Hi, @sarah303 - welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. Having more episodes with the small bowel obstruction (SBO) and soreness afterwards sound rough.

I'm tagging a few members on Connect who might know about small bowel obstruction without prior surgery @jlharsh @janetwass @mbs555 @shaleenv @catherine1290 @striplingmom @redreb. Hoping these members can let you know if they had SBO without prior surgery and whether they had adhesions or some other cause of SBO. They can also share about what to expect in your upcoming GI appointments and what testing you might undergo.

In the meantime, here is some Mayo Clinic information on bowel obstruction that may be useful:

- Intestinal obstruction
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/intestinal-obstruction/symptoms-causes/syc-20351460
How has your appetite been lately, sarah303? Have you had abdominal pain?

I had a partial SBO in December that put me in the hospital for a couple days. I had major fear of food for awhile after that. They think mine are due to adhesions from prior surgery though. I have a CT scan with Dye at the end of this month with mayo, which is supposed to show if it's from adhesions or something else. I have met with the GI doc at Mayo and that is who is sending me for the scan. I have also met with the nutritionist to learn what foods to avoid etc. I have not had one since, Thank God, but I am very careful about what I eat. Also if I start feeling like I am going to have another one I stop eating and do clear liquids for a day. I also take a teaspoon of olive oil daily which has helped me stay regular. I was having to use miralax and was still struggling. I told my nutritionist about the olive oil and she said she has heard others say the same thing and if it works for me then it is ok. I also found some research on it and they did some tests and learned that it does help with SBO.
I have not had any kind of endoscopy or colonoscopy and that has not been brought up yet. But I am still sort of new to this myself. I'm so sorry you have had to join this club and I hope you find answers. I can say joining mayo and these conversations helped reduce my anxiety about it all.
Ps it took a couple weeks for my soreness to go away completely after the blockage

I had an SBO last November and was in the hospital for a while. It was caused by adhesions due to a previous cancer operation. It was not fun at all... however, similar to the previous message above, I am very careful about what I eat. Nothing raw including fruit and vegetables, no nuts or seeds and only smooth food that can go down easily. There is quite a lot on line about what not to eat with an SBO. And I am also very mindful of constipation (Miralex, Senna and Metamucil!). Having said all that, there is life after an SBO. One does recover. If you keep an eye on constipation and eat carefully I am told it will probably not come back (emphasis on the probably!). Unfortunately there is no sure way of prevention as I understand it. And the only symptom that happened to me was vomiting.. then I knew there was a problem. I followed up with a gastroenterologist who was very helpful and fairly reassuring. I do hope this helps.

@sarah303
What symptoms do you have that lead you to believe you have an obstruction in your small intestines? Have you had a prior diagnosis for this? How have you been treated and what have you already tried to relieve symptoms? Have you had an endoscopy already or abdominal ultrasound? Have you had bloodwork to check for anything off/abnormal?

1. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/bowel-obstruction

I do hope you have some success in finding out why this is happening, I am sure your GI doctor will be able to help. Keep us posted!

I've had multiple SBO due to adhesions myself but my aunt started having them about 10-15 years ago without history of abdominal adhesions. The first one seemed like a fluke to her doctor but over the years they became more frequent, just like in your case. About 2-3 years ago she had another one and they decided to do small bowel resection surgery. Afterwards her doctor told her that he believes that what caused the strictures in her intestines was the prescription NSAID med she had been on for years for psoriatic arthritis. I think it may have been methotrexate. Really surprising that such an innocuous medication could have played a role in damaging her intestines this way, although I guess we never really know what the long term effects of any drug are until they arrive. Maybe you can discuss any medications or supplements with your GI that might be involved. I also highly recommend researching online any meds or supplements that you take on a regular basis to see if there are any mentions of digestive system or intestinal side effects. Praying you get some answers!

I am 77 years old and started having bowel problems several years ago. I had 3 inpatient trips to hospital with obstructed small bowel. Last one was 6 months ago. GI doctors call it a pseudo small bowel obstruction and I have been on 2 prescriptions for over a year. They must help but I still had my last obstruction after being on those meds. GI doctors tell me to eat whatever I want. They say there is nothing further they can do and will see me in a year. They did say if I am passing gas it isnt an obstruction so if I get the terrible pain but am passing gas I dont go to the hospital but take as much pain meds as possible and hope thecpain goes away eventually.

Hi Sarah! I had a small bowel obstruction twenty years ago, which required surgery. Turned out to be malrotation of the intestines, which is a genetic defect. I was lucky enough to have a surgeon who recognized the condition upon doing exploratory surgery. I doubt that this is what you have (it's very rare), but worth asking about. I'm sorry you are having to go through this, and wishing you the best of luck!

Prucalopride