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Posted 6/10/2010 6:10 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Everyone,

Writing to you from the hospital :( I had stomach pain on Monday and called my surgeon in case it was a blockage. He said it sounded like it was and admitted me to the hospital. They ran some tests, waited about a day to see if it would work itself out, and it didn't...surgery was necessary :(

I had a totally twisted bowel (think balloon animal) and my surgeon fixed it. My question is just this:

a)is this going to happen again? It has been horrible.

b)why are people with ostomies so much more likely to get blockages? We don't have anyhthing different in our small intestines--they just end differently.

I just want to avoid this as much as possible. Ugh. This surgery has been harder to recover from than my original ileo.

Thanks, guys.

stephanie

Posted 6/10/2010 6:25 PM (GMT 0)
Most blockages occur in the first year post surgery. It's due to a narrowing in the intestine where the intestine has been cut. I had several partial obstructions in the first couple of years but haven't had one in the past 7 years.

Sue
Posted 6/11/2010 2:36 AM (GMT 0)
We were told that 30% of people, post surgery, will have a blockage within the first ten years and 30% of those will have it happen in the first month. Because you have had one does not mean you will have continued problems. One reason that people with ostomies get more obstructions is that the bowel is not sitting in its "normal" position. Creating the stoma pulls the intestine into a conformation it was not in before. The intestine is moving all the time and can try to get back to it's earlier conformation and create tension and twists in doing so. It is also common to have the blockage right behind the stoma where the intestine goes through the abdominal wall due to tension and narrowing at this site.

You should relax and assume you have had your one blockage. idea Try not to worry and just get on with your life. yeah
Posted 6/11/2010 3:19 AM (GMT 0)
80's Chick,

Sorry to hear of this. I had to have an ileostomy in 2007 due to irreversible colon and rectal damage at another hospital for a whole different surgery.

In 2009 I had 2 food blockages on mashed potato. I had to drink a gallon of hot tea and walk for 10 hours and then all the mashed potato came out all at once it was sooooo painful. My surgeon said that it must have been a twist that worked itself out. I did not understand why a loop of small intestine would twist, as you said, it' still small intestine. BUT that is what he must have meant, it's in a different configuration. THis now makes sense to me.

I did since have a food blockage on potato chips and full fat cottage cheese but I passed this one a lot easier. But I am supposed to go for an imaging test. I sure hope I don't need more surgery as I'm a serious inside scar former and can't have lap surgery because I've had so many open surgeries. I am going to print this out and take it to my consult. Thanks so much for clearing up what I have been wondering about. I wondered the same thing. Will this bowel keep twisting? I eat real bland and when I do that I'm fine. But my diet is VERY LIMITED. I wish you well. Rosemary

Post Edited (esoR) : 6/10/2010 9:22:44 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 6/11/2010 11:23 AM (GMT 0)
Stephanie~sorry to hear you've had complications:( I think most of us have had complications of some sort during our recover...our bodies need a good year to get back to 'normal'.

I've had less than a handful of partial obstructions, in 10 years of being an ostomate, that I've been able to clear on my own (knock on wood!). It is hard to say it will/will not happen again...but I think things get better once your insides find their 'new home' and settle down.
Posted 6/11/2010 8:20 PM (GMT 0)
I had a blockage yesterday. Called my ostomy nurse and they gave me a list of things to try, which I did and none of it worked. I went to the ER after the output stopped for 7 hours and I started vomiting.
They took a cat scan and they said that I had extra air in the abdomen. They also had to give me a ng tube. Anyway I woke up this morning feeling much better. My surgeon said that sometimes the intestine can twist. And he said that the air in my abdomen isn't from my bowel rupturing as I would be in extreme pain, but rather air leftover from surgery.
Anyway, they are going to keep me on the ng tube another night and then going on a liquid diet.
Fun fun
Posted 6/11/2010 8:35 PM (GMT 0)
I actually had one a couple of weeks ago. I monitored my output which wasn't happening for like 5-6 hours and pain was increasing rapidly though for some reason now as intense as I had thought. I had laid down in my bed in the fetal position, massaged my stomach over and over and a couple of hours later when I had rolled over, I heard this pop ... it was the weirdest thing and then all was better. It will get better and things like this will happen.
Posted 6/11/2010 11:41 PM (GMT 0)
New Shiny,

You are the recent surgery correct? WIth good recovery? and eating very soon after surgery? Easy does it.

I had 2 blockages on mashed potato and one on cottage cheese and potato chips recently. The one on mashed potato took 10 hours to clear with grape juice. My original ileo surgeon said it was likely a twist that straightened itself out.

My most recent one resolved in 4 hours with hot tea. But my new surgeon is going to have me have a scan to check for narrowings. I read on a post somewhere that because our small bowel now is positioned differently (coming out of us instead of coiled up inside of us) we are prone to twists? Can you ask your doc if this is true while you're there and I will ask my surgeon when I go for the test. That would mean any of us could have a twist at any time. Jeeeeze. WHat a thought. Hope you get better soon, but don't go too heavy on the food.

Rosemary
Posted 6/11/2010 11:58 PM (GMT 0)
My surgeon explained to me that because my intestines are still sore and with the fact that they haven't "settled" that the intestine may bend to sharply.
Yea I was the one that had the surgery recently. When I get out I decided to stick with a soup diet for a week.
I know I definately want a slushly :)
Also is milk bad for people with an ileo? I know if I consume too much milk it upsets my stomach, but llike a bowl of cereal shouldn't hurt?
Posted 6/13/2010 11:49 PM (GMT 0)
Blockages are awful, it might be because there's no colon and so some foods come through whole like: corn, peas, blueberries, cabbage, broccoli, potato skin. That's all I can think of right now.
I've had my ostomy for 10 years now and I still get them every so often.

I hope you're better now
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