Chronic small bowel obstruction from adhesions

@thull , again, I'm so sorry about the pain. I've never had diverticulitis, but I've heard it really hurts. I'm glad that it at least doesn't include vomiting, though. I hope you'll feel much better very soon.

Yes on the pre-made smoothies! I often get ones made by Naked Juices (I especially like their berry/protein ones, which also have a lot of other vitamins and a lot of calories if you're trying to maintain your weight), Bolton Farms, and others--they're easy to get at the grocery store, and there are so many to choose from! My store often has them on sale for 2 for $5 or $6, and sometimes there are two-fers, so I try to stock up then. Just always remember to check the expiration dates.

Nonnie, my husband had several bouts with sbo. Have an appointment with a new doc about laparoscopic surg.to remove bowel adhesions. Would love to hear details about yours. What doc did u use & what hospital?
Heidi

@heid , I'm just chiming in here in response to your post about the laparoscopic surgery. I don't know what @nonni1 's longer-term experience was, but about 5 years ago, after MANY sbo's throughout my life due to adhesions, a doctor told me that he thought he could fix the problem with laparoscopic surgery. I went through with it. Yes, the surgery and recovery were easy, but I've probably had at least 5 sbo's since then. I consider it a waste, at least in my case, as I saw no improvement. So I would definitely ask your husband's new doctor a LOT of questions, and really try to pin him or her down on the prognosis post-surgery. Sorry--I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but I was really devastated when I realized that nothing had changed. I wouldn't want your husband and you to be disappointed as I was!

Thanks 4 responding. Were ALL of your adhesions removed? And were your sbo, after the fact, in the same areas that your adhesions were removed?

@heid , I honestly don't know if he got (or thought he got) all of the adhesions. He showed me before and after pictures of one awful one. He did, however, tell me after surgery that he didn't think I'd get any more sbo's, so I assume he thought he was pretty thorough. And it's hard for me to tell where they are when they happen, to be honest. It always just feels like one gigantic ball of pain. Sorry I can't give you a clearer answer!

How did they diagnose you before surgery. Did it show up on a ct or MRI ?

I’ve had 3 major abdominal surgeries when I was young. I’m having lots of stomach issues. I have colon problems but they haven’t said anything about an obstruction or anything. I am fighting Cdiff now from taking antibiotics for a sinus infection. I could be facing a fecal implant if I relapse again. I just wondered if an obstruction could show op on an MRI.

@sandyabbey , I've had so many different kinds of scans! Some were CT scans, some MRI's, some used contrast dyes or barium...usually at the time I was too sick to ask a lot of questions. Sometimes they find where the adhesion is, and other times they can't locate it (even though I'm having all the pain, vomiting, and bloating to make it obvious there is a blockage).
Have you asked your doctors specifically about the possibility of an obstruction? Mine are generally acute and very obvious, and resolve themselves in a day or so, but I think others can be more chronic. If you've had a lot of abdominal surgeries and you're having pain, etc., you should ask your GI about it.
I hope you're feeling a lot better soon!

Just to share my own story...I started having horrendous attacks in September of 2013. I went over two years of seeing many GI doctors and no one had an answer (was even told it could be nerves or stress!). Fast forward to November 2015 and I ended up in the hospital because the attack was so severe. They finally caught me "in" an active attack and did a CT scan. The good news was they finally knew it was "small bowel obstruction". The bad news was they told me there wasn't much to be done about it. I had 30+ abdominal radiations back in 2003. After two more years of attacks, hospital stays, NG tubes I was desperate. I was told that if I had a very severe attack that couldn't be fixed with an NG tube I would have to have emergency surgery. The problem was supposedly this could cause more adhesions and hence make me worse. The attacks were coming once a month. I finally decided to see a laparoscopic GI surgeon in NYC. He was affiliated with Mount Sinai. He was amazing**. He asked me "Why hasn't anyone tried to help you?" I broke down. He spent a lot of time talking to me. He felt there was less than 5% chance of developing new adhesions if he could succeed with laparoscopic surgery. He would know more when he actually went in. I agreed to have regular surgery IF when he looked he thought it was the only choice. Bottom line was I really couldn't do worse than I was doing. He successfully did the laparoscopic surgery and removed 4 feet of small intestine and a small amount of large intestine. I had radiation enteritis. This was 7/31/17. I cannot say that recovery was simple, but I have my life back. The trade-off is that have diarrhea most of the time, but that was happening anyway. I now am working with a GI doctor to help me with this. I avoid certain foods and he is trying some different meds to regulate me. I think I just have "short bowel' syndrome. I eat lower fat, higher carb diet. I know alcohol can be a trigger. Each person is different. I'm also a vegetarian /vegan. My diet is probably 60/40. Anyway, I hope this helps anyone who is suffering. **I have to say this particular doctor didn't take insurance. We paid up front and I ended up getting about 60% back from my insurance company as I had a PPO. Worth every cent.