Anemia after sigmoid resection for bowel volvulus

Posted by grazia10 @grazia10, Mar 13 8:33am

My husband, 62, 2 weeks ago had a surgery for a bowel volvulus. He s still in hospital because they found he has anemia. He s now on iron e. v. twice a day to see if the condition improves. My husband arrived to this surgery, very debilitated: after 3 days of sharp pain, he went to ER where they tried 2 colonscopy to solve the volvulus, without success. Basically he didn't eat anything for 5 days before and 5 days after the operation. Besides, he had had another surgery, less than 2 months ago, for a mandibular lipoma, with total anesthesy. I wonder if anemia can be caused by his general condition, his stool is still blackish, but surgeons told me it happen and it's "old stuff"... My husband says he feels a bit better after these iron infusions, but I'm very worried. Any opinion? Thank you...

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Colleen Young, Connect Director | @colleenyoung | Mar 16 9:54am

Hi @grazia10, I moved your question to the Digestive Health group so that you can more easily connect with other members who have experience with surgery related to bowel volvulus like @jeanrahn @judithclark @detomasso @minajo @jlstjohn and others.

I can imagine you are worried about your husband. I'm glad to hear that the transfusions have helped the anemia. Did they rule out upper digestive tract bleeding that might be causing the black stool and/or anemia? How is he doing today?

jlstjohn | @jlstjohn | Mar 16 2:25pm

I became anemic after my volvulus (cecal, not sigmoid), but it was not discovered until almost 5 months post-op. I am sure it had started much earlier. I had symptoms of iron deficiency that started several months after my surgery but did not personally make the connection; it was found incidentally among a cluster of other complications for which I went into the ER for. Anyway, while I can not answer your question, my insight is that it is great he is being treated now for iron deficiency rather than having to have it discovered later, like once you get home. Perhaps the colonoscopy procedures they tried to correct the volvulus caused some bleeding in the GI tract that is now coming out in his stool? I would keep pressing the surgeons to see if there if any way to know for sure if the dark colored stool is indeed "old stuff". Best wishes.

grazia10 | @grazia10 | Mar 17 3:35pm

Thank you all, my husband has been dismissed from hospital last Saturday. He now is on iron and folic acid supplements. He must also take Codex, mesalazina, B12 integratore. His stool is still dark, but more brownish than black. Tomorrow he is going to remove his stitches. The problem now is extreme Tiredness, and a little fever (37°)that he experiences in the evening. Also, he can't sleep well and he wakes up 2,3 times at night... It's very hard to come back to a kind of normal life... Any advise is welcome!