Chronic small bowel obstruction from adhesions

Hi, I am new to this group and am finding it very helpful. I am a seventy-eight year old maleI had a hemi-colectomy/appendectomy twenty one years ago and had my first partial SBO six months ago. It was cleared in the hospital without surgery but I have continued to have abdominal and back pain. I recently went to a colorectal surgeon and had laparoscopic surgery. He said I have a lot of adhesions. My stomach and part of my transverse colon were adhered to the abdominal wall. He freed these and some other areas with lysis. I am still having pain, both from the surgery and the adhesions, but can tolerate a low fiber diet most of the time. When I have a flare-up I drop back to a liquid diet until it passes. My doctor says we won't know if the surgery was successful for six months or so.

Every doctor that I have seen says that I should be able to tolerate a regular diet but I find that to be untrue.

My question is does anyone take Miralax ? I have been taking Miralax daily to keep things moving and find that it works pretty well but I'm having trouble determining when and how much to take.

I would very much appreciate any advice I can get.

docm

I am new to this discussion and am for the first time feeling somewhat hopeful. I had my first SBO on December 20th and was in the hospital for about 3 days. The doctor said it was most likely due to adhesions from a previous hernia repair I had back in 2011. When I googled it everything was doom and gloom and basically said I am going to die. I had a complete break down panic attack in the e.r. they said it can keep happening and so I am trying to research diets and things I can do to try and prevent it from continuing to happen. My husband died in 2019 from complications of diabetes and I still have 2 teen boys to finish raising so I have to figure out how to live with and through this. Thank you all for sharing your stories and giving me hope that this is not a death sentence

I’m so sorry. While there’s not a strict diet per se, I myself am on a low/zero fiber diet, mainly liquid diet but I have a script for Kate Farms and Ensure nutritional shakes. I can’t handle fiber at all, really. I also eat a lot of soups, I eat mashed potatoes when I can, jello, broth, pudding, hot chocolate. Nothing with skins, nothing with seeds, no nuts. Little bites of a soft diet if you can tolerate it. If you feel an obstruction coming on, switch to a clear liquid diet (broth, jello, water, tea). You can google low fiber diet, or a soft diet

Thank you for the response. I tried eating a single scrambled egg last night after just liquids. I've been googling liquid diets and what all I can eat. I appreciate any advice and feedback I can get as I learn to live with this

I forgot about this. Don’t eat anything that will increase gas, like broccoli, asparagus, and Brussels sprouts

My Mom was hospitalized twice in three weeks with SBO and has since managed her diet to avoid further complications. Her self-discipline has been crucial to her success.

Basically she follows a low residue diet. It’s easy to research, but essentially it’s about avoiding raw fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts. She chews her food very carefully which is extremely important. She has always been a health-conscious cook so beans and vegetables are important to her. You will note that beans are not included on a low residue diet, but she cooks them well and limits them, but she also chews well.

Her gastroenterologist told her to take Miralax every day, but now she takes it in the evening if she doesn’t have a bowel movement.

Prunes, prune juice, and juices with pulp are definitely prohibited on her diet.

I hope her success story helps others to avoid hospitalization and surgery.

My wife Lynn had open abdominal surgery at Mayo in 2015 and 2016. In May 2018 she began having partial SBO's. As of September 2022, she has experienced 25+ SBO's which keep her in bed for 2 days (sleeping) and NPO. She goes into the local hospital outpatient for IV fluids for 3-5 days. It takes another 4-5 days to generally get back to normal. When she feels one coming on she quits eating and drinking and crawls into bed. I immediately call her oncologist and arrange for her to get fluids because without fluids she goes downhill fast and it really gets bad. She is very nauseated, but has never actually vomited. She takes no pain meds.

We've met with three dietitians (one at Mayo), two gastroenterologists (one at Mayo) and have tried removing stress, breathing, etc. They occur (on average) every two months or so and come on like a light bulb. We really can't travel anymore (especially outside of the U.S.) My wife is having lysis surgery at Mayo on Oct 3 to try and get some relief. I also should mention that Lynn has been scanned three times over 4 years during an SBO. After examining the scans the surgeon said that while there isn't a 'smoking gun', the issue may be mutifocal and mutifactorial – multiple issues in multiple areas. It will be full open surgery. While she is doing lysis, she will palpate my wifes entire small bowel for any neuroendocrine tumors that may not have been revealed on scan.