How do you know?

I have not had a blockage myself, thankfully, but from what I have read here, they are incredibly painful, and people often get very nauseous and/or start vomiting. There is very little output. Here's a card with more official information on it http://www.ostomysocal.org/doceng/uoaengileblo.pdf .

I was very scared at first that everything was going to give me a blockage, but I was fine. It's good to be cautious. Also good that your output is starting to thicken. Make sure you're drinking a lot, that's important.

My surgery was lapro, so I'm not sure about the incision pain, except that it makes sense that if you go down on pain meds you could have more pain. Did you go down too soon?

I was so paranoid after my surgery!!! It is so hard to know what is normal pain and what is the sign of something gone wrong. When in doubt, it always gave me comfort to ask my surgeon. You are still so soon out of surgery. I was still in quite a bit of pain at 2.5 weeks. It is hard for me to gauge because as I mentioned in the other posts, I didn't have a normal recovery due to the incision complications. I was on pain meds a lot longer than most. In between complications where I had to go back on heavy-duty pain meds, Tylenol and Ibuprofen worked well for me. Just make sure to ask your doctor about the recommended dose and take them with lots of food and water.

Pain is a hard one. I had so many bizarre pains after surgery. Remember that your body went through some hard-core trauma. A hole was cut through your abdominal wall to make room for a stoma. Ouch! I had many muscle spasms next to my stoma, up to the right of it (??? never understood that one) and all over my abdomen (I had a traditional open incision... not lapro). I also had a lot of gas pains. It was hard to tell what was what. I also had horrible posture after surgery. My incision hurt so badly that I walked all hunched over which I know also contributed to the muscle spasms. Pain for me resolved slowly for about 3 months after surgery. Now that I am a year out, I am pain-free save for a little bit of deep muscle pain once in a great while where my butt was sewn shut.

I have never had a blockage, so I cannot answer that one. Occasionally I will have thick output from a food where I can tell my stoma is working harder to expel something. It doesn't hurt, but feels more like pressure is trying to be relieved... still when I look at these moments there is always poop coming out so I know my stoma isn't plugged. A key is to stay hydrated. My output gets much thicker when I haven't drank enough. I go crazy with the fluids and try to drink 3-4 quarts a day.