Back pain -- gas?

Hey guys.

For the past couple of weeks I've been having pain in the evening that seems like it's throughout my entire torso. My abdomen hurts but also my lower AND upper back. It starts in the evening and seems to recede after a few hours (though I usually pop some Tylenol as well). I've tried taking Gas-X when the pain gets bad but I haven't been able to hold out without Tylenol to test if the Gas-X helps or not.

Anyway, is it normal for gas to cause back pain? I've been lucky that I very rarely had gas pains in the past so I'm not very good at identifying it. I suspect gas because a) my stoma never stops outputting during these times, so it doesn't seem to be a blockage, and b) I notice more noise and air passing out of my stoma in the few hours after the pain comes on. It also seems to be somewhat relieved by hugging a hot water bottle... but I would prefer to never have it in the first place :(

I can't figure out what's triggering it either. At first I attributed it to eating a dinner that is too large, or too much gas producing stuff at dinner, but I've also had the pain start in the late afternoon on nights when I was planning on a late dinner and hadn't eaten yet! I'm not eating anything particularly different either. I've "broken the rules" and drank seltzer and used straws since very early after surgery so I hesitate to name them as culprits, but I'm avoiding carbonated drinks anyway starting now.

um... any thoughts? Honestly last night the pain was so intense that I started to wonder if I need to see my surgeon or GI about it, but it went away within a couple of hours.

I had a lot of back pain after my surgery. It came on more towards the end of the day as I had been moving around a lot. They said it was a combination of the position I was in during surgery and how I was holding myself right after surgery - that hunched over protective of my belly stance. The back pain is starting again now that I just had my takedown surgery.
Doesn't quite sound the same as yours, but maybe think of how you are standing? See if your posture has anything to do with it? Hope it gets better!

Sorry to hear about your pain. It sounds very similar to pain my daughter had a while after her surgery (colectomy and jpouch formation with loop ileostomy). She would wake up at 2am with horribly uncomfortable back pain. She tried doing laps in the house to see if that would help, but it was just very uncomfortable. She started taking gas-x with every meal to prevent it and it gradually went away. Hope it is getting better.

This thread caught my eye, and I'm just curious whether gas pain (or any abdominal bloating) is common with an ileostomy?

I'm considering having an ileostomy largely to end gas discomfort. The bloating and tiny popping bubbles sensations in the abdomen are the worst, though the gas that I have often refers itself as very brief sharp pains in the shoulder area. I'd hate to think any of these symptoms are just going to move from the colon to the small intestine (assuming they aren't already) if I had surgery.

summerstorm said...
Gas is common at first, but after a while it isn't a big problem. Certain foods will give you gas, just like a person with a colon.

Might it be a problem for someone who is hypersensitive to gas?

I know there is some gas that comes out, but I did not think that it could be felt in the small intestine. I also had always been under the impression that the small intestine had only a tiny fraction of the gas-producing bacteria of the colon. Does that change after surgery?

Hey guys, just chatted with the surgeon on call (I *always* seem to need a doc around a holiday... my first hospitalization was Thanksgiving week so I had to have a scope WITHOUT ANESTHESIA, first surgery was the week of MLK day so there was no ostomy nurses, etc etc)... he says it sounds like gas, that I could try playing with diet or reducing my Imodium dose and see if that helps but as long as my output doesn't stop he sees no need for me to go to the hospital.

I am starting to suspect that the issue is at least partly because I'm a seltzer freak. I drink a ton of it and for six weeks after surgery it never caused a problem. However, in the past couple weeks I think most (not all) of the times I've had an issue I've also had a large glass or can of seltzer earlier that day. We keep bottles of it in the fridge at work so I think perhaps I increased my intake in the past few weeks since I returned to the office.

In any case, I guess that's all. I'm supposed to have my pouchogram and pre-op visit next week so I'll start a new thread when I have news on that...