HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

6 weeks since surgery, feeling blue

Support Forums
>
Ostomies
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 7/13/2013 12:28 AM (GMT 0)

Perhaps many of you have gone thru this: I'm 6 weeks post surgery (temp colostomy) and I'm depressed and feel like I'm never going to have anything resembling a fairly normal life again!

I'm trying to add foods back to my diet, which was bland for weeks after surgery. So far, most vegetables give me horrible gas & I can't even think of trying salad yet, it would probably kill me! Fruit juices bring on diarrhea, and just about everything else (meat, cheese, yogurt, potatoes, etc) takes a long time for me to digest. I'm eating gas tablets after every meal.

My energy level is low, I make it through the workday and have no steam left to do anything-shop, visit with friends/family. Maybe it's too early and I'm expecting too much...but I was sick for close to 3 years. I'm chomping at the bit to get out and do something!!

Thank you for letting me vent. If anyone can suggest some decent & healthy food that I may be able to tolerate & possibly enjoy, I'd sure appreciate it.

_______

Nov 2010 car accident,  severe intestinal pain began Jan 2011, Colonoscopy, gastroscopy

6/11 Exploratory surgery - intestines stapled to sacrum, due to torn ligaments, intestines flattened, pancaking on top of each other

6/12 Remove adhesions, scar tissue attached from navel to base of intestines/rectum.

CAT scans, MRI, numerous X rays, Defecogram, Transit Study

10/12 Fix rectocele, lift vaginal vault to correct urination problems

12/12 Insertion of electrical impulse unit, experimental attempt to divert pain (didn't work)

5/13 Temporary colostomy

Surgeon's diagnosis - Pelvic Outlet Obstruction

2nd opinion at NYC Univ. Hospital - Unspecified Colorectal Injury due to Car Accident

GP's diagnosis Intestinal Compression Injury due to Car Accident

Posted 7/13/2013 3:11 PM (GMT 0)
Hi LinCee. I think 6 weeks is not a long time after surgery like ours. I also think you're doing a great job monitoring how you respond to different foods. Lots of people here are "experts" on the subject and will offer much help. Feeling blue is part of the process. It will go away by itself in time or with the appropriate help you'll get if you need it. Please don't be reluctant or ashamed to ask for (demand) help from professionals. Keep lots of notes and refer to them often. You'll be well sooner than later.
Sincerely,
Mike
Posted 7/13/2013 3:21 PM (GMT 0)
I forgot to mention the thing about appetite. The thought of food was one of the worst things for me after surgery. That seems to go along with the depression. The depression goes away, the appetite comes back, then we start to gain too much weight. There's no end. BTW, you don't need permission to vent. You help us help you by letting us know you situation.
Sincerely,
Mike
Posted 7/14/2013 4:06 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Mike, I really appreciate your advice. I'm trying to do too much at once, helping my elderly parents, walking 2 dogs, keeping up with work & I have to remember to take it easy...and easy on the foods too! The weight is creeping back up because my response to the blues is to eat, and it seems a bland diet is mostly carbs.

I spoke with the Ostomy nurse & she told me not to give up on trying new foods, but perhaps to do it more slowly. She advises that in a few months I may be able to tolerate a wider range of foods, including those that I've avoided since the intestine problems.

Posted 7/20/2013 4:12 PM (GMT 0)
A week later....and its getting worse. I had a V Fusion drink (has no fiber) and it slowed my output, my intestines felt full & hurt throughout. I passed that drink, but still dealing with slow output...and I drink a lot of fluids to stay hydrated...no help!

Felt very bloated & had intestinal pain when I moved, from sitting to standing, laying down, etc. Next, I noticed blood pooling from the stoma opening. I had kept in touch with the Ostomy nurse, she cked with my Surgeon & they wanted me at the ER so a CAT scan could check for a partial blockage.

No blockage was found. The Surgeon's associate performed exam & massaged and squeezed the entire abdomen-ouch!! I filled the bag 3 times while at the hospital & had to stop twice on the way home to empty the bag, again! Also...the ER Dr advised that due to my history, I may be prone to colitis.

Feel like I'm on a see-saw. Will my next meal cause me to feel full, bloated and cause intestines to hurt all over? This is ridiculous, 3 years of pain & surgeries...including major surgery to correct the problem (temp colostomy). Am I ever going to have a quality life again? I still am missing time from work and staying home weekends because I'm hurting.

Has anyone gone thru similar situation?
Posted 7/20/2013 7:37 PM (GMT 0)
I didn't have surgery for the same reason as you, so I'm not sure how your body would heal or if you already had slow disgestion to begin with. So I can't be much help with that.
I can tell you that not having any enegery at 6 weeks is not abnormal. Also, take the gas tabletss before you eat. Take some when you get up then a few hours later. It works best if you do that it keeps me from getting gas at all. When you eat veggie and stuff, eat a small piece of bread or meat with it. Like have a salad with chicken in it, or just a plain piece of bread or a few crackers, that seems to help those types of foods get through better.
Good luck!
Posted 7/21/2013 3:24 PM (GMT 0)
I had a hard time with food. I ate pureed homemade chicken soup ALOT. It was all the nutriens and digested easy. I do fine I eat way more carbs now than I ever did before. Some veggies are still hard and it's been 3 yrs. for me.

Hope you can figured it all out. It sure took awhile for me and the blues lasted 11/2 yrs. so I take Pristique now for some depression. Thinking of going off it because can deal with things better.

Just so you know, You can get back to your life and it is much better than with the disease. I just won a half ironman for for my age group and I never thought I'd do that again.

God bless
Posted 7/24/2013 2:42 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks Summerstorm and Trigirl. I'm going to try that chicken soup deal, never thought of pureeing it... what a great idea! I went to my Primary Dr, he gave me Linzees for the constipation. I'd rather not use meds, but for now...feel like I have to. Can't afford to lose my job and desperate to get out and enjoy life again!

Scared to try veggies, other than mashed or sweet potatoes. Just too much gas and again, the constipation. Like Colo-rectal MDs suggested, I will take it real slow adding foods back to my diet. Don't want to be back at the hospital again. I'm amazed I don't glow in the dark yet, I've had so many CAT scans & xrays!
Posted 7/27/2013 3:03 AM (GMT 0)
Update- Just a few days on the Linzees meds & I feel great! I take it in the morning, within 1 1/2 hours I am cleaned out and am pain free the rest of the day! Considering I've had constipation problems for 3 years & was having problems after healing from the colostomy (checked for blockage last week), this might be the solution for me! I actually feel like doing things after work...instead of sleeping from the pain & exhaustion.

Still taking it slow adding foods back into my diet, but feel a glimmer of hope that I'll get through this.
Posted 7/29/2013 7:12 PM (GMT 0)
So glad things are working out for you now. You may feel better in yourself now that your pain free good luck! x
Posted 8/1/2013 2:15 AM (GMT 0)
Thanks crohnielass. I hate to rely on a laxative/med, but I was devastated that after healing, I was back to same old, same old-always constipated & intestines hurting.

I really don't want any more surgeries, I've had 4 since the car accident (starting with "fallen intestines" due to torn ligaments) Don't think I can handle anymore of that.

Is there anyone out there that has intestines problems due to a car accident/seat belt injury? I've read about some cases.... Love to hear from anyone that is going thru similar problems. Thx

Posted 8/1/2013 4:19 AM (GMT 0)
If you can get sweet potatoes out you should be fine on just about anything. They are stringy and thick and tend to bunch up.
Posted 8/2/2013 2:54 AM (GMT 0)
The problem is, everything "bunches up" on me, Summerstorm! I have nerve damage, and the year before I got my temp colostomy, I couldn't feel my rectum.  At first, I could "manually" get things moving. But several months of that gross exercise....and I couldn't get anything to move!  Waste would just sit in the intestines til I took a combination of strong laxatives, or Milk of Magnesia, etc to get things moving. Even enemas didn't work that well for me.

The surgeon privately called it nerve damage, officially wrote his diagnosis as pelvic outlet obstruction. My primary (who has all the different Specialist's records) said there is a preponderance of evidence that it's nerve damage due to the car accident/seat belt compressing the intestines. Even a top notch Specialist at NY University said its nerve damage, and he agreed, its from the car accident, & the damage would be near impossible to pinpoint.

I'm happy to take daily meds to get things moving. The pain was unbearable again! Sorry, I just can't live that way. sorry, I'm so tired, hope I don't sound offensive. Long day...very productive, but I'm beat! Thanks for your input Summerstorm, I really do appreciate it! :)

✚ New Topic ✚ Reply