My colon stopped working (paralytic ileus)

A few months ago I was turning in bed and felt a searing pain in my LUQ. The pain felt sharp like a knife stabbing into my LUQ, I’ve never had any type of pain like this before. It caused me to jump out of bed and my entire body was sweating. I walked around for a few minutes and waited for the pain to subside and got back into bed. I can no longer lie on my left side due to the pain.
Before the event, I would have a bowel movement like clockwork every morning. Each week after the event, I noticed my bowel output became less and less. As the problem became worse, I noticed LUQ and RUQ pain increased if I strained. A month later, I stopped having bowel movements. After a week without a bowel movement, I took laxatives for the first time in my life as I was at wits end from continual bloating. By taking various laxatives I am able to have some partial evacuations; however, I have never been able to completely empty my bowel as in the past.
Lab work: I’ve had multiple blood tests, the doctors tell me everything is normal. On the round of blood tests, my Alpha-1-Antitrypsin was low at 68mg/dL with the normal range being 90-200. The doctors stated that this was nothing to worry about and that it was only an issue if it was very high. My IgA was on the low-end at 82mg/dL (normal 90-400) but the doctors were not concerned. I had also had a full celiac panel done and it all came back normal.
Scans: I have had a KUB x-ray, a CAT scan without contrast and fluoroscopy with barium swallow. All of these tests came back normal with the exception that in each scan there was a lot of stool noted in the colon, one doctor reviewed the CT and could not believe the amount of stool in the colon but offered no idea as to what is causing the problem.
Suggestion: My primary suggested I go to a major clinic such as Mayoclinic, Cleveland Clinic, I have booked such an appointment but it is months away and I am suffering from this every day. I have visited other doctors, including internists and gastroenterologists but they are not sure what is causing the problem. They all listened to the bowels with a stethoscope and they stated the bowels were normal.

I have looked into several possibilities as to what may be causing this problem:
1) adhesions – possible but typically can only be diagnosed with an exploratory laparoscopy, which can cause more adhesions
2) diaphragmatic hernia – would of showed up with the fluoroscopy with barium swallow and this is typically congenital
3) fecal impaction – the doctors stated the bowel sounds were normal upon auscultation
4) h. pylori – blood tests came back negative
5) partial bowel obstruction – I have not had the common symptoms such as nausea and vomiting
6) protein losing enteropathy - previous urine tests were normal

It is awful having to live like this and I am desperately seeking help to find what is causing this problem.

I had paralytic ileus from c diff and i know how it feels. It was just a constant pain and i couldnt get comfortable. I was beyond bloated even though i had hardly been eating. I didnt think anything else could cause it though.

Dear A,

I'm sorry to hear you are suffering. Maybe I can shed some light while you wait for your appointment. The colon motility, or the ability to move stool out of the body is controlled by the specialized gut nervous system called the ENS, or 'brain in the gut.' This 'brain in the gut' talks to your big brain and your immune system and nervous systems through pathways called by scientists the 'brain-gut-immune' axis.

What does all this have to do with your symptoms?? Chronic low grade stress can cause physiological, meaning actual physical changes in these pathways, causing the colon to 'stop working' become sluggish and your specialized digestive smooth muscles to stop working.

So, the most important thing to do to get relief until you see the docs at the Mayo clinic is to start with a regular mindbody practice, each day, for 15 minutes to start 'rewiring' these connections that stress has damaged.

If you do this, you'll see a big difference!:)

Post Edited By Moderator (Michelejc) : 5/18/2013 6:39:17 AM (GMT-6)

DrDani:

Rule number 8:

8. If you are a medical professional, do not use the forums to distribute professional medical advice and/or promote your services.

Please remove your signature. Thank you.

Hi I have similar problem. I started going every day about 12 months ago but then had constipation heartburn and a couple of episodes of watery diarrhoea. In 33 days I only went three times two of those using laxatives. When I got to ten days again. I went to the docs and my rectum was empty but hard stools felt higher up. I had ct after taking picolax to empty me so not sure if I believe the negative result for obstruction. Prucalopride worked for some weeks but then slowed and stopped. Linaclotide worked a bit at least letting me get gas out. But had to take dulcolax last night. Completely cleared me down to the liquid but feeling bloated and full of gas which won't come out. I want it to go away. My consultant says ibs c but why won't my bowel move to let the gas out. Not many bowel sounds either. Can anyone relate to yhis.

I'm so happy to find this forum. I think I'm losing my mind. Essentially I haven't had more than 2-3 tbs of stool at a time for 3 months, and that is produced only with a significant amount of laxative. I went to the ER on Dec 1, Dr. gave me a CT scan and told me it was Ileus and put me on Lactulose and Mag Citrate. Some stuff came out but not a lot. Had to follow up with PCP who said it was just air. Asked to see a gastro who said it was "just constipation" and put me on 4-5 capfuls Miralax/day for a month. Nothing happened. He did another CT and said nothing showed to "warrant these symptoms." Was supposed to have a colonoscopy after that but I got so bloated from the prep, with so much pain, I couldn't finish. Again, nothing came out but water and "silt." Went to the ER again because of the pain and bloating so bad I thought I'd burst. That Dr. took an X-ray and said there was a significant amount of stool and to go back to the Miralax. Got a new Gastro who did a colonoscopy (mind you, nothing passed during the prep again, but water & silt). Regarding my non-working bowels & bloat, he kept saying it must be "air" but wants to schedule me for a "esophagoscopy" which I didn't notice on the papers until I got home, so I have no idea as to why. On the rare occasion that I do produce a tiny bit, and I can see what's in it, it's always something I've eaten in the last 12 hours -- to me that means it's passing right by the mass that's in there. Also, to add to things, he found 3 polyps in the colon, one of them large (3 cm) on which he's doing a biopsy. Lucky me :<(, I stayed awake during the procedure, and he showed me there was nothing blocking between the large and small intestine.

I know this is crazy rambling, but I'm scared to death and feel/look like I'm at full-term pregnancy with twins. It's hurts all the time -- feels like it's stretching and pulling. BTW, I'm a 68 yr old female, with a history of BM problems, ranging from constipation to blow-out diarrhea. When I was a kid I'd have to sit on the toilet seat backwards with my knees up to get anything out. A dr somewhere along the way told me my tail-bone was blocking things because I was sway-backed. Interestingly, before those times now when a bit is trying to come out, I have tailbone pain too.

I suffered from colonic inertia my entire life. I am now 68 years old. After years of being told eat more fiber drink more liquids, I have IBS on and on and on. Finally found a gastro doctor that knew his stuff. Sent me to Cleveland Clinic had a test called a smart pill, not to be confused with PillCam. This test confirmed his diagnosis colonic inertia. After a lifetime of using every laxative on the market finally developed allergic reactions to all of them. I was down to the last one I could take and was developing reactions to that. During this time I also developed diverticulitis. To make an extremely long story short Cleveland Clinic wanted to perform surgery and have a permanent colostomy bag. I could not live like that. After doing some research I accidentally came up on the site for the Bcir. Had the surgery in April in 2015. I have gotten my life back. I know not anyone procedure is perfect for everyone, I wish I had known about this procedure 25 years ago my life would have been totally different. I have no activity restrictions, the only food restrictions I have are peeling and corn so far. I intubate 2 - 4 times in a 24 hour period, no leakage problems from the stoma. I wear piece of gauze with tape or band aid over the stoma I don't understand why more doctors don't learn this procedure. You will hear good and bad about any surgery, but for me Bcir is the best thing that ever happened to me. The lady that was almost 18 years younger than me was in the hospital the same time I was for the same condition. We had the Bcir procedure done 2 days apart and we keep in touch. She has the same reaction I did why wasn't this done years ago!

Hi everyone,
I am 16 year old male suffering from a very similar problem for the past 5 months. If alveolar21 reads this or anyone else has this problem, do you think you could contact me at *Please put your email address in your profile. This protects you against spammers* so I can talk to you about some things that you do that help or maybe even better if you solved your issue could you help me out! Thanks again and I just hope I can ansewr my problem!
-Luke

Post Edited By Moderator (Red_34) : 11/23/2016 7:20:10 AM (GMT-7)