Encopresis

Last updated
Encopresis
Other namesParadoxical diarrhea
Specialty Psychiatry, pediatrics

Encopresis is voluntary or involuntary passage of feces outside of toilet-trained contexts (fecal soiling) in children who are four years or older and after an organic cause has been excluded. [1] Children with encopresis often leak stool into their undergarments.

Contents

This term is usually applied to children, and where the symptom is present in adults, it is more commonly known as fecal incontinence (including fecal soiling, fecal leakage or fecal seepage). [2] The term is from the Ancient Greek : ἐγκόπρησις (egkóprēsis).

Signs and symptoms

Causes

Encopresis is commonly caused by constipation in children, [4] by reflexive withholding of stool, by various physiological, psychological, or neurological disorders, or from surgery (a somewhat rare occurrence).

The colon normally removes excess water from feces. If the feces or stool remains in the colon too long due to conditioned withholding or incidental constipation, so much water is removed that the stool becomes hard, and becomes painful for the child to expel in an ordinary bowel movement. A vicious cycle can develop, where the child may avoid moving his/her bowels in order to avoid the "expected" painful toilet episode. This cycle can result in so deeply conditioning the holding response that the rectal anal inhibitory response (RAIR) or anismus results. The RAIR has been shown to occur even under anesthesia and when voluntary control is lost. The hardened stool continues to build up and stretches the colon or rectum to the point where the normal sensations associated with impending bowel movements do not occur. Eventually, softer stool leaks around the blockage and cannot be withheld by the anus, resulting in soiling. The child typically has no control over these leakage accidents, and may not be able to feel that they have occurred or are about to occur due to the loss of sensation in the rectum and the RAIR. Strong emotional reactions typically result from failed and repeated attempts to control this highly aversive bodily product. These reactions then in turn may complicate conventional treatments using stool softeners, sitting demands, and behavioral strategies.

The onset of encopresis is most often benign. The usual onset is associated with toilet training, demands that the child sit for long periods of time, and intense negative parental reactions to feces. Beginning school or preschool is another major environmental trigger with shared bathrooms. Feuding parents, siblings, moving, and divorce can also inhibit toileting behaviors and promote constipation. An initiating cause may become less relevant as chronic stimuli predominate.

Diagnosis

The psychiatric (DSM-5) diagnostic criteria for encopresis are:

  1. Repeated passage of feces into inappropriate places (e.g., underwear or floor) whether voluntary or unintentional
  2. At least one such event a month for at least 3 months
  3. Chronological age of at least 4 years (or equivalent developmental level)
  4. The behavior is not exclusively due to a physiological effect of a substance (e.g., laxatives) or a general medical condition, except through a mechanism involving constipation.

The DSM-5 recognizes two subtypes: with constipation and overflow incontinence, and without constipation and overflow incontinence. In the subtype with constipation, the feces are usually poorly formed and leakage is continuous, and this occurs both during sleep and waking hours. In the type without constipation, the feces are usually well-formed, soiling is intermittent, and feces are usually deposited in a prominent location. This form may be associated with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) or conduct disorder, or may be the consequence of large anal insertions, or more likely due to chronic encopresis that has radically desensitized the colon and anus.

Treatment

Many pediatricians will recommend the following three-pronged approach to the treatment of encopresis associated with constipation:

  1. Cleaning out
  2. Using stool-softening agents
  3. Scheduled sitting times, typically after meals

The initial clean-out is achieved with enemas, laxatives, or both. The predominant approach today is the use of oral stool softeners like Movicol, Miralax, lactulose, mineral oil, etc. Following that, enemas and laxatives are used daily to keep the stools soft and allow the stretched bowel to return to its normal size.

The child must be taught to use the toilet regularly to retrain his/her body. It is usually recommended that a child be required to sit on the toilet at a regular time each day and 'try' to go for 10–15 minutes (timed toileting), usually soon (or immediately) after eating. Children are more likely to be able to expel a bowel movement right after eating (due to the gastrocolic reflex). It is thought that creating a regular schedule of bathroom time will allow the child to achieve a proper elimination pattern. Repeated voiding success on the toilet itself helps it become a releasor stimulus for successful bowel movements.

Alternatively, when this method fails for six months or longer, a more aggressive approach may be undertaken using suppositories and enemas in a carefully programmed way to overcome the reflexive holding response and to allow the proper voiding reflex to take over. Failure to establish a normal bowel habit can result in permanent stretching of the colon. Certainly, allowing this problem to continue for years with constant assurances that the child "will grow out of it" should be avoided.

Dietary changes are an important management element. Recommended changes to the diet in the case of constipation-caused encopresis include:

  1. Reduction in the intake of constipating foods such as dairy, peanuts, cooked carrots, and bananas
  2. Increase in high-fiber foods such as bran, whole wheat products, fruits, and vegetables
  3. Higher intake of water and liquids, such as juices, although an increased risk of tooth decay has been attributed to excess intake of sweetened juices
  4. Limit drinks with caffeine, including cola drinks and tea
  5. Provide well-balanced meals and snacks, and limit fast foods/junk foods that are high in fats and sugars
  6. Limit whole milk to 500 mL (16.9 ounces) a day for the child over two years of age, but do not eliminate milk because children need calcium for bone growth and strength.[ citation needed ]

The standard behavioral treatment for functional encopresis, which has been shown to be highly effective, is a motivational system such as a contingency management system. [5] In addition to this basic component, seven or eight other behavioral treatment components can be added to increase effectiveness. [5]

Epidemiology

The estimated prevalence of encopresis in four-year-olds is between one and three percent. [6] The disorder is thought to be more common in males than females, by a factor of 6 to 1.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Defecation</span> Expulsion of feces from the digestive tract via the anus

Defecation follows digestion, and is a necessary process by which organisms eliminate a solid, semisolid, or liquid waste material known as feces from the digestive tract via the anus. The act has a variety of names ranging from the common, like pooping or crapping, to the technical, e.g. bowel movement, to the obscene (shitting), to the euphemistic, to the juvenile. The topic, usually avoided in polite company, can become the basis for some potty humor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enema</span> Injection of fluid into rectum, typically en route to the colon

An enema, also known as a clyster, is an injection of fluid into the lower bowel by way of the rectum. The word enema can also refer to the liquid injected, as well as to a device for administering such an injection.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constipation</span> Bowel dysfunction

Constipation is a bowel dysfunction that makes bowel movements infrequent or hard to pass. The stool is often hard and dry. Other symptoms may include abdominal pain, bloating, and feeling as if one has not completely passed the bowel movement. Complications from constipation may include hemorrhoids, anal fissure or fecal impaction. The normal frequency of bowel movements in adults is between three per day and three per week. Babies often have three to four bowel movements per day while young children typically have two to three per day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laxative</span> Agents that relax and loosen the bowels and stools

Laxatives, purgatives, or aperients are substances that loosen stools and increase bowel movements. They are used to treat and prevent constipation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fecal incontinence</span> Inability to refrain from defecation

Fecal incontinence (FI), or in some forms encopresis, is a lack of control over defecation, leading to involuntary loss of bowel contents, both liquid stool elements and mucus, or solid feces. When this loss includes flatus (gas), it is referred to as anal incontinence. FI is a sign or a symptom, not a diagnosis. Incontinence can result from different causes and might occur with either constipation or diarrhea. Continence is maintained by several interrelated factors, including the anal sampling mechanism, and incontinence usually results from a deficiency of multiple mechanisms. The most common causes are thought to be immediate or delayed damage from childbirth, complications from prior anorectal surgery, altered bowel habits. An estimated 2.2% of community-dwelling adults are affected. However, reported prevalence figures vary. A prevalence of 8.39% among non-institutionalized U.S adults between 2005 and 2010 has been reported, and among institutionalized elders figures come close to 50%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirschsprung's disease</span> Medical condition

Hirschsprung's disease is a birth defect in which nerves are missing from parts of the intestine. The most prominent symptom is constipation. Other symptoms may include vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea and slow growth. Most children develop signs and symptoms shortly after birth. However, others may be diagnosed later in infancy or early childhood. About half of all children with Hirschsprung's disease are diagnosed in the first year of life. Complications may include enterocolitis, megacolon, bowel obstruction and intestinal perforation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fecal impaction</span> Medical condition

A fecal impaction or an impacted bowel is a solid, immobile bulk of feces that can develop in the rectum as a result of chronic constipation. Fecal impaction is a common result of neurogenic bowel dysfunction and causes immense discomfort and pain. Its treatment includes laxatives, enemas, and pulsed irrigation evacuation (PIE) as well as digital removal. It is not a condition that resolves without direct treatment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol stool scale</span> Medical system for classifying human faeces

The Bristol stool scale is a diagnostic medical tool designed to classify the form of human faeces into seven categories. It is used in both clinical and experimental fields.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human feces</span> Metabolic waste of the human digestive system

Human feces are the solid or semisolid remains of food that could not be digested or absorbed in the small intestine of humans, but has been further broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. It also contains bacteria and a relatively small amount of metabolic waste products such as bacterially altered bilirubin, and the dead epithelial cells from the lining of the gut. It is discharged through the anus during a process called defecation.

Bowel management is the process which a person with a bowel disability uses to manage fecal incontinence or constipation. People who have a medical condition which impairs control of their defecation use bowel management techniques to choose a predictable time and place to evacuate. A simple bowel management technique might include diet control and establishing a toilet routine. As a more involved practice a person might use an enema to relieve themselves. Without bowel management, the person might either suffer from the feeling of not getting relief, or they might soil themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rectum</span> Final portion of the large intestine

The rectum is the final straight portion of the large intestine in humans and some other mammals, and the gut in others. The adult human rectum is about 12 centimetres (4.7 in) long, and begins at the rectosigmoid junction at the level of the third sacral vertebra or the sacral promontory depending upon what definition is used. Its diameter is similar to that of the sigmoid colon at its commencement, but it is dilated near its termination, forming the rectal ampulla. It terminates at the level of the anorectal ring or the dentate line, again depending upon which definition is used. In humans, the rectum is followed by the anal canal which is about 4 centimetres (1.6 in) long, before the gastrointestinal tract terminates at the anal verge. The word rectum comes from the Latin rectumintestinum, meaning straight intestine.

Mental disorders diagnosed in childhood can be neurodevelopmental, emotional, or behavioral disorders. These disorders negatively impact the mental and social wellbeing of a child, and children with these disorders require support from their families and schools. Childhood mental disorders often persist into adulthood. These disorders are usually first diagnosed in infancy, childhood, or adolescence, as laid out in the DSM-5 and in the ICD-11.

Rectal discharge is intermittent or continuous expression of liquid from the anus. Normal rectal mucus is needed for proper excretion of waste. Otherwise, this is closely related to types of fecal incontinence but the term rectal discharge does not necessarily imply degrees of incontinence. Types of fecal incontinence that produce a liquid leakage could be thought of as a type of rectal discharge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anismus</span> Medical condition

Anismus or dyssynergic defecation is the failure of normal relaxation of pelvic floor muscles during attempted defecation. It can occur in both children and adults, and in both men and women. It can be caused by physical defects or it can occur for other reasons or unknown reasons. Anismus that has a behavioral cause could be viewed as having similarities with parcopresis, or psychogenic fecal retention.

Obstructed defecation syndrome is a major cause of functional constipation, of which it is considered a subtype. It is characterized by difficult and/or incomplete emptying of the rectum with or without an actual reduction in the number of bowel movements per week. Normal definitions of functional constipation include infrequent bowel movements and hard stools. In contrast, ODS may occur with frequent bowel movements and even with soft stools, and the colonic transit time may be normal, but delayed in the rectum and sigmoid colon.

In fecal incontinence (FI), surgery may be carried out if conservative measures alone are not sufficient to control symptoms. There are many surgical options described for FI, and they can be considered in 4 general groups.

Transanal irrigation of the rectum and colon is designed to assist the evacuation of feces from the bowel by introducing water into these compartments via the anus.

Sodium citrate/sodium lauryl sulfoacetate/glycerol sold under the brandname Microlax and Micolette Micro enema, among others, is a small tube of liquid gel that is used to treat constipation.

Constipation in children refers to the medical condition of constipation in children. It is a functional gastrointestinal disorder.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neurogenic bowel dysfunction</span> Human disease involving inability to control defecation

Neurogenic bowel dysfunction (NBD) is the inability to control defecation due to a deterioration of or injury to the nervous system, resulting in faecal incontinence or constipation. It is common in people with spinal cord injury (SCI), multiple sclerosis (MS) or spina bifida.

References

  1. 1 2 3 von Gontard A. Encopresis. In Rey JM (ed), IACAPAP e-Textbook of Child and Adolescent Mental Health. Geneva: International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions 2012.
  2. ↑ Bruce G. Wolff, ed. (2007). The ASCRS textbook of colon and rectal surgery. New York: Springer. ISBN   978-0387248462.
  3. ↑ "Encopresis". Mayo Clinic. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  4. ↑ Mulhem, E; Khondoker, F; Kandiah, S (1 May 2022). "Constipation in Children and Adolescents: Evaluation and Treatment". American Family Physician. 105 (5): 469–478. PMID   35559625.
  5. 1 2 Patrick C. Friman, Kristi L. Hofstadter and Kevin M. Jones (2006): A Biobehavioral Approach to the Treatment of Functional Encopresis in Children. JEIBI 3 (3), page 263–272 BAO.
  6. ↑ von Gontard, Alexander (1999). "Encopresis". The Practitioner. Prax Kinderpsychol Kinderpsychiatr. 243 (1602): 644, 648–52. PMID   10715861.
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