What does a bowel obstruction feel like?

I cant be to sure but i think that the most common surgery for cronnies is due to bowel obstruction no? Anyone know what one feels like? Im worried it might happen and ill have no idea its that!

The symptoms of a bowel obstruction depend on whether the blockage is in the small intestine (small-bowel obstruction) or the large intestine (large-bowel obstruction).



Small-bowel obstruction;
Abdominal pain- Most small-bowel obstructions cause waves of cramping abdominal pain. The pain occurs around the belly button (periumbilical area). If an obstruction goes on for a while, the pain may decrease because the bowel stops contracting. Continuous severe pain in one area can mean that the blockage has cut off the bowel's blood supply. This is called a bowel strangulation and requires emergency treatment.

 
Vomiting- Small-bowel obstructions usually cause vomiting. The vomit is usually green if the obstruction is in the upper small intestine and brown if it is in the lower small intestine.
Elimination problems- Constipation and inability to pass gas are common signs of a bowel obstruction. However, when the bowel is partially blocked, you may have diarrhea and pass some gas. If you have a complete obstruction, you may have a bowel movement if there is stool below the obstruction.

 
Bloating- Blockages may cause bloating in the lower abdomen. You may also hear gurgling sounds coming from your belly. With a complete obstruction, your doctor may hear high-pitched sounds when listening with a stethoscope. The sounds decrease as movement of the bowel slows.

 
Large-bowel obstruction;
Abdominal pain- Blockage of the large intestine usually causes abdominal pain below the belly button. The pain may vary in intensity. Severe, constant pain may mean that your intestine's blood supply has been cut off or that you have a hole in your intestine. This is a medical emergency. Call your doctor immediately.

 
Bloating- Generalized abdominal bloating usually occurs around the belly button and in the pelvic area.
Diarrhea or constipation. Either of these symptoms may occur, depending on how complete the obstruction is. Your stools may be thin.

 
Vomiting- This symptom is not common with a large-bowel (colonic) obstruction. If vomiting occurs, it usually happens late in the illness.
Blockages caused by cancer may cause symptoms such as blood in the stool, weakness, weight loss, and lack of appetite.

:)

natural childbirth ... dialated to 10 and no baby in site.

I have had 2 resections due to obstructions. For me the pain came in waves much like labor pains. It hurts like hades. No air, no stool will pass. You feel very very bloated. I know with my first obstruction they said I had NO bowel sounds which was not good. Then I started throwing up the lovely green bile. Hope that helps.

What if your stomach gets significantly bigger as the day wears on and you're constantly bloated but can still pass stools eventually and gas? I have the uncomfortable feeling in the lower abdomen due to gas, and it's taking a lot longer between meals to have a bm so...just wondering if I should be worrying..

Wow pb, you are a wealth of information. I must have had a small bowel obstruction (which is strange because my CD is in my large intestines. Radiating pain above belly button (near stomach). It went away on it's own after a few hours, but now I know not to wait next time.

I do take probiotics actually, but I only started taking them recently so...
The thing about the gas and stool is that I can feel them, but they won't move. I mean I have the boborygmus but nothing will leave for sometimes an entire day..so my stomach just keeps growing and I get more pain in the lower abdomen. I'm really not sure what's going on.
BUT If you don't think I have one then I'm going with that until I see my GI next Wednesday. Yours is a little more hopeful so I definitely prefer it. It maintains a better state of mind anyway :) Thank you.

I had one obst. where I was passing some stool but mostly when sleeping so some water did get out .What kind of BM's are you having and how often. Naisty growling was bad and and bad bloating as well as pain I could see bulging coming and going .lol gail

"Naisty growling was bad and and bad bloating as well as pain I could see bulging coming and going .lol gail"

Sounds about right. The stool has no uniform consistency though...there is actually some solid now which I think is an improvement but then it just switches back to D. I really don't know.

I'll definitely ask about the CT Enterography. I had to do a small bowl follow through with the strange barium cocktail but they only found a lot of inflammation so...

Thank you guys so much for the advice by the way...It definitely will help in my appointment next week. It's difficult to find out what I need to ask sometimes, but there is a lot I need to know and your information is a godsend!

cdinhyd said...
My question is: If stricture is in one part of ileum, why does the pain radiate all over? The pain coming because of food passage thru stricture, why should radiate to other parts of intestine?

Perhaps because the bowel isn't an inert tube but a ring of muscles and nerves which communicate with one another, so if one part is affected, the whole thing is in a way. Also the bowels really don't like being blocked - they will increase the strength of their contractions in order to try and push the blocked food/gas through. There may be pockets of gas causing pain as well.

Meanwhile, if you've reached the point of having no gas/bowel sounds, you should stick to clear fluids... and go to hospital if that doesn't help. Hope it doesn't come to that, though.

Somebody who's had a resection could probably answer that better than me. I did have a stricture in the terminal ileum, but because my whole colon was affected I had to have a colectomy with an ileostomy. The post-healing pain lasted a surprisingly long time (4-5 months in total, although it was at its worst in the first two weeks, then gradually got better and better). But as far as I could tell the Crohn's pain disappeared instantly.

However, it takes time - a few months at least - for the bowels to adapt after any bowel surgery. You can probably expect more diarrhoea for a while, particularly if you lose the ileocaecal valve as well (the valve that joins the small and large bowel together). Some people have bile acid malabsorption after an ileal resection, and need to take a bile-binder like Questran to control it.

I'd be careful with eating anything, even low-residue, if you have an ongoing partial obstruction - you don't want it to turn into a total one. It's a bit miserable, but I do think it's safer to stick to clear liquids (or at least nothing thicker than tea with milk) only. Also, are you still on prednisolone?

Sadly, I'm doing dreadfully, but thanks for your well wishes all the same :-/

I think I might be having a partial obstruction as well, although not as bad as what you are having. Things are still moving, just very sluggishly.