bowel resection for stricture in my future

the problem with crohn's is that surgery is not a cure, like it would be for bowel cancer or ulcerative colitis. But having a stricture is not good, and while you won't be cured of Crohn's you WILL be cured of your stricture. So that's a good thing. I don't know why your DR would scare you with talk like this.

It sometimes happens that people pass the whole pill, or maybe just the coating.

ahh ok I guess I figured since I had a stricture I should be careful what I swallow but its funny before Monday before I knew I had a stricture I didnt think about what I was eating. Thanks so much for your response

Try not to freak yourself out.  Here's the deal.  I just had my second small bowel resection due to stricturing in May.  I had two stricutures.  One at the exact spot where the first resection was done and another one where the small intestine and colon meet.  I was having partial bowel obstructions every couple of weeks.  I had to really watch what I ate and even then I was blocking.  That's when it was decided I needed to have them removed.  It was done laproscopically and I had 5 small inscisions.  I was in the hospital for 5 days and had no complications.  I'm not gonna lie you will be in pain.  A lot.  But, get up and walk around as much as you can.  Once your bowels wake up you can go home.  You will be very sore for  a few weeks but once you heal you will feel better.  As for now watch carefully what you eat.  No raw veggies or raw fruit.  Fruit in a can besides pineapple is usually fine.  Nothing with seeds.  No berries.  Nothing leafy like salads or broccoli, cauliflauer, cabbage, things like that.  No whole wheat or whole grain.  White breads and rice are your friends.    I'm sorry you're going through this and I hope you can get it resolved.  Best of Luck

Both of mine have been done laproscopically but it is not always the case.  If the surgeon knows in advance what he is dealing with and it's not done emergently then usually it will be done that way.  If it's an emergency then I think you get cut open.  Also it may start out laproscopically and if it's worse than they thought you will be cut as well.  I don't want to scare you and I hope I am not.  If they're going to manage it with meds I'm going to assume that your docs think that the stricturing is due to active inflammation and not scar tissue.  If you don't mind my asking, what meds are you on?  I hope it's something that will keep the inflammation at bay b/c one you build scar tissue you can't get rid of it.  That's where the problem lies with surgery.  When you have surgery to resect the affected bowel you will 100% build scar tissue from surgery.  If you have active inflammation on top of that...then your chances of stricturing increase.  Please be careful what you eat.  What can be a little crampiness now can get progressivley worse over the next couple of months.  Try to stay on a low fiber/low residue diet.  I know it's not a fun diet but it beats going to the ER in escruciating blockage pain.  Stay well :)

Yea there is a procedure to dilate the stricture to open it up for food to pass safely through.  I've never had that done before.  The first surgery I had was actually done emergently.  I had been running fever for  two months and couldn't get them under control.  I had lost about 25lbs in as many months because I just couldn't eat and whatever I did get down was running right through me.  I ended being hospitalized for 2 weeks and was not fed and put on multiple antibiotics, steroids, and the like.  I also needed a blood transfusion as well b/c my hemoglobin was at 6.  I was very sick.  So finally it was decided to remove the infected portion of bowel and when they went in there they found the stricture.  It was not that bad but it was removed before it got worse.  I also was given a temporary ileostomy.  It was reversed 10 weeks later.  This second time, WAY worse.  I had built up scar tissue from the previous surgery and active inflammation.  I have never been in remission.  So the scar tissue and inflammation=bad situation.  I was in so much pain everytime I had a BM.  It started out a little crampy, achey, and then went  pain.  Constant pain.  Even when I didn't have a bm.  It was always there and got worse and worse everyday.  Then the partial bowel obstructions started to happen.  That is when some food was blocking and some was getting through.  In a year I was in the hospital 6 times for this.  I was always admitted, watched fora  few days, the slowly started being fed and once they saw the blockage had resolved I was sent home on high dose predisone and continue with my drug regimen.   all the drugs in the world couldn't preven the inevitable.  So before I completetly blocked I was scheduled for surgery.  I went in on May 24th.  When the surgeon removed the first stricture he said it was bad but not that bad.  Then they found a second one.  One that they hadn't seen on any cat scan or during any colonoscopy.  Right where the small bowel and colon meet.  That was the culprit.  That one had the opening no bigger than the width of a tip of pencil.  He was amazed at how any food was passing through at all.  So in all I've had about 3 ft of intestine removed, my gallbladder (we'll save that story for another time lol), my appendix (that was removed during the first resection).  My current meds are remicade and apriso.  I take omeprazole for my acid reflux,  I get biweekly iron infusions b/c i tend to bleed internally and i take xanax b/c of the funness that happens with this disease.  I've had 3 blood transfusions and multiple hospital stays.  I see you're newly diagnosed.  I've had this darn disease for going on 11 years.  I'm only 31.  I hope your disease stays well controlled and you won' t have to go through half of the things that I have.    

I know it can be extrememly overwhelming.  Some of the medications are very expensive some prohibitivly so. There are programs out there that can help with the cost of the prescriptions.  I do not work.  I've been on SSD since I was 23 years old.  My husband provides for our family.  I do have one child.  A son who is 8 years old.  I live in NY and it's extrememly expensive here so I understand having a family and providing is difficult for a "normal" person let alone someone who is very ill.  A lot of people of this forum do work.  I don't know how they do it either b/c I  know I can't.  But everyone's disease is different.  Some people take some asacol and they're fine.  Some people here are constantly in the hosptial and sick all the time.  I'm one of the bad cases unfortunately.  I cannot get under control no matter what meds I take.  I've taken then all.  Every single one.  Actually I shouldn't say that.  I haven't taken one and I never will.  That drug is Tysabri.  When I was first diagnosed I was put on pentasa.  Did not work.  Then they added prednisone.  That did work.  But as you're probably figuring out, prednisone is not a fun drug.  You gain weight, your always hungry, you have mood swings, you can't remember anything, you can't sleep, your heart races, and sometimes you feel like you're just plain going insane.  Once I was tapered off prednsione I was put on 6mp.  I was on that for a while then I got pregnant.  So I was just taking azulfadine.  During my pregnancy I felt GREAT.   The bathroom trips were maybe 4 a day as opposed to 10.  As soon as I had my son, the s*it really hit the fan.  I went into such a bad flare.  It was terrible.  Four months after giving birth I had a gallstone in my common bile duct which needed to be removed and also had to have my gallbladder removed.  I was put on Remicade.  I did that for about a year and then it stopped working.  So doc put me back on 6mp and prednisone.  In and out of the hopsital with fever, dehydration, blood transfusions, all that fun stuff all while going to the bathroom upwards of 20X a day.  I was put on cimzia, humira, methotrexate, cipro, flagyl, prednisone, 6mp, all these drugs.  Nothing works alone.  Btw I was not put on all of these drugs at the same time.  This is over the course of 10 years.  I'm currently on remicade which doc wants to add 6mp to b/c it's just not enough alone.  My husband and I are trying for another baby so that is going to have to be put off.  It's rough.  I know how hard it can get and how expensive it can get.  I have health insurance but it costs a lot of money to sick. 

hello,

in the 80ies I had several surgerys because of crohns disease. It took away the pain, but it never cured it. it always did return at another place of the intestines. back then there was not a medicine for me that was efficient enough to cure. so I did have 8 surgerys in the past. I must say that I'm in the top 10 of belgians worst cases of crohns. so maybe you're more lucky and after you will feel a lot better. the current medication is also a lot better then in the past. Don't worry to much about the surgery itselfs, after a few days you'll feel much better already. I wish you all the luck and courage in the future.
lots of greeting from belgium