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Ileostomy reversal - Swollen Tummy

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Posted 8/2/2007 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
I had my ileostomy reversal 3 weeks ago, which seems to be successful.  Pretty soon after the op my belly became swollen as expected until my guts woke up again.  My guts woke up and my bowels work well again, but my swollen belly has not gone down. It is swollen and hardens when I eat, but softens again in the morning.  I look a few months pregnant but apart from that I feel really well and no pain.  Has anyone else experiences this, or has suffered from this and how long can I expect it to be before my belly goes down again. 

Thanks,

MY

Posted 8/2/2007 7:37 PM (GMT 0)
I had my reversal 6 weeks ago. My surgeon in addition to the 5 staples in the ostomy site had placed 16 staples and 7 nylon sutures in the abdominal incision due to the fact of abdominal swelling. I till notice that I have some swelling after I eat I found eating smaller portions more frequently has helped. My left side is more distended than my right side but I think it may stay that way since my left side is the only part of my that has colon left. Half of my colon is gone now. In addition to weaning off pain meds my neuromogist has me slowly coming off of my elavil (migraine prevention) due to I want to have a family in the next year or 2 and would rather gradulaly slow this med down over a long period of time. I have noticed that since coming off the elavil my appetite has increased but if I eat too much (more than post op but less than my regular meals) I get bloated. I wish the appetite would go away though I am at the right weight for my height after being on prednisone for so long.

In the hospital post op I was wearing size small pj pants that you tied with a string, with not tying it it fit comfortably. There was 1 more than the other 3 that was best for that, that same pair now will fall to my feet if I dont tie it tight enough. When I saw my GI in April (after intestine resection, then ileostomy) I weighed 119 I saw him 4 weeks post op (reversal) and lost 16 pounds from april. Things will get better maybe not as it was before but it goes down.

any other questions feel free to ask and I will help if I can
Posted 8/8/2007 4:03 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks so much for your reply. I feel so modest in comparison and I really send you my best of wishes. Even though I eat smaller and more frequent portions, the effect seems to be accumulative and I am just swollen again by mid day. The bathroom situation seems fine and it still a joy not to worry about emptying and changing bags. What baffles me is why I am swelling and will it ever go down. It means a change to my wardrobe and trousers are definately out at the moment. I lost about 30cm of small bowel but this doesn't seem to have functionally changes anything. I am seeing the surgeon in weeks time and hope he can enlighten me further. Weight wise, my weight is stable and gradually increasing. I did find the bright side to the ileostomy which was the ability to eat anything and not worry about not putting on weight. I really enjoyed sitting and eating a whole tub of icecream with no adverse effects on the waistline! Those days have gone, thank goodness. I just wonder whether my bowels are working slower as this is how they were 'trained' to work in the ileostomy days.

Be glad to hear any other comments or views...

Thanks again.
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