Dealing with Intense Gas Pain After Ostomy Reversal Surgery

Greetings, 

Perforated colon with colostomy for 2 years. Colostomy takedown surgery but didn't seal properly so ileostomy for 10 months. 3 months ago I had take down surgery for the ileostomy. 

I was healing well and wasn't having any problems with eating and pooping fairly regularly. About a month ago I started having these sessions of extremely intense gas pain. Sometimes it went away after a couple of hours and sometimes it kept me up all night. So Thanksgiving Day and the following Friday it was just excruciating and not going away, I decided to go to the ER. They initially told me I had a blockage after the CT but today they did the X-ray contrast and the contrast has fully passed through my system. No pain today as I haven't eaten in about 48 hours. 

I am told I will be discharged tomorrow. I'm curious if anybody else has gone through this and maybe has some ideas on how to deal with this in the future. I have been extremely careful with what I eat and how much and I have tried to figure out foods that may be causing the gas but so far it just seems pretty random. I would welcome any advice or experience. 

Thanks 

Jim

Hi fr,

Ok, let me get this straight: you go to the ER because you're having serious pains and you can't pass gas. They do a CT and determine you have a blockage. They then do a scan with contrast the following day when you don't have any pain and tell you you don't have a blockage, right? If you haven't eaten in 48 hours, what would they think would still be in you if you weren't feeling pain and weren't blocked? The problem isn't that you're generating gas; it's the fact the gas can't escape. So the plan is to just send you home and hope it doesn't happen again?

I would talk to your Gastro and find out what the heck is going on. And if he/she doesn't know, ask them how they can find out. Something is obviously going on and it's probably not going to cure itself. Gas is the easiest thing to get out of a bowel. If you can't get gas out, good luck with liquids and solids. There is other testing that can be done, but I don't think the people you are talking to would be the ones I'd let do it.

;O)

Have you had output since going to the ER?

Well they did a CT with contrast and said I had a bowel obstruction. They kept me overnight and today they did the contrast with x-ray. They took an x-ray and I drank the contrast and then they came back 8 hours later and did another x-ray to see if it had moved through my system, and it had, it was all the way to the rectum.

The painful gas will go on for a time and then eventually it does come out, the gas comes out and I can poop. 

Now they are saying they think that where the ileostomy was taken down and reconnected, there's scar tissue building and it's creating an hourglass situation.

The thing is, I'm in another town for Thanksgiving so I'm not with my regular surgeon who is really good. Once I get out of here I'm definitely going to call him and see what he thinks about the situation.

Yes, pretty soon after I got to the ER I had output and then all day today has been running to the bathroom, things are flowing

How to Manage Ostomy Leaks with LeeAnne Hayden | Hollister

Well, when I get a partial blockage it’s intense pain, whether it’s gas or output. I’ve had it so bad I couldn’t bend to put my shoes on. But, as soon as it releases it’s instant relief and you’d never know you were pain 20 seconds before it. I’d say you had a blockage to some degree and once it started to release it wouldn’t show on a scan or with contrast cause you are now having output flow. That’s just my high school education guess. 🤷‍♂️

I'm new to all this. Can I ask, does anyone know how to get blockages moving, gas or solids? Thanks

I have read on here to drink Kadem 100% Grape Juice for a blockage….4 years with ileo and fortunately never had a blockage but I keep a bottle of this in my pantry if need be….jb

Depending on what stage I'm at with a partial blockage, sometimes it's just a matter of moving around. If it's bad enough, I use a hot compress around the stomach area and massage the area. Drinking more water helps too. You'll know if you get one; I have a high pain tolerance, and a partial blockage hurts a lot and will actually stop me from doing much until it passes.

Hi Q,

That's a difficult question to answer because it depends on why there's a blockage. We feel pain when our bowels expand beyond what they're normally supposed to expand to. Whether you should eat or drink anything to help with a blockage depends on the reason for your blockage. If it's something physical that won't change, like a stricture, adhesion, or twisted bowel, the smart thing to do would be to wait for the digestive process to continue breaking down what's trying to squeeze through the physical blockage. Eating or drinking more will just add more fuel to the fire, as your bowel will have to keep expanding at the point of blockage, producing more and more pain until you finally pass out (not a good thing).

If you suspect the blockage is because you did something stupid, like eat way too much fiber, then there are things you can take orally that will help the bowel contents slide through a bit easier. The problem is we usually don't know why we're having a blockage. When you go to the ER with a blockage, they'll put you on IV fluids. This isn't to really alleviate the blockage, but to replenish the water your body is dumping into your bowels to try to dilute whatever is causing the blockage. No sense being blocked and dehydrated as well. Then they'll get a scan to see what's really going on.

I've had more blockages than I can count, before getting my ostomy, and although not the smartest thing to do, I'd always lay down and try to go to sleep when the pain was unbearable. Since I'm still here, it worked and I'd always wake up with the blockage cleared, and that is a wonderful feeling. A smart person would have gone to the ER, but I wasn't comfortable driving myself for fear of passing out and killing some poor unsuspecting slob in another car, and never wanted to bother friends and neighbors late at night or in the wee hours of the morning. But to be clear, I don't recommend you do what I did. You might not be so lucky.

So, bottom line, it's tempting to eat or drink something thinking it will somehow clear the blockage. And depending on what's causing the blockage, it might. Or it might make things much worse. I can't tell you how to proceed, other than to say if you're not 100% sure you know why you're blocked, head to the ER. Err... have someone take you to the ER.

;O)

If it were me, I'd go full liquid diet until I got home and could talk to my surgeon.  

It sounds like you had a blockage that cleared on its own. So avoiding anything that may gum up the system will help things stay unblocked. You don't want to live like that but as a short term preventative measure it should help. 

Thanks. This is very helpful and appreciated.

Thanks so much for this, the pain and swelling had gone when I woke up this morning, so I'm crossing my fingers. I've spent way too much time in hospitals over the last few years for a range of health malfunctions and I really don't love them.

Thanks so much, Bob.

Thanks so much. I'll get some grape juice just in case. Green grapes always move my world, so I'll try that.

Thanks, this is helpful.

The Kadem is 100% pure grape juice... not sure if green grapes are good - grape skins may not be a good idea? jb 🤔