What does a partial blockage feel like?

Since I was in my early twenties I would occasionaly get what I call "my attacks".  It always starts in the afternoon with periodic twinges of pain in the middle of my abdomen.  By dinner time, the pains will be stronger, coming in waves of pain, feeling like my bowel is contracting very strongly.  I will lose all appetite until the attack is over, btw.  By bed time, the pains will be so strong that I can't sleep through them, and by 2 or 3 am, I will be on my knees in the bathroom, throwing up with each wave of pain.  Although my stomach is empty, I throw up green bile.  (yuck!)  By dawn, I am usually starting to feel better, although I will feel "aftershocks" for a few days.  I feel like if I could have a BM, I'd feel better, but I can't.

The first time it happened, I was so scared I went to the emerg, but they couldn't find anything wrong.  My GP at the time eventually diagnosed me with "reverse peristalsis" resulting in two peristaltic waves meeting and causing an extra strong contraction.  I was taking prepulsid to calm the attacks when they came, and it worked well, but then it got taken off the market.  Thankfully, as I have gotten older, my attacks come much less frequently (less than once a year, now).

Now that I have been diagnosed with CD, I am wondering if these attacks were actually partial blockages of the ileum.  Does this pattern of pain sound familiar to anyone in the forum?

I think I did have a CT, porkysgal, but this was over twenty years ago, so I can't be sure. I was in a lot of pain and I remember they wouldn't give me anything for it until the found out what was causing the pain. Eventually they gave me a shot of something, I remember.

Hello,

My son's Doc says when the vomit is green that it usually is a sign that you are obstructing. He has gotten all the symptoms you mention that you get and usually when he starts to throw up the green vomit we know it is time to go to the ER.

River, you shouldn't be getting obstructions often. What kind of medication are you on? You really need a GI who will take this seriously. A total bowel obstruction can rupture and could be life threatening.

It feels like labor pains and sometimes the pain can last a long time before treatment relieves it. Vomiting only relieves the pain for a few seconds. Even some ER measures don't help. The only thing that would lessen these pains for me was morphine, but I could still feel the pain while under the medication.

River68 said...
It always starts in the afternoon with periodic twinges of pain in the middle of my abdomen. By dinner time, the pains will be stronger, coming in waves of pain, feeling like my bowel is contracting very strongly. I will lose all appetite until the attack is over, btw. By bed time, the pains will be so strong that I can't sleep through them, and by 2 or 3 am, I will be on my knees in the bathroom, throwing up with each wave of pain. Although my stomach is empty, I throw up green bile. (yuck!)

Yes this would be how I'd describe my 'partial obstructions'. Had one Monday that I went to the hospital for tuesday afternoon (which they kept me overnight for much to my displeasure)... Once they FINALLY gave me some IV steroids to decrease the inflammation I started feeling better. They were happy to pump morphine in me but didn't want to address the problem even though I told them what I needed within an hour of being there...