Long term Lexative usage - effect on a 5 year old

[bijayk]

This is for my daughter who is 5 years old. She got stomach flu few weeks back and it was fine in 3-4 days. Later in another couple of days she started complaining of stomach pain.
We showed to the pediatrics and he recommended X-Ray. We did 2 x-rays in a span of 10 days. Report said that she was constipated. This was kind of strange for us because the kid passed stool 1-2 times every day without any effort.

Anyway he recommended giving laxative (miralax) for few days. We continue it for a week after which we went to see a Pediatric Gastroenterologist. She said to continue the laxative for another month and also increase fiber/fluid in her diet.
We did that and after a month, another visit to the Gastroenterologist and she recommended that we give her Exlax for few days in addition to Miralax.

The poor child goes 7-8 times a day with a feeling of passing stool. 2-3 times we can see good amount of stool passed. Our concern is that the doctor has told us to continue for another 2 months like this before visiting her again. Not sure what to do here.
She is even scared of drinking water.

Does it make sense to take another X-ray? On our last visit we asked this to doctor and she said it is not necessary.
Is there any effect on taking laxative for such a long time? (it's going to be over 3 months)

[patient915]

Usually a doctor would recommend trying dietary changes to help with constipation before putting them on a daily laxative.  I think she needs to back down on the amount of laxatives.  I think the doctors have you overtreating her problem.  I think she needs a second opinion with another gastroenterologist.  Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[bijayk]

Thanks for a reply which indicates we are not off track.
She was perfectly fine before having the flu. She used to occasionally complain of tummy ache. But that has been the feeling she used to have since early years when she was very hungry.

The problem here is that she was going to pre-school earlier. We took her off the pre-school since all this started. Her kindergarten starts in few months. Not sure how will she manage it.

Frequency - 6-7 times in a day. It is not very formed but not completely watery. She does not complain of pain but keeps complaining that i just went 5 mins ago and i feel like going again.

We are following the gastroenterologist's recommendation till now. Just not sure if we are trying to treat the right problem or not.

[patient915]

Welcome to the gastroenterology community!  There is no problem with taking a mild laxative like miralax for that period of time (which is actually a very short period of time).  However, it is not normal to get x-rays to look for constipation.  Usually you should just go off of frequency of bowel movements, consistency of bowel movements, and whether or not she is having pain, difficulty having bowel movements, bloating, etc.  Was she having any problems before she got the flu?  I think she is not getting the proper care and needs to be seen by a gastroenterologist.