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abdominal pain caused by stricture or inflammation?

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Posted 11/22/2010 3:53 AM (GMT 0)
Hello, everyone:

My Crohn's disease has changed somewhat lately. I had quite urgent and severe abdominal pain, followed by bowel movement. The stool was formed first, then later became watery. After the bowel movement, the abdominal pain was gone for the rest of the day. I have had strictures in my small bowel for 10 years.

When you have abdominal pain, will a bowel movement eliminate the pain? I am trying to figure out if this suggests some sort of obstruction or not. Thanks.

Paul
Posted 11/22/2010 4:07 AM (GMT 0)
Hey Paul,
Are you saying your pain is relieved once you have a bowel movement? The pain won't go if you have a stricture unless it clears itself. What you have described sounds somewhat similar to what I used to go through but I ended up losing control of my bowel all the time even though I was blocked, I thought that was weird but they said it was like a blocked pipe that would slowly break away to cause the total loss of control, I now have a permanent ileostomy and had a proctocolectomy done and has improved my quality of life although because I have crohns/colitis I'm not cured but I do feel heaps better. I would get off to see your GI and try and get this sorted as soon as you can. Do you have decent pain relief? Sorry I'm not a lot of help even though its not been that long since I went through all those things I still find myself trying to remember what was done as I have had several surgeries and too many drugs to count. Your post did bring back memories though thats why I felt compelled to respond, I do remember the stool firstly being formed then turning to water. Drink heaps of fluids and get some heat onto your stomach for pain. Hope that helps a little, Good Luck and let us know how you go but please get onto your doc soon
Doreen
Posted 11/22/2010 1:09 PM (GMT 0)

I had similar experiences and in my case it was a partial obstruction. food would get stuck then the gut would try to force it through which caused the waves of pain. then sometimes when there is a blockage only liquid can get through, so you get diarrrhoea while still being constipated. Fun, isn't it. Bowel movements stop the pain when the obstruction is cleared. 

I found there were certain high fibre foods I could not eat, such as cabbage, spinach or mushrooms. although I could still have them in a soup, its just that they actually blocked my gut where the stricture is. There were also certain foods that caused inflammation, which made the stricture temporarily narrower. Wheat was bad for me, also very spicy foods, alco very acid foods, pineaple (which i love) raw tomato, oranges.

I took only liquid food for a while, those elemental foods, and that seemed to calm things down and I havent had a flare up for about a year, also I just had a MRI scan and I now have only mild thickening for about 2" of my terminal ileum so things can improve.

Please note I am only telling you what worked for me, every one has different problem foods but the high fibre thing seems to be very common.

Best wishes

Posted 11/22/2010 3:21 PM (GMT 0)
Like the previous poster, I have had numerous partial obstructions over
the years. The symptoms would be increased pain until I was literally crawling
to the toilet, sometimes constipation, sometimes not. When I started vomiting
I would go to the ER. They would try to capture it on Xray or CT, then I would
have my GI/husband yell at me that I wasn't eating properly (how dare I try
a mouthful of coleslaw).

After the 3rd or 4th visit, they finally agreed that I have a partial obstruction
and or stricture. Most of the time I can eat what I want (including salads, nuts,
all the usual no-no's). BUT... If there started to be any build-up of pain, I immediately
go to a liquid diet and pray :-)

Now I am on a low-residue diet because of an ongoing fistula (18 mos and counting),
so I have a new set of problems!

Short answer is - I definitely believe in partial obstructions (and adhesion pain, but
that's another story - lol).

Good luck...

Sudsmom
Posted 11/22/2010 6:42 PM (GMT 0)
I get similar pain. We've summed it up as a spasm. It will come on suddenly or gradually depending on the severity of it. Usually I will have the urge to go, so I will and it varies between formed then water, or just water. Sometimes the pain won't go away unless I throw up. Usually I just wait it out and have a heating pad on if it's a bad one. I've set a limit on an hour, if it lasts an hour then I head in to the ER. That let's me kinda gauge whether or not it's more serious than a spasm.

My belly hurts all the time like I've done a million sit ups, dr says that's just from inflammation.
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