Anal Fissure 4 year old

[Charlotteee]

Hi guys,

My 4 year old son has just been diagnosed with an Anal Fissure and has been given antibiotics (not sure why - I assume it's to do with the inflammation that he has all around his anus) and some lactulose.

Does anybody have any experience with this?

I had one for years but ended up having surgery twice to fix it (they loosened my muscle down there so that I lost feeling in there) and obviously I really want to avoid this happening to him.

We banned bananas a while ago as they tend to clog him up and I want his stools to be as soft as possible so that the fissure can get on with healing.

I feel so sorry for him when he goes - he screams and there's so much blood

Any advice?

Thanks in advance xx

 

[justmeinlove]

Have they provided any kind of anaesthetic cream? As I'm sure you know, they're agony :-/

 

[Teri7489]

Poor little guy!
My sister has been plagued with them since tiny and now is worse as an adult. My advice (as a nurse and a mummy is this )

Reduce dairy as that leads to firmer stools but make sure you increase calcium in other foods (leafy greens etc and possibly a vitamin tablet)

daily apple or pear juice is great to keep the digestive system going and works better than orange juice. It's not as harsh as prune juice and is often easier to get children to drink as it tastes better.

Keep his diet full of soluble and insoluble fibre to keep his stools moving soft and full. It will mean his stools may be a little larger but they will be softer and far easier to pass as his bowel will be able to move them along quicker (which means less water is taken out of them keeping them soft) By doing this is will mean his is less likely to keep damaging the fissure allowing it to heal. I would also encourage him to wash after having a bowel movement with lukewarm water rather than using toilet paper. It will be far kinder to his little sore bum. He will have been given antibiotics to prevent it becoming infected due to it coming in to contact with bacterial.

Lastly, if he feels he needs to poo encourage him to try but don't allow him to sit for ages. It will only put pressure on the fissure and cause more trauma. If you need any more support or advice you can message me any time xxx

 

[Charlotteee]

Not been given anaesthetic cream no - I know I only got mine when I was referred to see a consultant who performed my operation. He wanted to trial that first, and I think it's a bit difficult with a 4 year old to know when to put it on as needs to be 5 mins before going for a BM.

Thank you for all that help Teri. He had his first dose of Lactulose last night and woke up at 4am this morning saying his bum was sore, connected, not sure but fingers crossed we can get this sorted soon xxx

 

[Teri7489]

May sound silly but as it heals it will become a little itchy he's maybe scratching it in his sleep which will make it sore. Keep his nails short or put him in a onsie at night for a few days til it's past thay stage. Hope he gets better soon xx

 

[Charlotteee]

See he has been itching a lot and we thought he may have worms onesie is a good idea - I will buy some from Asda tonight, he only has ones with hoods at home so no good for sleeping in xxx

 

[6lilpigs]

I just want to add that eggs can cause harder poo's so maybe for a while take these out aswell, my little fella went through a stage of terrible poo's and it was awful, hugs to you both x

 

[Charlotteee]

He loves all these things!! He drinks milk by the gallon and he loves eggs!! And cheese!! He's going to be one unhappy boy when we try and reduce these haha xxx

 

[Teri7489]

Aww, my daughter was the same when she got badly constipated. We used to call her a milk monster as she would have chosen milk over any food at all. Still would given the choice at 3. Don't change his diet rapidly though otherwise the poo will be running out of him and give him a raw bum worse than he has. Xxx

 

[ClairAye]

My son had one that was fixed a couple months before he turned two. He was severely constipated from 1-2 years. The doctor got us into the surgical clinic where we got some sort of paste to use daily, it didn't work so he went into theatre to get a botox injection into it and he's never had issues since. Turns out the pain from the fissure was causing the constipation to get much worse, him not wanting to go because of the pain caused him to hold it for as long as he could.

 

[Charlotteee]

Well he went last night and screamed and screamed and again there was a lot of blood. It breaks my heart to see him so upset how long do we wait until we take him back to the doctors?

I can't bear seeing him in that much pain, crying on the toilet before he's even had his BM because he knows it's going to hurt him xxxx

 

[6lilpigs]

It is going to take a few days for him to start to heal and the change of diet to make a difference sadly, plus as pp said he also knows that going to the toilet is going to hurt him so will not stop being distressed for a while even when things start to improve as the fear is going to be there. What have you done so far, is he on the lactolose? does he mind taking that? Another thing I do with my son when hes having a bad patch is make sure he has something like shreddies for breakfast, not anything like cornflakes or rice crispies as they don't help soften anything, also we avoid porridge type thing as they make the poo larger imo, and avoid any bread if possible for a while to again stop things backing up in there. Hes going to have a rough week but the softer poo's will give him time to heal, hang in there xxx

 

[Charlotteee]

He's on the lactulose, he's had four doses so far and he actually likes that one. It's his antibiotics he doesn't like (he's allergic to penicillin so he's on erythremicin)

Breakfast he has wholeweat hoops or malted wheaties so nothing too high in sugar xx

 

[Teri7489]

It will take a while to heal as every time he has a bowel movement and bleeds he causes trauma to the area. It's what happens with those sorts of things unfortunately. Ensuring his has soft poos is the best thing you can do with lots of cuddles and reassurance. If you can, dab some vaseline on to his bum before he sits down as the poo touching the fissure will cause it to sting. The barrier between them reduces it a bit but won't completely take away the pain. Also a warm bath before a bowel movement can help but can be difficult to tell with a child so isn't as easy to do. Big hugs to you both xxx

 

[Lady_Bee]

Is there a reason why he can't have an anaesthetic cream? I had one with lidocaine(I think?) and it helped SO MUCH with my fissures. Especially with preventing the painful spasms after doing a number 2.

 

[Charlotteee]

I think because I would never get it on in time. I had lidocaine when I had one but I was an adult and could put it on and wait before going, he's different, he will just decide he needs a poo and run to the toilet, I can't make him wait 5 minutes for the lidocaine to take effect xxx

 

[VALiz]

My son is chronically constipated and I just recently had good luck with Kids Culturelle regularity. It is a probiotic plus fiber. My son is also on mirilax. Not sure if you have Culturelle where you are. I'm in the states. I was nervous about the fiber because fiber foods can make my son worse but it has been really helpful.
Sorry you are dealing with this. It's hard to see them in pain.

 

[6lilpigs]

Hows he going ??

 

[Charlotteee]

He seems to be crying less and less and the redness is definitely going away.

But he has a sickness bug today so I'm hoping he doesn't end up with Diarrhoea too which might then make his bum sore again