Diet after partial bowel blockage

Buy baby food meat, have mashed potatoes, and Birds Eye squash, Apple sauce, cream of rice, yogurt, mashed anything!! Those are what I used.

Thanks for your response. He is eating some of these foods now. Will try more of your ideas.

Hi Trec55,
I'm so sorry to hear of your husband's problems with his bowels. I think Catherine's suggestions of mashed potatoes etc. are very good ones. They sound soft on the bowel and yet, nutritous. Your husband also might try mashed bananas for potassium. Yogurt also might be good. It is soft and has the calcium he needs. Providing that he likes those kinds of foods. Cream of wheat is also mild and nutritious. Gatorade will help with balancing his electrolites if he can tolerate it.
Good luck! I'll remember both of you in my prayers.
PML

I am dealing with life after a partial small bowel blockage seven months ago and laparoscopic lysis of some really bad abdominal adhesions two months ago. I agree with all of the dietary recommendations mentioned here. I'm also trying different foods periodically to see how I tolerate them. I have good luck with some and not so good luck with others.

I have a problem with periodic intense lower back pain, apparently from adhesions, and I was wondering if anyone else has this problem and how do you deal with it?

Any advice would be appreciated. All positive thoughts are with you if you're dealing with this horrible situation.

docm

Hi docm,
What an awful time you must be having after going through all of those things! I can only imagine the discomfort. I have a bad back and I wear a back support daily. It really helps. I purchased it from Miles Kimball. It's called a "posture corrector". You can find it online. It costs about $29 but often they offer a percentage off the amount. I've tried a lot of back supports over the years and this is the best one I"ve found. It really works. You can feel the difference once you put it on. It's machine washable too, which is nice.

As far as your food, a good high quality brand of beef with a lot of Omega 3 might be good for you. My husband has lung cancer and after one of his operations I had him eating a lot of filet mignon fixed as a beef roast so it was easy to digest. He recovered so fast that the doctor said he recovered better than some of her younger patients. Allen Brothers is the brand we use and it's wonderful. However, it's also very expensive. So keep that in mind. Allen Brothers has been in business in Chicago since 1893. If they stayed in business that long, they must be doing something right.

Also with your food make sure there are no preservatives in it. Don't eat TV dinners or any meat with sodium nitrate or erythobate. Both are bad for your body! Know where the food comes from. Preferably the USA. It's much better quality.

Good luck and I hope you feel better!
I'll say a prayer for you.
PML

Thanks for your suggestions. He's doing well. Also has appointment with gastro in April.

A blockage recently put me in the hospital for a few days. Fortunately, I didn't have to have surgery. My psyche is such that I am forgetting the pain and discomfort and eating with an eye on heart issues as opposed to bowel issues. I am forgoing red meat altogether. I am eating lots of good fresh food I prepare at home. Since my red blood cell counts have gotten a bit low, I am trying to eat lots of animal protein that is not beef. That is almost entirely fish and chicken. But I do worry a bit about whether this bowel obstruction will happen again. 30 years ago, I had a splenectomy and many think that the surgery for that is what has resulted in some scarring in my abdomen/intestines. Good luck everybody on your health journey.

I have periodic small bowel blockages due to a mesentery mass that cannot be removed or biopsied. In the CT study they can see "tethers" reaching from the mass to the small intestine. I imagine the result of this is similar to people who have adhesions. I eat throughout the day - always half portions or less. for breakfast I eat Dannon Light + Fit yogurt (with 12 grams of protein) followed by orange juice with Miralax. A little while later I may have a scrambled egg cooked in the microwave for 35 seconds along with 1 piece of toast. After that I might have some rice krispies and milk. I can have small amounts of fresh fruit such as strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, and melons. (Nothing that needs peeling like an apple and no fruit with skins like cherries. Also fruit like prunes or dates have too much fiber for me.) I can always eat canned peaches or pears. For juice I like apple or V8 fusion (which has both vegetables and fruit). Sometimes I drink V-8 juice which is all vegetables. For lunch I can have quiche, tomato soup, 1/2 grilled cheese or ham and cheese, 1/2 chicken salad sandwich, or sometimes leftovers from previous day's supper. For dessert: pudding made with milk or frozen fruit bar. For supper main course I am able to eat small amounts of salmon or small amounts of any dish that has ground up beef such as meatloaf, lasagna, shepherd's pie (from Costco) or even 1/2 of a stuffed bell pepper. Chicken Alfredo (also from Costco) works as well (and I take care to thoroughly chew the chicken), I make several soups with soup mixes with fresh meat that is cut up small and cooked until it is very tender. Beef barley soup and chicken soup are my favorites. I can even have pizza so long as I only eat one slice. For dessert my husband loves vanilla ice cream, so we have that a lot. For snacks throughout the day I could have a banana or applesauce, a boiled egg, or multi-grain crackers with peanut butter, cheese or premade guacamole spread (from Costco). Every day at some point I drink an Ensure Max --because it has 30 grams of protein! I got a food processor last Christmas after my first bowel blockage in November. I don't use it much, but it may come in very handy in the future. I am lazy as far as cooking goes.! I like things that are simple and easy to prepare. I had to give up a few things that I used to enjoy such as popcorn (too much fiber) and all kinds of nuts (too much fiber). Also I stopped eating power bagels for breakfast because they contain things that are hard to digest. I still eat small amounts of salad occasionally, as that has not yet caused a bowel blockage for me, but would recommend that with caution because of the fiber content.
I am really fortunate not to have a problem either dairy or gluten. I realize that some of the above suggestions would not be suitable for people with dairy or gluten allergies. I am open to other people's suggestion for what to eat to avoid future bowel blockages. Feel free to share your ideas. Dottie K

Hi! I’m new to this site & came across your post. I am dealing with a stricture from scar tissue from past surgeries for Crohns. I want to thank you for the detailed list of what you eat as I am now finding that I have to eat differently. You suggested some things I hadn’t thought of!

To @holland
I'm glad you found my post helpful. May I ask how you are doing with your new diet? If you had bowel blockages in the past, I understand how painful it is. As for myself, I managed to get through the whole month of December without a blockage, so I must be doing something right.
Best wishes for the new year! Dottie