Chronic small bowel obstruction from adhesions

My Mom was hospitalized twice in three weeks with SBO and has since managed her diet to avoid further complications. Her self-discipline has been crucial to her success.

Basically she follows a low residue diet. It’s easy to research, but essentially it’s about avoiding raw fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts. She chews her food very carefully which is extremely important. She has always been a health-conscious cook so beans and vegetables are important to her. You will note that beans are not included on a low residue diet, but she cooks them well and limits them, but she also chews well.

Her gastroenterologist told her to take Miralax every day, but now she takes it in the evening if she doesn’t have a bowel movement.

Prunes, prune juice, and juices with pulp are definitely prohibited on her diet.

I hope her success story helps others to avoid hospitalization and surgery.

Just an update on my previous post. I had a partial small bowel obstruction last August and I had abdominal adhesion lysis January 6th. I'm getting by on the low residue/low fiber diet and occasionally need to switch to the liquid diet for a day or so. I'm taking Miralax daily but I need to know how to regulate my stools. I have daily bowel movements but they are always diarrhea and I don't know a way to change this without risking constipation or bowel obstruction. How do other people deal with this? Can I safely introduce MetaMucil while taking the Miralax? I am healthy otherwise.

Thanks in advance for any advice on how to manage this situation and God bless you if you're having to deal with this too.

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 am interested as well. I was just hospitalized with a small bowel obstruction, 3 weeks ago,,, I had the NG Tube down the nose to stomach for 6 days of misery until I said enough and took it out,, ticked off my surgeon who after discharge dumped me as a patient , even though he has been my surgeon for 9years since I first had cancer in my colon... The ER I went to did the all the right things,, I had come in after 5 days of suffering and horrific pain thinking this will pass. While moved to my ex surgeons hospital he said they would get it reversed with out surgery,, later when discharged he joked , but he is not funny, so the comment he made that maybe it was just an air pocket was hideous. also telling the other Drs that he would be afraid to do surgery on me,. as I am too thin and the problems he had with my original colectomies (which caused this) were due to me not having any thing to adhere to on my gut,,,, I knew in hospital I needed my GI DR,, no one waws consulting with him or my cardio... The next day out my GI put me back on liquids,, read the second ct from ER that hot shot surgeon didn't read just shushed it ooff as why did they do another,,, if he had read it it clearly shows the obstruction and the stricture as well as major narrowing of intestines,,, had a colonoscopy as well, biopsies taken.., I am toldby all I am at high risk of this happening again,,,, so I am very careful with what I eat,, I keep losing weight, I know I need to drink tthe protein drinks but forget... so something has to be done,,, I was thinking what you had??? so when you ask when do symptoms go away what kind of symptoms are you having and what are you eating ,, are you on a special diet??? What did they tell you to expect after the surgery,,,, have you had a colonoscopy to see where things are,, I would appreciate any info and I wish you pain free days, I know they are horrible,,

I think hotshot surgeon need to be reported to the hospital, at the very least. So sorry you had to go through all that & still not well. Different hospital, maybe?

My son at the age of 5 had a partial bowl obstruction (Illeus paralized bowel). This lasted a week. He was in so much pain, begging us to kill him. It was awful.!
Had CAT scans every day to see if the bowel was moving. And finally the doctor recommended, we give him milk of magnesia. It irritates the colon from above to get it working so it can move again. And it worked! Had to give him milk of Mag for 2 months every morning. He is 29 now and he’s never had an issue with his colon since that time!!
When I had my second child by C-section, my bowels became paralyzed from the air hitting the intestine. They advised me to use milk of magnesia to get the bowels moving again… And it worked!
I’m not saying you should try this without checking with your physician first or doing your own research.
Good Luck🤞

I am sorry you are going so much hell with your intestines. I would suggest that you not hesitate to change doctors as needed until you find someone who can help you.
In my case I wound up with a coli-rectal surgeon sixty miles away who did laparoscopic surgery on me and did lysis to cut or remove a lot of the adhesions which were the cause of my blockage. He told me that IF the procedure was going to work it could take a year or longer and that there were no guarantees of success. Fortunately, after a little more than a year, I have about 90% improvement. I'm still careful with what I eat, mostly avoiding fiber and greasy foods, and have gained back a good bit of the weight I lost. I also have very little pain.

In my case I also have episodes of colitis which results in liquid diarrhea for which I take Meta Mucil daily which at least firms up my stools. It's a pain to do but it helps.

I would urge you to keep looking. The right doctor is out there. Most of the doctors don't want to perform surgery due to the unpredictable success rate but pain free days are definitely possible. All the best.

I am sorry you are going so much hell with your intestines. I would suggest that you not hesitate to change doctors as needed until you find someone who can help you.
In my case I wound up with a coli-rectal surgeon sixty miles away who did laparoscopic surgery on me and did lysis to cut or remove a lot of the adhesions which were the cause of my blockage. He told me that IF the procedure was going to work it could take a year or longer and that there were no guarantees of success. Fortunately, after a little more than a year, I have about 90% improvement. I'm still careful with what I eat, mostly avoiding fiber and greasy foods, and have gained back a good bit of the weight I lost. I also have very little pain.

In my case I also have episodes of colitis which results in liquid diarrhea for which I take Meta Mucil daily which at least firms up my stools. It's a pain to do but it helps.

I would urge you to keep looking. The right doctor is out there. Most of the doctors don't want to perform surgery due to the unpredictable success rate but pain free days are definitely possible. All the best.

I had a partial colectomy in May of 2019 (LAR in two areas). Three months after, I developed an obstruction. I had the NG tube and they did CT every day to see if it was clearing. After day 7 with no progress (and a small bowel follow through where I started throwing up stool and contrast) they did surgery. I was full of adhesions. During the small bowel surgery, my bowel was inadvertently cut and I developed a fistula. Ultimately, that led to months of issues and huge weight loss. In November of that same year I developed a perforation and became septic.

It is now almost five years later and I have not had another obstruction. I was very careful with what I ate initially because I was so fearful of another obstruction it was so painful and so scary. But I now eat pretty much anything, including fruits and veggies (except celery). One day I ate several pieces of celery and next day felt similar feelings of obstruction.

The first year after these surgeries, I did a ton of abdominal massage after eating. There are you tube videos that show you and it really helped. Drink tons of water and move around

Thank you.. Yes I found another surgeon at another Hospital who is a colon /rectal specialist,, around here I do my own medical research, I see him at the end of the month, in the mean time office set up series of small bowel studies,, he read my records and agreed to take me as a patient, In the meantime I am still eating ok but the same things every day,, chicken carrots cottage cheese with banana, gave of carb, water. Taking creaon from GI Dr, pancreas not working... ironically the other day I was in one of the stores here and who do I see but my surgeon of 9 years who cancelled my follow up appt, from hospital,, I smiled and waved , so did he,,, Then he ends up in my line as if nothing happened telling me good to see me up and about, Im looking good,,,, I said I have been meaning to call "you",, acts stupid like why.... I said because of the way your staff treated me , telling me I am not your patient,.. I repeated i have been your patient for 9 years. You were the one who transferred me from the er to your hospital , I basically called him out,, I am very out spoken.. I used to be afraid of him not anymore. He says "oh the ladies said you called to have surgery".. BS, I did not,, they know why I called, made the follow up and lied., So I said ,.. I will call you.... he says I don't want to have surgery, well of course I don't,. who does... I want to know what my options are as what I have does not fix it self and I am on pins.. and needles daily feeling is this happening again, I hate it,,, It was very awkward he tells me to call him... sure...No I have no reason to ,, he doesnt even know the actual extent of my condition because he is too arrogant to check,, The same surgeon who told me and my family 9 years ago going into bowel surgery that I didn't have much longer to live due to the fact I had a very rare cancer, but he would do what he could once he opened me up. I should have hated him , I am alive , I made stupid decisions based on his statements as if he was God.. who he thinks he is,,, This is a small town, His Hospital he is now with is a new Boutique hospital where all the better Drs are... I wouldn't touch him... Ive already got a reputation where Drs are afraid of me,, thank you for your advice and support. I wish you well.. 🙂