Bowel shutdown after sugery

 I'm not sure I'm in the right forum and maybe someone can direct me where to go.  I had major abdominal surgery over two years ago (bladder removed).  After that my bowels never started working right.  No paristolis.  I ended up IMPACTED BIG TIME and had to be hospitalized.  Since that time I was prescribed--mirilax, metamucle and zelnorm but zelnorm is not on the market.  I had three little movements a day but felt good--as though I had had a satisfactory evacuation.  That slowly quit working.  I now take supplements called Flora Gensis and Eliminator 1.  The first firms up the stool and the other really gets me moving.  I go often and not with a lot of warning.  MY QUESTION IS SIMPLY --- IS TAKING ALL THIS STUFF JUST MAKING ME GO OR IS IT ALSO CAUSING THE BOWEL (PARISTOLIS) TO COME BACK.  I know that it takes time. 

Can anyone give me some input.

Thanks

Over the time period that this has been going on I finally (when I ended up in the hospital) got to a GI.  He is the one that has me on the mirilax, metamucil and zelnorm (until it was taken off the market)  The two supplements that I'm taking that have worked the best of all in terms of what the docs gave me came from a natural healer. 

Thanks

Anytime they touch your intestines, they can mess them up. Taking out a bit of your intestines isn't as simple and complication-free as taking out a bit of hip for some bone or a bit of skin from your behind. I don't know if any of the ostomies people have had problems with constipation after having their intestines operated on (and I think some people on that forum have had just intestinal surgery, not necessarily a full colostomy), but it's worth asking.

Make sure your doctor petitions for you to the government to get a special dispensation for the zelnorm. Someone else on here has had their doctor do that. The government isn't allowing exceptions to the rule yet, but indicated that they would consider it. I guarantee you that their consideration will be based on how many people scream about how they need Zelnorm in order to have any bowel function at all. According to the numbers I saw in the news, the actual odds of heart complications, while severe, was actually very, very low. I think it was pulled because a lot of people just don't understand the seriousness of constipation. They've just found out that the diabetes drug Avandia causes an even higher risk of various heart problems, but it hasn't been pulled. They want to do more studies first and weigh the heart problems against diabetes risk. People think diabetes is more serious than constipation. Maybe it is; I don't know (you can die of constipation, just as you can die of diabetes-related problems). But most diabetics on oral meds seem to live better, easier lives than people so constipated they needed Zelnorm. But quality of life seems to rarely factor into medical decisions; so long as you live forever, the medical establishment could care less how horribly miserable you are.

I don't know if the meds are making you go, or if your bowels are functioning again on their own. One way to find out is to quit the medicine and see what happens. Of course, there's the risk that you will get badly impacted again, but sometimes people just need to know these things, you know? Also, when you are on strong laxative meds, they can you to become dependent on them, so your bowels move less, not more. A lot of people worry about this when they are on laxatives, but when the bowels aren't moving on their own, something has to be done about it. It's sort of a vicious cycle that way; it's hard to get the bowels to ever work again when you have to take laxatives so long to make them work, then the laxatives encourage them to work even less. I have heard of giving people temoprary colostomies to allow their intestines time to heal after a surgery, but that's a bit late for you, given that yours were operated on 2 years ago.

I was taking Zelnorm until it was taken off the market.  I really not sure that it did me that much good.  How long since you had your surgery and why do you say it is permanent.

Thanks