Stricture in the colon?

Has anybody here had a stricture in the colon?

I saw the gastro today. Told her my symptoms, which in a nutshell have been constipation and abdominal pain over the last few months. I've had Crohn's for 11 years and this represented a fairly fundamental change of symptoms for me. The gastro said it sounded like it might be a stricture in my colon. I was taken aback to say the least. She said that I almost certainly had small bowel involvement, but said that basically the colon was what mattered, not the small bowel. Got no memory, so I'm paraphrasing, but that was the general gist.

She said that strictures in the small bowel don't cause constipation. Thought that they did? It's a funny type of constipation that I have anyway. What emerges is liquid 95% of the time, and pencil-thin pieces of stool the rest of the time. I've almost completely lost the urge to go; if I didn't make myself drink umpteen cups of water in a day, including half a litre when I wake up, not sure if I would ever go. I'd probably get impacted, and that is truly, truly horrible; trust me on that one.

I also have to be careful about not eating too much - it slays me. I think I'm still suffering the after-effects of a slap-up meal from five days ago after passing my driving test. Oh well. At least I earned my right to drive to the hospital today. (Except I didn't for insurance reasons )

Also, I have this hard mass about the size of a large-ish marble just above my belly button. Can't see anything visible, but can certainly feel it underneath the skin.

So anyway. I have to book a colonoscopy, which will be in 6-8 weeks' time. The doctor mentioned the possibility of surgery. Just still a bit taken aback by it, really. Thought Crohn's strictures were usually in the small bowel. I have to say, if the colonoscopy doesn't show anything untoward, I would like to get a barium follow-through and/or CT scan done. Most of my pain and pressure-like feelings have been in the centre of my abdomen, above my belly button; I still think something might be going on in my small bowel, which I should've made plainer to the doctor.

The tl;dr version

Who here has had a stricture in the colon and what were your symptoms? :-/

No worries, Phoebe; thanks for replying! I tend to feel a bit alone with my Crohn's, so it is genuinely nice to hear from somebody with similar symptoms to mine. I have Crohn's in the colon and terminal ileum - don't know if it goes any further than the TI or not. I've traditionally been extremely bad about asking doctors questions. This time around, I'm going to try to be a lot more proactive about asking after the results of tests, and so on.

Good luck with your GI appointment on the 23rd. I'd be interested to know how it went and what your GI said. In the meantime, I'll wait to see what my colonoscopy shows before doing research into colon surgery. No point worrying myself about something I might not need

PS: about the hard lump; mine is worse at some times than at others. Sometimes it shrinks or disappears altogether, other times it's like a small rock in my belly. Then when it gets like that, the whole centre of my abdomen above it feels pretty hard and flat too. I probably have analysed it too much... >.>

I had a stricture in the sigmoid colon for which I had a resection last May. My stools were narrow. I occasionally vomitted with bowel movements and although I have read this can occur with a blockage, my surgeon didn't think that was the cause in my case.

I had many tests before deciding on surgery. I felt very good but tests showed the stricture was made up of scar tissue and carried a risk of leaving it. Before surgery I was advised to follow a low residue diet. Since surgery very few problems with any foods or anything else.

NiceCupOfTea I am in the same boat. I have exactly the same symptoms and have a stricture on my left side (i have no idea how far up or what part of the tract). My GI said to go on a liquid diet today. He keeps saying I may need surgery. I'm starting remicade after 3 years off it on Monday, and since my stricture isn't scar tissue, he thinks I could avoid surgery if it works. However, I am currently in pain on and off and can hardly go to the bathroom. He said not to use laxatives. But I also have a hard mass above the belly button that comes and goes, just like the pain. I'm hoping the liquid diet works.