Synonyms
constipation, sluggish digestion, constipation Medical: constipation English = obstipation, constipation
Classification constipation in children
Constipation in children can have various causes: Constipation in children can be caused by incorrect nutrition with too little fiber and fluid. Constipation can also be caused by food intolerance, a change in diet or a change in the environment. To a certain extent, the child’s psyche also plays a role in the latter two causes.
If defecation is deliberately suppressed, the cause of constipation in children is also in the psyche. Children withdraw the stool into the pelvis for fear of defecation, for example because of pain during defecation (= bowel movement). As a result, the defecation stimulus is no longer triggered and constipation in children develops.
The mechanical causes of constipation include several clinical pictures: What they all have in common is that they all end up as intestinal obstruction (mechanical ileus).
- Nutrition, food intolerance
- Psyche
- Mechanical obstruction = mechanical ileus (bowel obstruction)
- Nervous disorders (innervation disorders)
- Bowel motility disorders
- Stenoses = narrowing of the intestinal lumen
- Intestinal atresia = congenital closure of the intestinal lumen
- Volvulus = intestinal rotation
- Invagination = intestinal invagination
- Meconium ileus = intestinal obstruction due to constipation with the first child’s chair (meconium)
Nerve disorders associated with constipation include diseases of the spinal cord (meningomyelocele) or the brain. Intestinal motility disorders are understood to be changes in the mobility of the intestine.
Diseases characterized by motility disorders include Certain drugs can also cause a motility disorder, for example drugs used for seizure therapy (antiepileptic anticonvulsants).
- Megacolon = dilatation of the colon
- Hypo-Agangliosis = reduced innervation of the intestinal wall (including Hirschsprung’s disease
- Ulcerative colitis = chronic inflammatory bowel disease with stenosis
- Hypothyroidism = hypothyroidism
- Vitamin D excess = hypervitaminosis D
ConstipationThe constipation is accompanied by other complaints depending on the disease causing it. In the case of mechanical ileus as the cause of constipation, the symptoms are characterized by abdominal pain, increasing vomiting, nausea and bloated abdomen.
In addition, children affected by constipation are noticed by restlessness, sometimes in combination with fever. In addition to stool retention, intestinal motility disorders manifest themselves in children as vomiting, bloated abdomen and loss of appetite. In addition, those affected grow insufficiently and show a disproportion between thick (bloated) abdomen and emaciated limbs (arms, legs).
The sudden appearance of fluid diarrhea may complement the clinical picture (paradoxical diarrhea). Hypothyroidism manifests itself as a developmental disorder in addition to constipation. Vitamin D excess as a cause of constipation is also characterized by growth disorders and also by abdominal pain and vomiting.