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What does a blockage feel like?

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Posted 10/13/2012 7:32 PM (GMT 0)
This morning i woke up with mild pain that feels just like gas pains above and to the left of my belly button. I ate this morning and the pain keeps gerting worse. Im passing gas from the stoma but not much else at all. No pain at all around or near the stoma. Iv never had a blockage so i dont know what they feel likee but this is more like gas pain. Hopefully something will pass soon
Posted 10/13/2012 8:19 PM (GMT 0)
A mild blockage starts out like you describe.  Don't eat anything else by mouth until it passes, but drink A LOT of fluids.  I had a bad blockage last April and it started out like you describe.  The mistake I made was that I ate a full meal because I didn't know better.  The end result was agonizing pain and vomiting for 10 hours straight.  Just watch for nausea and a lot of pain.  You really don't have to play a guessing game - it kind of hits you like a ton of bricks when it is the real thing. 
Posted 10/13/2012 8:21 PM (GMT 0)
Hmm... well I've only ever had what I'd describe as partial blockages.. where I get nothing from the stoma for a while, no real pain as such (but I think that's quite unusual if you have true blockage) but nausea and then gushing water output. But from what I've read on here and the web I think a proper blockage is very painful and you know about it. Vomiting, pain and no output are the main symptoms.

Can you remember what you ate last night? anything unusual? If you have absolutely no output for 4 hours or more, then perhaps call your Dr or head over to the ER?

Try massaging your stomach, a warm bath and maybe a hot water bottle to see if you can get things to pass. Fingers crossed this will pass. It's so hard to know.

Good luck x
Posted 10/13/2012 8:29 PM (GMT 0)
Here's a helpful card from the ostomy assoc: http://www.ostomy.org/ostomy_info/pubs/blockage_card.pdf

I've had them with different degrees of severity -- a lot of nausea was a common feature of all of them. I could feel a lot of tightness behind my stoma too. Different degrees of pain, depending on how bad the blockage was.

Agree with the others, the most important thing is to stop eating solid foods, but keep drinking. Moving around is good too. Heat and a bath can help. Also, drink grape juice, it's like liquid plumber for ileostomies (check to make sure it's grape, not apple grape -- the juice in boxes usually is mostly apple..... )

It does sound like you might just have gas though..... I had many false alarms about blockages at first.... started having problems in hot weather when I ate too much bulky food and didn't hydrate enough....

Hope it passes soon, whatever it is -- keep us posted.
Posted 10/13/2012 11:21 PM (GMT 0)
No tightness behind stoma althought it is retracting and gets "fatter" ever so often. I took off my wafer and got in the shower. Massaged, knee to chest, and walked around. It pumped out a pretty good bit in the shower, pretty solid stuff too im just having pain and a little gas from it. I cut my wafer larger than normal and the stoma is taking all the extra space ha. Its really retracted and "fat" looking but no pain near the stoma. Drinking grape juice as well
Posted 10/14/2012 8:35 AM (GMT 0)
Well i started throwing up around midnight with nothing in the bag since 6 oclock so i took a trip to the ER. While in the witing room i passed a huge amount of gas drom the stoma and about a half a bag of semi thick liquid. X rays showed no blockage and havent been nauseous or thrown up since i been here but my stoma is still "fat" and my belly is still really tender. Strange.
Posted 10/14/2012 11:19 AM (GMT 0)
Sounds like you had a blockage and it cleared on its own... that's what happened the one time I went to the ER. It will probably be tender for a while (next day or two).

What I found strange was that w/the blockages there were a few times that I felt horrible and nauseous and then instantly better when it cleared.... although after the worst one I felt lousy for several hours after it cleared.

Hope you're doing better now.
Posted 10/14/2012 11:49 AM (GMT 0)
Glad it cleared. I experienced the same as blueglass. I fell asleep at 4 am feeling absolutely lousy and in tremendous pain (but I was just so exhausted), and woke up at 4:30 with a bag full of rocks (mango doesn't come out as soft as it goes in for me). I felt better immediately in terms of the nausea and pain, but my stoma stayed very swollen for a few days and I felt as though I had been hit by a bus for at least the next day.
Posted 10/14/2012 2:56 PM (GMT 0)
Yea thats what im feeling right now just as you describe. I feel a LOT better this morning just tender and stoma is swollen still. Kinda worried it might be caused by an adhesion as i hadnt ate anyhting that i would think would come close to causing a blockage. Hope it doesnt continue happening. Thanks for the replies! You guys were dead on!

God Bless!!!
Posted 10/15/2012 12:47 PM (GMT 0)
Did you guys stoma stay swollen for a while after? I still had some pain and gas passing the day after the blockage an woke up the next day with a bag half full. Stoma is still swollen a couple days later. How long was yoir stoma swollen after the blockage?
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