Problems months after colon resection surgery: What Helps?

I hurt from left side to right side across abodomen.Cramping usually starts after eating and that is small portions like 2 eggs and slice of bread with milk.Somtimes I can cramp without eating and Dr claims I can eat anything.I know if I eat beef meat I really have to chew to make sure it can digest well or I will hurt even more.They claim I need to move around,well I do move around and after 30 minutes of moving around I hurt at bottom of belly😔They found fragment in urethra tubing that they claim might be making my back hurt,but back has been hurting since I came out of surgery.Seems like if I had a stone I would have passed it by now.I have no problem going to bathroom and not passing blood😔

Hello @brenda57 and welcome to Mayo Connect. I can understand your concern. Pain and cramping are uncomfortable symptoms and I'm sure that you are ready to feel well again. Please know, however, that everyone heals differently after surgery.

Have you had a follow-up appointment with your surgeon yet? If so, what was his/her opinion of your recovery? Are you following a recommended diet for surgery of this type? Most of us who have surgery of the digestive tract find that is works better to have small, more frequent meals rather than eating as we did prior to surgery.

Does the cramping and pain come at certain times, such as after eating or is it constant? Do you have other symptoms that are bothersome?

I had colon resection 6 weeks ago and still cramping and pain across abodomen😔Not sure if this is normal

Also did they do a sigmoidoscopy to look at where they connected you up? Having that end September.

About 7 months for me and things were not good at all at four months. At three weeks it was horrible. Just because the surgeon declares you are better does not mean your life has better quality. I have the same sensation in the lower left, all the time, the surgeon told me that I could not be having pain there because he removed the Sigmond colon, and it was "sympathy pain reaction". SMH! In other words, my body thinks it hurts but the pain is not real.

Have you tried a neuromodulator? My gastroenterologist prescribed amytriptiline a few years ago for this sensation. I thought that the sensation would be CURED by the surgery! Can’t use it now because it is constipatint. However there is also Celexa which is an SSRI and it has good non-constipating neuromodulating effects which basically target these kinds of sensations. It’s a nerve
related thing. I have an appointment with my gastroenterologist this week and will
ask for it. Maybe you
can too?

About 7 months for me and things were not good at all at four months. At three weeks it was horrible. Just because the surgeon declares you are better does not mean your life has better quality. I have the same sensation in the lower left, all the time, the surgeon told me that I could not be having pain there because he removed the Sigmond colon, and it was "sympathy pain reaction". SMH! In other words, my body thinks it hurts but the pain is not real.

I have no idea why these surgeons give this kind of disinformation to their post surgical patients when the nurses in the floor have a COMPLETELY DIFFERENT tale to tell. The surgeon told me I’d be up and at ‘em in THREE weeks post colectomy! It took four months for me to start my daily walks and it is six months now and I still have horrific bowel dysregulation - one day the runs, the next stuck, and now an”balloon” sensation in my lower left where the surgery was.