Bowel obstructions caused by adhesions following abdominal surgery

Thank you so much for your explanations and well wishes,, This really is a lousy situation to be in but I have been dealing with Colon issues since 2014 , so almost 10 years of every day since I had the cancer surgery in my colon which that followed with 18 months of chemo... I am waking up not knowing how I would feel, Will it be a miserable gut day or will it pass and be ok.. Every year it has gotten worse,. I keep telling, begging, asking Drs to help , what do I do , what can I do, I get more tests , more scans, more ":you have a large malignant tumor and PObstruction in 21 The ER staff all specialists called in to do Emergency surgery, I refused, I didn;t believe them and knew the drill , I wanted my gi dr AND a biopsy ,, that head Dr was mad,, turns out his wife was appointed my new oncologist, I had already dumped the last one and she is dumped now too,, Not there are many choices here but when I have to tell a DR. what to do with me,, I dont need them. This time was in the works for months, maybe longer that it would happen,, But it never showed on a CT or a scope that I had a stricture and the colon had become so narrow,, I still don't fully understand me,,, I see GI DR tomorrow for follow up,, plus new Surgeon is the end of the month,.. Went for tests for small bowel study yesterday 8am.. way too early for me. and after 2 hours girl says I would do better with CTs with contrast, thank you .. Anyhoo I hope you don't mind if I ask you , when you get time to respond,.. what foods do you allow yourself to eat?? I am doing the same with low to no fiber foods.,.. and what do you take for a BM.. still the Miralax. I am finding I can;t seem to get a balance on anything.. I have an addiction to home made sourdough bread and one of my customers keeps baking it, it is his hobby so he brings me a loaf a week...sometimes that is breakfast , lunch and night time snack. i think I gained back most of what I lost prior to and in hospital but I donlt want to gain anymore, I am thin but fine where I am at now,, for me,. I have been taking the creon pills per GI dr, for the pancreas but half the time I forget, whether it works or not I donlt know.. I eat cottage cheese with a banana , Usually chicken breast with steamed baby carrots for dinner, NO carbonated water anymore, I know I should have stopped that a long time ago, Oh well back to regular water which I do drink a lot and tea with real lemon juice and honey,, I donlt want to over load on the carbs so I have kept pasta on the low.. I do love to eat and do however I am afraid to try other things,, I did have some whole peeled steamed tomatoes with olive oil, balsamic and salt last night, I wanted a salad so bad,,.. Do you ever eat a salad, Butter lettuce is so soft I wonder if that would be ok?? Thanks for the reminder on the abdominal massage.. I will you tube it.. I have had a couple drs tell me to do that, I do it but not the right way , I just push mine in and move it around which is bad. but when the gas gets stucks in the same spot nothing breaks it up,,. I drink that mylanta like crazy with simethicone and yet I donlt eat anything gassy. Ive taken enough of your time .. I wish you well days and every day.. Happy valentines!!!

that dumbass discharge dr had no business to do what he did with the oxycodone. he's the type that says just grin & bear it. who cares. just suffer.

I have a friend at work who recommended olive oil, I have been using it for weeks now, I take 1-2 teaspoons daily and have not had to use miralax in weeks. I was taking miralax every couple days. Some times a few days in a row. I am on a low to no fiber diet as well after a small bowel obstruction on December due to adhesions. I am attaching a picture of the olive oil she gave me to use. I also researched it and actually found a study that was done on the effects of olive oil on SBO due to adhesions and the results were positive on decreasing the amount of time for it to resolve and time spent in hospital as the studies were done on patients in the hospital. I am in no way a doctor or a nutritionist but what I can say is this has been working for me for weeks now, knock on wood.

Thank you for the advice!!! One of my oldest friends had told me to do this awhile back, I just couldn't fathom getting it down but it worked for her elderly aunt who had issues,,,. and sounds like it is helping you,... Do you take it in the am or bed time??? I have a small can of specialty olive oil I bought at starbucks awhile back when they introduced it to put it in your coffee,,,, I never even opened it to try, .. I think I will start with that and look on Amazon for this one,,,, someone said castor oil I said I don;t think so,,lol , reminds me of being a child and getting that forced on me... You take care and continue to get better,, I will keep you posted how it works for me... 🙂 J

This one has no taste and smells sort of sweet. At first I did it with a shot of apple juice to chase it down haha. But now I do it no problem. Every morning. I was taking a teaspoon in the morning and one at night. Now I just take one every morning. I have had a bowel movement everyday accept one since I started using it. That one day I just took an extra teaspoon that night and next morning I went with no struggles. Hope it works for you also.

I was hospitalized with partial small bowel obstruction six months ago which was cleared non-surgically. I had laparoscopic lysis six weeks ago for multiple adhesions which were from a hemi-colectomy/appendectomy over twenty years ago. I have had no improvement in symptoms since then. I know that things can get worse but what I want to know is do things ever get better?

I'm hoping for a reason to become more optimistic about my situation.

docm

I was hospitalized with partial small bowel obstruction six months ago which was cleared non-surgically. I had laparoscopic lysis six weeks ago for multiple adhesions which were from a hemi-colectomy/appendectomy over twenty years ago. I have had no improvement in symptoms since then. I know that things can get worse but what I want to know is do things ever get better?

I'm hoping for a reason to become more optimistic about my situation.

docm

I have been having bowel obstructions for almost 4 years. No one could tell me what was going on. I was getting them almost monthly. Worst pain I've ever gone through. At one point I lost 17 lbs. In October 2015 I finally ended up in the emergency room. This is when they finally found the small intestinal obstruction. The thought is that they are caused by abdominal radiation I got back in 2003-2004 for Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.
I sometimes go 3-4 months without an attack, but that is rare. They are part of my life.
The surgeon told me that if I end up back in the hospital, it's NG tube again. If NG doesn't work its emergency surgery.
The problem with surgery is that there is a 60% chance of it creating more adhesions, hence I'd be worse off.
I try to each low fiber even though I am a vegetarian. I cook my veggies. I don't eat any raw. No corn. I peel fruit like apples. Honestly, I feel I never know what helps and what doesn't. It's beyond frustrating and not an easy way to live. I've gotten attacks on vacation (totally bedridden in Paris!). I am in horrible pain for 24-48 hours. Then I'm sick for 4-5 more days. I feel for everyone battling this.

This is my 5th SBO with hospitalizan in 18 months, due to adhesions. No surgery yet, but am considering Small Passage treatment. Last 3 times happened in the last 4 months. This is getting old. Any idess?

I have a question for the small bowel obstruction support group. I hear that one shouldn't eat bread but I have a hard time not eating any bread and if I don't eat bread I am constantly hungry! So I do eat a bit as well as some small pastries which I know aren't meant to be good for the bland diet I am trying to follow. I am wondering if gluten free bread might be ok and if it would be better for SBO people like myself.