Air trapped in gut post-colonoscopy

72 hours post-colonoscopy, I still have air trapped in the abdomen. The first day was quite painful, it even hurt to walk. Yesterday I saw maybe a 2% improvement...today, too soon to tell I guess. I hope I'm right in assuming that this is trapped air and that it will eventually work its way out. If this were the result of a perforation I guess there would be escalating symptoms associated with that?

The procedure took only 10-15 minutes, but I suspect that I may have been "over-inflated" for the festivities, because I remember that the nurse kept reminding me to breathe more deeply, and it was difficult to do so as my diaphragm didn't seem to have a lot of room to move at the time.

Does anybody know of a way to speed up the de-inflation? Am I naive in assuming that it's only trapped air? I've had this procedure before without ill effect.

i was told to lay on my back and roll back and forth. if possible, bring your knees up to your chest then roll back and forth. it has worked for me in the past.

I had a lot of discomfort after my last colonoscopy, I googled, colonoscopy gas pain & it took me to a site that gave you yoga moves to do...worked very well.

also, you might want to apply a heating pad to your abdomen. While it won't make you pass gas, it could help you with the pain ...

Try pavanmuktasan pose of yoga

http://yogameditationindia.com/asana_img_01.htm (Search for pavanmuktasan on this page), helps a lot.

BTW, were you given any injection just before colonoscopy?, still the effect should not go this long.

Thanks for the feedback all. Looks like a lot of people have been there before. I've tried a bit of everything including the pavanmuktasan, peppermint tea, hot bath, rocking back and forth, the front-down-butt-up position, and I'm making progress. Slowly. Also the shoulderstand (sarvangasana) is pretty effective. Somebody posted earlier (in a different thread) that the GI has the option of removing/vacuuming out the air at the end of the exam. If that's true then it's perfectly in character for my (ex)GI not to have exercised that option.

And yes, I was sedated, albeit grudgingly, by the GI, but I had to insist on it. I'm wondering, do they make less money if they incur the expense of sedating you?

The exercise ball is definitely a good idea.

It's also a good help with cramping.
q

hibiskiss121 said...
If you dont have one buy a large exercise or yoga ball. Get on your hands and knees with the ball on your gut. Roll you body gently around the ball to what ever position that gives u relief. Just kind of roll your abdomen over the ball with your hands and knees on the ground and massage your gut with it. Wow it works wonders. Putting slight pressure on different areas moves the gas.

Just want to post a huge THANK YOU for this.

Had my first colonoscopy today and after 5 hours of severe abdominal pain and trying everything I read I finally found this post. 30 minutes on the yoga ball and gas is still finding it's way out! The relief is huge. I found a side-to-side movement with pressure over the lower abdomen is really effective. I had tried massage but the pressure is not enough - body weight on a yoga ball is just right.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Had mine 2 weeks ago, couldn't stand up straight for 3 days. Horrible pain, bloating, couldn't eat. I tried everything people have said below - yoga moves (I take yoga on a regular basis anyway so knew some moves to do), lie on stomach, walk around to get things moving, heating pad. Nothing worked. I ended up in the hospital due to the pain - they never figured out what was wrong, maybe a tiny perforation that healed itself in a day or two. They did have me take 4 Mylanta (Gas-X 125mg works too) chewable tablets a day in the hospital. That really helped. One after each meal and one before bed. I'll start that right after the test from now on.

I'm convinced they put WAY too much air in your for the short test these days. They also use CO2 now which is supposed to be absorbed by your body. I don't believe that is the case for everybody however, as I know it was not the case for me. And it doesn't seem to expel as easily either like the normal air used to. And I feel it makes them lazy in sucking the air out. My old GI used to spray some liquid form of Gas-X after the test too - wish they would still do that.