miralax for the same reason. Same issue with missed doses. It took a year and a half, but it finally stopped bleeding after weaning him off.

[DesertBlossom]

Thank you both. I will look into the lactulose. I really hope this doesn't take a year and a half. :-( The poor kid.

[Okra]

My oldest son struggled with years with constipation issues.  So, even though we did not have hemorrhoids I understand your frustration somewhat.  

 

He doesn't have problems now, but I stumbled across this item called a squatty potty   http://squattypotty.com  Honestly, I would have definitely spent the money to see if it helped if I had found it earlier.  LOL  It seems crazy, but it surely couldn't hurt.  

[JustEm]

My oldest son struggled with years with constipation issues. So, even though we did not have hemorrhoids I understand your frustration somewhat.

 

He doesn't have problems now, but I stumbled across this item called a squatty potty http://squattypotty.com Honestly, I would have definitely spent the money to see if it helped if I had found it earlier. LOL It seems crazy, but it surely couldn't hurt.

Not crazy at all!! While pregnant I became quite backed up because of the iron I was taking. One day I randomly had my foot on the kids' stool the use to reach the sink. It made all the difference in the world! After that i got step stools for the other bathroomns. I'm pretty sure it's what kept me fr on getting hemorrhoids.