bowels not moving and stomach shut down. anyone else??

Hi,
my 12 yr old sister has had bowel problems all her life, suffering constipation etc, but since 26th January, she has not passed anything naturally. Her large bowel is totally blocked and after countless evacuations under a general anesthetic they still haven't been able to unblock her, and her small bowel also appears to have pretty much stopped working. She had a colostomy bag fitted a couple of weeks ago and now she is only getting about 3mls in it a day. Her stomach has also shut down, she hasn't been able to eat or drink properly for a long time, and not at all for weeks so she is, or was getting nutrients through a pic line. She is in theatre now for a Hickman line as there was a problem eith the pic line and it looks like a longer term issue than they thought. She also had a barium enima approx 4 weeks ago and it's all still in her! She keeps getting a stitch and can't wee, so they think it's solidifying and pressing on her bladder.
They do not know what it's happening or how to fix it. They don't know of they can remove the barium or what damage it will or won't do if it can't be removed.

having done so many tests they are beginning to think it's caused by a virus, and therefore they can't cure it and don't know how much worse it could get.

Has anyone here experienced anything like this? X

Your poor sister. I sure hope someone will have some ideas for you. Your a good sister to be helping her out like you are, but it must be hard for you to see her go through it. Hugs to you and her.

I believe I was born with


about Hirschsprung Disease
Hirschsprung (say "HERSH-sproong") disease affects the large intestine (colon) of newborns, babies, and toddlers. The condition — which prevents bowel movements (stool) to pass through the intestines due to missing nerve cells in the lower part of the colon — is caused by a birth defect. Most of the time, the problems with pooping start at birth, although in milder cases symptoms may appear months or years later.



I had issues your speaking of as a child and of doctors going In to try to remove impactions and never finding cause
I didn't have it as severely as your description but I believe this caused toxin and infections and weakens immunity.

After I got Lyme I had ambulance come cuz I passed out one night and they never figured it out besides it being an infection

It was extremely painful in my gut and they calledd me a baby.
I was hospitalized and a day later I exploded and three up so much it was shocking to all. I then figured out after getting home and I was do sick with Lyme my gut was triple slow.

Be so careful to get care.
Lyme makes it worse

Heard of balsy of gut ??
Its Lyme related.

I don't have answers to treatment
But they do have meds that stimulate
Intestinal movements for severe cases.

I have managed through diet and enemas and
Ozonated magnesium oxide.

It in itsself leads to toxicity build up
Which it detrimental to our systems health and makes it so much
Harder to treat and recover from infections or any
Health condition.

I hope you find good solutions and help
A good doc needs to ensure nutrition and absorption and also elimination. Standing feces is so toxic if it doesn't pass in its normal
Frame.

I myself wish I had better answers on this subject
For mild and moderate cases even

Your sister sounds severe.
Hoping for the best.

Colon hydrotherapy (make sure they use a "closed system;" the open system relies on the body's ability to pass waste, which isn't going to help in this situation) would be very helpful in this situation. Make sure they use electrolyte water and not just plain water.

Start with warm plain water enemas and some gentle abdominal massage (coconut oil is excellent for this) to get things started.

Meds to make the colon work are very hard on the system and may actually make it worse (spasms).

Burdock root, and lots of oral magnesium citrate, and high dose oral vitamin C with lots of water (orally) may help move this mess out.

NO solid foods until this blockage passes. Diet should be 100% liquid, or nothing by mouth except water and get all nutrients via IV (TPN).

I've endured my share of gut shut-downs and bowel obstructions and obstinate constipation from Lyme/coinfections.

Do not use PEG (Miralax) for this situation - it will make it worse.

I currently am on TPN myself for severe dysphagia and gastroparesis (from Lyme/coinfections). This stuff is no picnic.

Homeopathic Lycopodium and/or Aurum Arsenicum may help some with this also. Be sure to consult a practicing Homeopathic physician for guidance.

I totally agree no stimulates or meds or constipation meds or anything. ! It's just spasms you up high where it won't move.


When I said meds. I meant I saw adds for new line of meds that are " supposed" to help the nerves function that are lacking.

I don't know how though or of they work.

It might be worth asking about them but it does scare me too like above comments any meds usually make things way worse.

Like I said its something new and different I read once about as my son is having this issue too and I was reasearching a bit.

I have no experience with the newer type medications.

Thank you so much for all the info traveler. I have read somewhere about bites leaving parasites in the blood which can cause problems years later. I don't think she's had a tick, don't they stay on the skin for a while? I will definitely mention it tho as it could well be a cause. Having read some of the information suggested, it seems that herbal remedies might be more beneficial than prescribed medication?

I can't tell you the number of hours I have spent online trying to find answers or someone who has experienced what she's going through. So far I keep finding things and thinking, ah that sounds like her, but then there's always something different. I feel scared for her because the drs really don't know what to try next. She's only 12 bless her, and anything I have read seems pretty bleak. Xx

Lovethelight - what is rife? I think acupuncture may be worth a try. At this point anything is!
As a side note, when my baby was having trouble with wind etc, I did reflexology on her little feet (or think I did - I watched a video on YouTube), it seemed to help. X

I'm not surprised she vomited everything they put in her...it can't get through the "normal" way, so her body is getting rid of it the only other way it knows how... They need to stop giving her stuff orally since nothing is going through - that is just making the problem worse (and may lead to intestinal rupture).

Barium for upper/lower GI x-rays turns to cement if not diluted enough with water. They should NOT give her ANYTHING by mouth or feeding tube except small sips of water as often as she can tolerate and keep it down. Water is the only thing I know of that will break up the barium. And it takes a LOT of water to do that.

IMHO, they were crazy to do the barium tests in the first place given her situation...but I digress...

Ok, yes, glandular fever from a viral infection may have caused shock or damage to the vegas nerve that controls gut motility. The good news is, usually viral damage like this does eventually improve (although it may take a long time), and most eventually make a full recovery.

However, given her history of sluggish bowels, there is likely a constitutional issue at play here that was just aggravated by the virus (or whatever the triggering event was)...

Have they considered mitochondrial disorders? Does she have any other symptoms besides gastrointestinal stuff?

RIFE is a type of electromagnetic frequency machine that can be programmed to emit specific frequencies for treating a wide variety of ailments, mostly infection - related (e.g., one common use of RIFE machines is to treat Lyme & parasitic infections; another common use is to treat Cancer).

Acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, reflexology - any or all of these may help. When I took Doxycycline and it shut down my colon, I didn't have a bowel movement for almost 2 months...oh was that horribly painful! Colon hydrotherapy (colonics) really helped me a lot, though I wasn't dealing with a gut full of barium.

I think someone there needs to contact the manufacturer of the barium stuff she was given to find out what (must be safe for a human to ingest) will break it down so it can be eliminated more easily. I know they'll say water, but ask what else - enzymes, EDTA, etc. - something has to work.

My heart goes out to you and your Sister...I have some of the same issues and I hope and pray for a miracle for her.

Edited to add: Check out www.ostomy.org/supportgroups.shtml to find a support group for Ostomates (people with ostomies).

Feel free to email me anytime (click the envelop under my name on the left)...

Apparently they pumped a litre of water through top of bowel using a catheter, and 3 litres up her. The surgeon thinks she had a good result but won't know until she has an xray how much is left. Fingers crossed! They haven't pumped water down through the top before, so hopefully that has made a difference. She's got a temperature at the moment and is sore, but I guess that goes w/o saying. Atleast she's finally getting nutrients now, she had gone without since Saturday!

I sure hope she has some improvement from that treatment. Could she do home schooling for a while to avoid the added stress of being picked on? It would also allow her to rest more. I'm guessing you might be in the UK, so if you are, I don't know if home schooling is done there. Here many parents home school their kids and there are some schools that have a program for kids to do from home. Just a thought.

Oh no...that's terrible! It doesn't sound like they know what they're doing when it comes to gastrointestinal motility problems.

Maybe try to contact the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders www.iffgd.org/site/contact-us/ and see if they can help you with getting the care your Sister needs?

I don't understand how they think she would be able to tolerate stuff in her stomach if they don't even know if the barium has cleared enough to even enable anything to go through...

Wouldn't common sense say that a blocked pipe is a blocked pipe, no matter what you put down that pipe, and what goes down the pipe must come back up if it can't go all the way down?

And if they keep forcing it, they may cause a rupture that could kill her (quickly - sepsis from bowel perforation is very serious).

Shaking my head in disgust...

I didn't read all the posts, did anyone think of parasites. Parasites can cause a bolus or create a blockage somewhere in the GO tract. She could maybe try a parasite cleanse through an enema? You could also garlic oil or freeze dried garlic to it as well. Hope she recovers ok.

I am so sorry to hear about your sister. I did not read all of the replies to your post, but I wanted to give you my advice. I had the exact same symptoms. I lived with it for 15 years before they finally figured out what the problem was. My colon was twisted and had been twisted for 15 years since I had a C-section. By the time the doctors figured it out, my colon was dead and no longer worked. So they sent me for surgery and they had to remove my entire colon. I never wore a colostomy bag, instead the doctors connected my small intestine to the rectum. So I went from chronic constipation and basically at deaths door (because of all the stool that had been inside of my colon for 15 years) to chronic diarrhea. So have the doctors checked to see if her colon could be twisted for some reason? I feel so bad that your sister is having to go through this at such a young age.
As far as me, living with a dead colon and all of the stool for 15 years has caused numerous health problems for me. I pray that they figure out what's wrong with your sister soon so she does not have to endure everything that I have gone through and still going through. Good luck to you both. Find a good doctor. That's really important. God bless you both.