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Frequency of bowel obstructions

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Posted 6/29/2011 12:21 AM (GMT 0)
Hi, everyone:

How often do you experience bowel obstructions (if any)? Does it occur more often than once a month, or just a few times in a year or only once in a year? Does the bowel obstruction gets worse and more often over the time?

Today I saw an IBD specialist (a GI doctor) in 3 years. I left his office with many questions unanswered.

Thanks
Posted 6/29/2011 12:32 AM (GMT 0)
Before my surgery, I was in the hospital on average about twice a year. Mainly because I couldn't keep any food or water down, and I didn't want to get dehydrated and be in even worse shape.
Posted 6/29/2011 12:43 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you for sharing your experience. Does any particular food give you trouble or all/most foods would give you trouble.

It is weird for me, because many times I went to fast food restaurants eating junk foods like chicken burgers, french fries, or hot dogs and had no trouble at all.

about 3 weeks ago, I ate home-made meals and then had severe stomach pains and nausea and went to an ER. Then it got resolved by itself at ER. I am not totally sure whether it was bowel obstruction or not.
Posted 6/29/2011 11:39 AM (GMT 0)
it depends on how the pain was, if it was crampy type, than those are partial obstructions. I use to have them all the time, at least one maybe twice amonth, until they removed disesea portion of sm. bowel, then they stopped altogether for about 20 years, then came back when I broke me jaw, my flare was so bad I had resection within 4 months after trauma of breking my jaw a having it wired shut, I flare when I get truamatized, either physically of mentally or combo of both, current flare coming out of car accident caused this flare i'm in right now

AG
Posted 6/29/2011 2:15 PM (GMT 0)
Before I knew I was blocked, I would get 2-3 events a year. At first they would say it was gastritis or something like that. One time they even removed my appendix thinking it was the culprit, come to find out it was healthy. They used to give me nausea and pain meds, and some IV fluids and send me home. Until one time they did that and then I had to return again the next day. That last visit ended with emergency surgery.

Paul you really need to get some tests run to find out how bad this stricture is. These are things tnot o mess with as you can even perforate the bowel from them and develop sepsis. Good luck!
Posted 6/29/2011 4:33 PM (GMT 0)
I generally have 2-3 obstructions a year. They reduced for a while, but the past year have increased again. I'm going to my surgeon today to plan a strictureplasty because the last obstruction a few weeks ago was close to a complete obstruction. He would have done surgery then, but he was out of town and I was seen by his partner.

My obstructions come out of nowhere. I can wake up feeling completely fine, and within hours be in extreme pain. Mine are completely due to adhesions, so they don't respond to steroids, I just have to not eat for a few days in order for them to resolve.

I have noticed that fiber makes mine occur more frequently, so I don't eat high fiber foods.
Posted 6/29/2011 4:37 PM (GMT 0)

I appreciate all your comments.

I am reluctant to go for a CT scan now due to radiation.  And I want to delay the surgery for as long as possible.

I have had this Crohn's for 17+ years and generally feel well.  I only experience this kind of "blockage" once every 10 months or so.  So I will keep watching it.  If something happens, I can always go for an emergency surgery and have a CT scan prior to surgery.

Posted 6/29/2011 4:57 PM (GMT 0)
I used to have partial obstructions at least 2 times each month. I always am having cramps, am vomiting, and I am severe shaking and shivering. The latter is due to that very severe pain following the cramps. I have had this partial issues for 7 years, and have never been to the ER. When I started using LDN in 2007, my partial obstructions events only happens accidentially, may be 2 a year.

They have become a bit more severe, the last years my partial obstruction is lasting or two days often returning on day 2 being almost as severe as day 1. With cramping and vomiting for 10- 12 hours or more.

I have asked my GI specialist what to do. Tough it out, stay at home and have a few pain pills to reduce the pain, he says, he always explains that partial obstructions resolves themselves within 24 hours. It's hard to stay at home, I am frightened and very much in pain, but I do follow my doctors advice...can't do anything else...
Posted 6/29/2011 5:10 PM (GMT 0)
I have had 3 partial obstructions, all in the past year. The first time, I was on my honeymoon in the Bahamas and I had NO idea what was going on. Then one a couple months ago, and one last week. They seem like they are getting more frequent over time, which my GI warned me would happen. My GI always advises me to go to the ER if I feel like it's getting too bad, but she allows me to wait it out at home if I can stand it. When I feel the severe cramps coming on, I go on a clear liquid diet for at least 48 hours. Usually the vomiting starts about 6 hours after the pain, and the pain finally lessens after 12-18 hours. It's the most miserable experience I think you can possibly go through, but I HATE being the in hospital, so I always try to tough it out and let it pass on my own. Stubborn, probably, but I do my best not to get admitted whenever possible!

The triggers for me are always healthy foods...salads, fresh veggies, corn especially. I can eat all the "unhealthy" food I want and I never have problems. I try to eat things that are good for me, and I get blockages. I wish I liked junk food! Unfortunately I'm the type who loves to cook at home, and my favorite things in the world are salads and fresh veggies. Right now, until the Cimzia kicks in, I'm banned from eating all that though. My GI recommends a low residue diet for the 2 weeks after a partial obstruction. I try my best to follow it, but it's really hard!
Posted 6/29/2011 6:15 PM (GMT 0)
Paul my first complete obstruction happened after having the disease for almost 20 years. You really should at least have some tests done to see how bad the stricture is. As I stated before these things can become quite serious very quickly. You stated that you have them about every 10 mos. but this is the second time you have had the issue in about 2 mos. Please be very careful, I would hate for you to go thru what I did with emergency surgery, it was quite traumatic for me. Hugs!
Posted 6/29/2011 8:48 PM (GMT 0)
Gail,
you're so right, I agree with you. My GI explained to me that I can very well stay at home and keep a close watch to the type of pain that I am having when obstructed, and the moment I am feeling that I can't bear it anymore, when my tummy can't be pointed at without hurting a LOT, my skin is pale and I can't tell my name ;-) then it's obvious we have to hurry to the ER. The change is the dangerous thing: if the blockage / obstruction is a full one, our intestine can tear apart and in seconds it's life threatening. That's why we have to be careful.

My narrowing has to be due to inflammation, because, when using prednisone I get better as soon as the medicine is working, so within a day I am much better.
If I had strictures due to adhesions, prednisone would be useless.

I too react to every healthy nutrition there is, and i love vegetables, fruits and making sallads is one of my favorites at home.

I have learned what I can include in my sallads and what to avoid. The lesson here is: avoid all kind of vegetables with long fibers. Cabbage. Brocolli. Raw onions (cut them in small pieces and cook them soft, then ok). Oranges is a big no no, and so is everything looking like an orange. Bananas when green, have got me in severe pain. When ripe: ok. Meat: when fibers and fat, no no, chicken, very good.

You have to find your triggers.
Posted 6/29/2011 8:50 PM (GMT 0)
Nanner, thank you for your caring thoughts and everyone for their responses.

I was diagnosed of Crohn's in 1994 (symptoms started in 1993).  My abdominal pains have decreased dramatically during the past 10 years than from the first several years when I was initially diagnosed, thanks to the Chinese herbal drinks which I have been taking for 17 years.  

In August of 2010, I had this bad abdominal pain lasting for 4 hours, then I went to ER, then everything resolved by itself.  The doctor at the ER did nothing except X-Ray and blood test.  

I have virtually no symptoms afterwards for 10 months, until June of this year (3 weeks ago).  I had the same abdominal pain lasting for 4 hours.  Again I went to the same ER, I threw up there, and everything resolved by itself.   The doctor did nothing.

For the past 3 weeks since this second "episode", I have been feeling fine without any problem.   To be honest, I appreciate the opinions from my fellow Crohn's patients more than from a GI doctor.   I feel the doctors here are too eager to test you and treat you. 

 

Posted 6/30/2011 2:00 AM (GMT 0)
I deal with stricture pain a lot meaning almost everyday depending on what I eat, I was about to have surgery to have the strictures cut out but decided to get a second opinion.. So glad I did!!!  I am going to a University Hospital and seeing a very highly recommended GI doc. He suggested a diff. med and also to do a colonoscopy while doing the colonoscopy he did a balloon dialation of my terminal illeum and streched my stricture out, it was successful.  I also have a stricture in my juejunum and am planning for a what they call double balloon enteroscopy where they will go down my mouth into my stomach and into my small bowel and dialate my stricture there.  I was never ever told of this procedure never even read about it.  So glad I didn't have surgery, I am hoping it will work or just buy me sometime to put off the surgery for awhile.. Has anyone else had this done?? I don't recall ever reading about it here..
Posted 6/30/2011 2:04 AM (GMT 0)
Until I was on the right meds I had them every three months -- the real deal. Then I had none for several years. In the past year I've been averaging a partial obstruction every two months. I was able to handle those at home. I had one stricture in the TI, but that was fine without inflammation. I now have a new one. I'm on new meds and hoping for several more good years without surgery.

I also used to eat junk and have no issues. Probably because the food had no fiber or veggies/fruit. I'm on a permanent low residue diet now and can eat moderately healthy homemade meals if I watch the fiber.
Posted 6/30/2011 2:22 AM (GMT 0)
Another issue that I would like to bring up is Dilated Bowel - for bowel strictures especially during obstruction.

My GI doctor (an IBD expert) said he is concerned if I would have Dilated Bowel. I have some doubt about my bowel being dilated, because when I press or massage my entire abdomen (even during obstruction), I do not feel pain (or pain getting worse).

Imagine about it. If someone with a dilated bowel, it should form like a small balloon. And when you apply pressure against it, you should feel pain, right? I do not feel any different when I press my abdomen.
Posted 6/30/2011 5:05 PM (GMT 0)
I think I get partial ones pretty frequently, which is why I'm having a resection in a few weeks. I get a lot of cramping, nausea, and pain about every other week or so. It's not really THAT bad. But I frequently get a sensation of something getting "stuck" for a few seconds where I can feel food get caught. It causes a blinding pain, a big cramp and then it's gone. Those are really, really scary. I used to do liquids for a few days after those, but they happened too frequently that I'd never be eating ANYTHING.

I have had one (I think) complete obstruction last year. I ate a ton of olives one night when I was in remission and wasn't even flaring. A few hours later, I had the worst cramp of my life. Everytime I moved it hurt so bad and I could feel my intestines trying to push whatever was stuck through. I was so nauseous. I couldn't even get out of bed to get my phone i was in so much pain. A few hours later, I heard a squeak and felt it all rush through and felt infinitely better. It was HORRIBLE!!

I used to eat a lot of fiber and that might have been the problem (before this most recent flare). Though I still get the partial obstructions if I eat ANY kind of meat.
Posted 7/1/2011 8:36 AM (GMT 0)
Before I was DX'ed I kept getting horrible pains by my navel (referred pain) and also knife like pain in my lower right Q... my primary dr sent me to different Drs and no one including my first trip to the ER Dx'ed me correctly. Even after my first endoscopy and colonoscopy the Dr had it wrong. When I was finally Dx'ed after another ER visit they sent me home after a few days in the hospital, cat scan, and colonoscopy and told me to eat whatever I could tolerate.. WRONGGGGGG

After my small bowel series a few weeks later a major stricture was detected in my TI and the lumen was sooo small it didn't take a genius to realize that everything I ate HAD TO FIT in the little space. I put myself on a low residue diet and ate nothing that could get caught.. Very difficult as I ate a very high fiber diet before that with lots of veggies, rice, beans etc.

I have not had any obstructions since going on this strict diet.. I also eat a lot of anti-inflammatory food/spices etc..
NY VEGGIE
Posted 7/1/2011 11:08 AM (GMT 0)
Gads, ER sounds barbaric now. When my Crohn's was active and I was having one partial obstruction after another ER always gave me an IV of fluids, a shot of Demerol and Phenergan and sent me home after I improved. Ahhhhh. Blessed relief.

I had a 20 year remission of symptoms after my resection in early 1978. I've always credited it to the fact that I ended up in ER and admitted to hospital when I fully obstructed and was put on NPO and an NG tube and IVs w/a recommendation of immediate, emergency surgery. Except the surgeon tried to tell me my Crohn's was all up and down my ENTIRE small intestine and wouldn't venture even a guess as to how much he would have to remove. I saw my SBFT films and my xrays and I wasn't buying the "entire small intestine" bit. Looked like just one area to me so I refused surgery. I was in hospitall and on that NG tube and those IVs for 6 weeks. I went straight from this local hospital to Mayo Clinic and had surgery two days later. I credit that 6 weeks of complete bowel rest (and most likely steroids to knock the Crohn's activity down) as the reason for my long remission.

My own theory is that if surgery can be done w/the Crohn's in remission or at least symptomatic remission the odds of long remission are considerably better than if the surgery has to be done while the Crohn's is active and ravaging our lives.
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