bowel obstruction,how does one know?

I've done some research on bowel obstruction for crohn's, I only have crohn's in the small not large bowel. From the syptoms I've read it's sounds like I may have one. But I was hoping someone who has had this problem could give me their story and how it felt.

Every 2 months after starting remicade(done remi,on humira as of 2 weeks ago) I will end up in the hospital, from something I ate, triggers the suppose ulcer (scope 5 years ago said ulcer,but god knows what it could be now) and I throw up for hours before saying time for hospital visit. Before remicade it would be 3 visit's a week. In recent visits blood test are saying it's not a flar. But all the syptoms are CD. For the rest of the 2 months I have these awful pains (not like usual, same pain just different) always bloated, more gassy then usual. I'm hardly eating so it's not the food,when I do eat, it could take a few painful hours for the food to go down with nausea. Usual ending in having to take a gravol then just crash out.

Does any of this sound like a partial blockage? or maybe an ulcer that isn't crohn's related? CD in small bowl,stomach, colon. (from last scope done a little over 5 years ago) next one is end of sept. and my doctor never returns her message, so no way of getting ahold of her.

Thanks for any help in advance.

*Fustrated*

Thanks for your reply.

They wont treat me with pred anymore, they did 8 different times and never worked. So they stopped.

In montreal GI are very hard to get or you have to wait 6months to a year for an apointment. so I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. 

Like I was saying though my blood work is saying it isn't a flare. (werid)

no.. they stop checking me with scans, they do x-rays but nothing ever shows, not even that I have cd, thats why it took so long to get diagnosed (10 years) one doc said I might have a blockage but sent me home said contact my gi. which is impossible, and I say so in the er.this is where most my fustration lies.

I've never had an obstruction so I don't know if it's that or the cronh's is getting worse.

How recent was your last blood work done? I went from having good blood work and then 2 weeks later I was in the hospital with a partial obstruction.

That does seem a bit recent for much to go wrong. Maybe methlyprednisolone would work for you, since pred doesn't seem to. You would, of course, need a doc's approval for that.

I would still press the issue of talking to a doctor, say you're feeling terrible and need to try something. It may end up costing you another visit to the ER but when you have pain like you do, relief is priceless.

^The scar tissue bit could very well be an issue, but I would think the CRP would be increased, regardless. Hard to say for sure, though.

For me obstructions are so painful, worse then labor

pains. They come in waves like contractions and center around my belly button. I have nausea and vomiting and hyperventalite with them. I go to the Urgent Care and they give me 75mg of phenergan and 50mg of demerol, put me on a liquid diet for 4-7 days and send me home as I refuse to go to the ER.

Xray or CT scan will show an obstruction

Hi guys! I appreciate everyones reply's.

Hello Montrealer! ;) I go to Lake Shore (8 mins to my door to their door) but they get me stable do a blood test and xray and send me home. I heard the Jewish is the best, they have a floor just from crohn's and colitis. And it's only GI on this 'cd floor' how it's at the royal?

It seems from everyone's experience I don't have an obstruction, I don't feel worse then labor, and my bloating isn't the size of a pregnant belly. So I'm just so confused as to what the problem is, why I am always sick nausea, hardly able to eat. I know when my crohn's is doing good, I've had good months, this is just odd. Especially since my blood work comes clean.

It's a good question, i mean would it show on the blood work? I've done a millon ct and xray before they knew I had crohn's. They couldn't tell anything from those test. They keep saying for 10 years nothing was wrong with me, probably just a stomach flue.

To be honest this was my first obstruction and I thought it would have felt worse than it did. Yes it was the worse pain I had been in with my Crohns but again, it wasnt constant. Evening was worse, cramping like contractions, nausea and the pain was around my upper abdomen. So I kept telling my GI doctor that I thought it was something else. He finally said lets do labs and ct. So labs showed a little elevated WBC but SED rate was lowest it had EVER been! The next day I go to have ct done and it showed obstruction big time. So to me I was surprised as well that labs did not indicate this. On the other hand I was already taking prednisone. And I could tell that it would help within a few hours of taking it in the morning. I am hoping at this point that we (drs and I ) did not jump the gun and have surgery to early. But I missed more work in the last 3 months than 2 years. And I have to keep my job. Plus I was already taking Humira and it wasn't do anything after the first 4 doses. So I felt helpless at that point.

Good luck. I can tell you next time I will go to ER sooner. I was at work when they did my CT scan and the radiologist came in and said you should not be at work. And told me not to eat anything and go to the hospital. Oh well, I will know what it feels like next time. Again good luck..if I was you I would press the issue a little sooner.

Amy

I've just come out of hospital after the same thing - I was feeling 'full' (a bit bloated) and generally lethargic then started having waves of pain/spasms across my upper belly (above belly button). I then started to feel sick by which time the spasms were becoming more painful and I was coming out in a cold sweat. I did not have a fever. A normal abdo x-ray didn't show anything  but blood test showed raised white cell count so they knew some inflammation/infection was going on. They knew it wasn't a full obstruction because I had a small BM that morning and some gas but suspected a narrowing/stricture caused by active Crohns or scar tissue because of my history. They had also ruled out bacterial infection/salmonella etc.............leading to 2 days on IV fluids to clear the sytem and rest the bowel and colonoscopy showing flare up of disease at original resection site causing narrowing & partial obstruction. I don't know if I could have avoided the hospital visit if I'd gone on a low residue/liquid diet earlier as the symptoms were vague until spasms started then I don't think I could have ridden it out - anyone got a view on this I'd be greatful too

Hope this helps

Penny