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Several surgeries on small bowel recently, having trouble keeping food or liquids down.
Hi everyone, my wife had several surgeries on her small bowel since May of this year. She is 25. She has had a Roux N Y gastric bypass because her weight threatened her health. That was more than 5 years ago, and she has had no complications since.
This May she supposedly had an intussusception that wouldn't go away. We went to the E.R. and they decided she needed a jejunostomy to fix it. After recovering for a few days she came home where she wasn't able to eat for about 3 weeks, and she had difficulty keeping fluids down. Ultimately the initial surgeon decided to perform surgery again. He cut more small bowel out and reattached it in three spots. I'm not exactly sure where those attachments were made. That worked for about 2 days until the bowel perforated and she filled half of her abdomen with stomach juices. At this point we had a new surgeon come in and repair that. She had several more minor surgeries to put drains in as abscesses had developed. She also had a pic line for about a week. Eventually a month-and-a-half after this nightmare started she came home for good. From The end of June until the end of October she was fine; eating normal and feeling good.
Just before Halloween she started having trouble keeping anything down again. This included vomiting most the food and water she consumed. Liquid was easier to keep down than food. Her second surgeon tried various medications (Zofran, Phenergan, and Percocet) to try and help the nausea and urge to vomit. It was unsuccessful. Eventually she developed a very strong pain in her abdomen. It was just under the rib cage on the left half of her abdomen, and it hurt to the touch. The pain was so severe she kept passing out. Another ER visit and the second surgeon went back in laprascopically to check her small bowel as he was at a loss to what could be wrong. He found adhesions and a small ulcer, and repaired those.
She was able to eat and drink for the first time in 2 weeks after the laprascopic procedure. Then, the same old problems returned, but the pain wasn't as severe. Her doctor told her to go to the ER once again. She explained her symptoms and they took a CT scan, but said they couldn't find anything so they sent her home.
We then were at such a loss as the problems remained. We found a G.I that would see her the next day. He looked at the recent CT scan and found her ENTIRE colon was filled with stool. After a week of Miralax therapy she was still having the same problems. The GI doc said to go to the ER. The ER gave her some Go-Lightly to try and continue to clear her colon. They took an Xray and noticed several ileus, but sent her home saying that they couldn't figure out the problem. She amazingly drank 3 liters of Go-Lightly, with only one small bowel movement. The GI doc then did a Colonoscopy and Endoscopy. He said her gastric bypass looks good. Her trachea, stomach, and colon all looked fine. She had stool in her upper colon that was like mud on the sides of it, but he said it wasn't too concerning. So, another procedure with no answers.
She is currently in the ER at the University of Utah Hospital as she just wants to eat and drink and not be nauseas or vomit. She has lost 17 lbs in the last 4 weeks. I apologize for the crude method of my writing, but I am at my wits end. The doctors are currently telling her that they can't find a problem, but that doesn't help her when she's vomiting most of what she eats and drinks. The abdomen pain is still there, but not in a debilitating way. No doctors can figure out was is going on. So, my plea is that someone in the community will read this and be able to help! Her GI doc says that he doesn't know what it could be, and that we are basically out of options other than removing her entire colon.
If any of you have questions, please ask as I'm sure in my hurry to write this I left out some things. Thank you in advance!
This May she supposedly had an intussusception that wouldn't go away. We went to the E.R. and they decided she needed a jejunostomy to fix it. After recovering for a few days she came home where she wasn't able to eat for about 3 weeks, and she had difficulty keeping fluids down. Ultimately the initial surgeon decided to perform surgery again. He cut more small bowel out and reattached it in three spots. I'm not exactly sure where those attachments were made. That worked for about 2 days until the bowel perforated and she filled half of her abdomen with stomach juices. At this point we had a new surgeon come in and repair that. She had several more minor surgeries to put drains in as abscesses had developed. She also had a pic line for about a week. Eventually a month-and-a-half after this nightmare started she came home for good. From The end of June until the end of October she was fine; eating normal and feeling good.
Just before Halloween she started having trouble keeping anything down again. This included vomiting most the food and water she consumed. Liquid was easier to keep down than food. Her second surgeon tried various medications (Zofran, Phenergan, and Percocet) to try and help the nausea and urge to vomit. It was unsuccessful. Eventually she developed a very strong pain in her abdomen. It was just under the rib cage on the left half of her abdomen, and it hurt to the touch. The pain was so severe she kept passing out. Another ER visit and the second surgeon went back in laprascopically to check her small bowel as he was at a loss to what could be wrong. He found adhesions and a small ulcer, and repaired those.
She was able to eat and drink for the first time in 2 weeks after the laprascopic procedure. Then, the same old problems returned, but the pain wasn't as severe. Her doctor told her to go to the ER once again. She explained her symptoms and they took a CT scan, but said they couldn't find anything so they sent her home.
We then were at such a loss as the problems remained. We found a G.I that would see her the next day. He looked at the recent CT scan and found her ENTIRE colon was filled with stool. After a week of Miralax therapy she was still having the same problems. The GI doc said to go to the ER. The ER gave her some Go-Lightly to try and continue to clear her colon. They took an Xray and noticed several ileus, but sent her home saying that they couldn't figure out the problem. She amazingly drank 3 liters of Go-Lightly, with only one small bowel movement. The GI doc then did a Colonoscopy and Endoscopy. He said her gastric bypass looks good. Her trachea, stomach, and colon all looked fine. She had stool in her upper colon that was like mud on the sides of it, but he said it wasn't too concerning. So, another procedure with no answers.
She is currently in the ER at the University of Utah Hospital as she just wants to eat and drink and not be nauseas or vomit. She has lost 17 lbs in the last 4 weeks. I apologize for the crude method of my writing, but I am at my wits end. The doctors are currently telling her that they can't find a problem, but that doesn't help her when she's vomiting most of what she eats and drinks. The abdomen pain is still there, but not in a debilitating way. No doctors can figure out was is going on. So, my plea is that someone in the community will read this and be able to help! Her GI doc says that he doesn't know what it could be, and that we are basically out of options other than removing her entire colon.
If any of you have questions, please ask as I'm sure in my hurry to write this I left out some things. Thank you in advance!
Please consult an MD not affiliated with the person administering the cocktails. In desperation I paid a fortune to be given IV vitamins (by a Park Avenue MD) and later learned that not only was it totally useless but dangerous. They administered doses in 1 hour that should have been given slowly over many hours.
These kind of practitioners feed off of your desperation for a solution and will provide expensive cocktails and vitamin suppliments that are essentially snake oil. You need a bariatric specialist and to understand that once the intestine is disturbed it WILL form adhesions. Read www.adhesions.org/ptguide.htm. Them more surgery the worse the scarring The incidence of morbidity rises severely after 3 internal operations.
So often the cure will be, after time, worse than the original problem. Please discuss these issues from a self informed perspective with a very experienced bariatric surgeon. And if a physician is 'selling' don't buy and move on to a doctor who less interested in the business side of the profession. Always try to get an appointment with the Chief of GI Dept. Good luck to you and your wife, I hope she will be well.
These kind of practitioners feed off of your desperation for a solution and will provide expensive cocktails and vitamin suppliments that are essentially snake oil. You need a bariatric specialist and to understand that once the intestine is disturbed it WILL form adhesions. Read www.adhesions.org/ptguide.htm. Them more surgery the worse the scarring The incidence of morbidity rises severely after 3 internal operations.
So often the cure will be, after time, worse than the original problem. Please discuss these issues from a self informed perspective with a very experienced bariatric surgeon. And if a physician is 'selling' don't buy and move on to a doctor who less interested in the business side of the profession. Always try to get an appointment with the Chief of GI Dept. Good luck to you and your wife, I hope she will be well.
forgot to mention may want to see about seeing a dr that practices integrative medicine. both western and alternative medicine focusing on healing the gut and going from there. they can also do vitamin cocktail mix for IV infusions weekly so it bypasses gut.
Your wife sounds like she is not in good place. I would suggest wwith all her issues. they need to do full vitamin panal to see what deficiencies im talking full panal not the 2 or 5 done normally. Your wife sounds so like me been through hell with roux en y but surgery look good from it, i also have ab intermittant intusseption where it comes and goes, nausea from hades and have had several absomen surgeries as well, eveb feed tube for year, i may be getting another soon myself. I want you to look up ehlers danlos Syndrome www.ednf.org they also have a good paper to find easier google so you think you have eds by liza sauls. this is easy read. from your wifes description of things i would highly think she has this too which is contributing to gi issues, also too after roux en y there is a condition called roux stasis syndrome where things get sucked up into roux limb. may want to if can get medical marijuana for nausea pain may be helpful or an fda medication called Marinol. It is only med that helps with my nausea. none of the other meds worked. ehlers danlos syndrome can lead to rapid dumping, gastroparesis, hernias, intusseptions, everything you think because its part of her collegan and connective tissue and its genetic affects who;e body/ gl in quest to find answers,
i have had the sam problem ..unble to keep food down...it started in august 09..i have had a battery of tests,,,all leading to maybe this ,maybe its that...with the loss of 55 lbs and six months time they are putting in a feeding tube...i hope to get some strength back...but it is only a bandaide on the problem...the doctors still have no idea why i can not eat..the food..even bay ceral comes back up after about 8 minutes in my stomach i am so upset over this whole thing i just want some answers and a cause the surgery is the 25th of feb lets see where that leads pjc1126
Fantastic! Stuff that's good for constipation, aside from water and staying physically active, is salad, fresh blueberries as a snack by itself, and of course whole grains. And you probably already know that the probiotics in Acidophilus milk and Activia yogurt help break down waste. I'm so glad you all have finally gotten this thing straight, your wife was in a world of hurts. God speed. GG
Thank you ggreg. The surgeon is actually the one that ordered the CT scan. He has been so amazing. I would recommend him to anyone. I really would. He's a good man and a great doctor. He specialized as a gastroenterologist before becoming a surgeon, so he understands a little bit better than most. He explores every possible option before performing a surgery. The problem is that we tried to getting a second pair of eyes on the situation and that is when we had doctor after doctor telling us they didn't know what was wrong. When we went back to the surgeon he immediately sent her to the hospital when we told him what was going on.
Unfortunately, you are right about her gastric bypass. The surgeon and I had a good talk about it after her surgery. The doctor that did it initially has "skipped out of town" according to the surgeon, and he's had to fix several of his patients. He may have to fix my wifes eventually. I suppose thats a risk you run when having this procedure. Anyone having gastric bypass surgery done in the Seattle area make sure to look into your doctor carefully as this is where the original surgeon now practices.
Well, it's day four since her surgery, and she has eaten several soft meals now. She cries every time she's able to eat, because it's been so long. Things are still going well and she hasn't experienced nausea or vomiting since the surgery.
ggreg, I suggested she drinks more water, and she agreed. The hard part before was that she was limited on the amount she could drink at one time before she would vomit. Making sure to stay on top of water intake, as well as avoiding constipation will be a lifelong process now. Obviously, all these surgeries have slowed motility of the bowel. As for now, things are good.
Unfortunately, you are right about her gastric bypass. The surgeon and I had a good talk about it after her surgery. The doctor that did it initially has "skipped out of town" according to the surgeon, and he's had to fix several of his patients. He may have to fix my wifes eventually. I suppose thats a risk you run when having this procedure. Anyone having gastric bypass surgery done in the Seattle area make sure to look into your doctor carefully as this is where the original surgeon now practices.
Well, it's day four since her surgery, and she has eaten several soft meals now. She cries every time she's able to eat, because it's been so long. Things are still going well and she hasn't experienced nausea or vomiting since the surgery.
ggreg, I suggested she drinks more water, and she agreed. The hard part before was that she was limited on the amount she could drink at one time before she would vomit. Making sure to stay on top of water intake, as well as avoiding constipation will be a lifelong process now. Obviously, all these surgeries have slowed motility of the bowel. As for now, things are good.
Dear Disastras,
Hang onto the physician who ordered that last CT scan and found the loop in her bowel in the pictures and I assume referred her to a surgeon who did the operation. Until I read your last post, I was going to suggest she needed surgery to where they would look at her whole bowel and visually see what in the world was going on, so I'm glad that's what they did.
One thing that jumped out at me was when you mentioned she has a sensation of food getting stuck in her throat, and one thing that I would suggest is your wife regularly drink a little more water than she has been drinking. Also, if she has any further problems with her digestion at all, you should suggest to the physician who found the loop that perhaps her old bypass surgery needs looking at, too, could be it needs a little repair or something like that. Glad your wife is feeling better, really shocking how she got passed around by docs who had no clue about the true situation with her digestive tract. Like I said, hang onto those docs who finally realized she needed an operation.
GG
Hang onto the physician who ordered that last CT scan and found the loop in her bowel in the pictures and I assume referred her to a surgeon who did the operation. Until I read your last post, I was going to suggest she needed surgery to where they would look at her whole bowel and visually see what in the world was going on, so I'm glad that's what they did.
One thing that jumped out at me was when you mentioned she has a sensation of food getting stuck in her throat, and one thing that I would suggest is your wife regularly drink a little more water than she has been drinking. Also, if she has any further problems with her digestion at all, you should suggest to the physician who found the loop that perhaps her old bypass surgery needs looking at, too, could be it needs a little repair or something like that. Glad your wife is feeling better, really shocking how she got passed around by docs who had no clue about the true situation with her digestive tract. Like I said, hang onto those docs who finally realized she needed an operation.
GG
Hopefully this message will help someone somewhere that has the same problem. It has been a nightmare trying to find help for my wifes problems. She just had surgery on 12/2. The surgeon removed large adhesions from all over her small bowel. There was many more, but he got what he considered to be the problem spots. The adhesions had held her bowel in place like a spider web. The adhesions had strangled off certain parts of her bowel and also kinked certain parts. It was very hard to see it with any scans, if not impossible.
Thankfully she is already feeling much better besides the surgery pain. She had her first meal today since before Halloween. So far so good. We'll keep our fingers crossed that she stays healthy.
I hope this post can perhaps help those that have ran into a wall. The surgeon said no scan could have shown him the adhesions, and there were many.
Thankfully she is already feeling much better besides the surgery pain. She had her first meal today since before Halloween. So far so good. We'll keep our fingers crossed that she stays healthy.
I hope this post can perhaps help those that have ran into a wall. The surgeon said no scan could have shown him the adhesions, and there were many.
Today, a CT scan revealed a loop in the small bowel. The doc even had 3 other docs confirm it. It's not completely blocked off. We'll go see the doc again tomorrow and come up with a game plan to fix it. It's beyond me how an endoscopy missed this...
I appreciate your response. This is one option her GI doc said could be causing the problems. She has intestinal noises when she's able to eat. One can almost hear the food working its way through her when she can keep it down. She says the sensation is like the food and water is being trapped in her throat, and then she burps a lot to get it down into her stomach. Last night the docs at the ER told her to go see a family prac doctor. She had just come from a GI doctor that told her she had to go to the ER. So, after she informed the doc of that they said it was just anxiety and told her they couldn't do anything more. I have a good idea that its not anxiety because she'll vomit even if she's sedated.
I feel so bad for your wife! There is something causing a blockage in her, she has all the symptoms. I have 2 sons that had to have their colons removed (FAP) and anytime there is surgery on the intestine and bowel it can take up to a week for it to start working again. This isn't happening with your wife, they've admitted she has several blockages, what are they waiting on? They were negligent to the point of causing her intestinal rupture. Because of past negligence your wife may not have any other options, other than removal of the colon! This happened to my oldest son, just like your wife, by the time we found a decent GI his body was so ravaged from all the botched surgeries and was in poor condition. I lost my son at 31. His new GI said he should never have been in this condition. Below is what I feel is happening to your wife. This can be caused by surgery to the intestine or colon, and your wife had these, and below is why they can't find any "physical" reason for her blockages.
Paralytic ileus (pseudo-obstruction), a condition in which your intestines don't function properly, may have the same signs and symptoms as mechanical obstruction, but no physical obstruction is present.
Paralytic ileus: Paralysis of the intestine. To be termed "paralytic ileus," the intestinal paralysis need not be complete, but it must be sufficient to prohibit the passage of food through the intestine and lead to intestinal blockage. Paralytic ileus is a common aftermath of some types of surgery. It can also result from certain drugs and from various injuries and illnesses. Paralytic ileus causes constipation and bloating. On listening to the abdomen with a stethoscope, no bowel sounds are heard because the bowel is inactive. Also simply called ileus.
Some of the different medications used in the treatment of Paralytic ileus include:
Dexpanthenol......
Paralytic ileus (pseudo-obstruction), a condition in which your intestines don't function properly, may have the same signs and symptoms as mechanical obstruction, but no physical obstruction is present.
Paralytic ileus: Paralysis of the intestine. To be termed "paralytic ileus," the intestinal paralysis need not be complete, but it must be sufficient to prohibit the passage of food through the intestine and lead to intestinal blockage. Paralytic ileus is a common aftermath of some types of surgery. It can also result from certain drugs and from various injuries and illnesses. Paralytic ileus causes constipation and bloating. On listening to the abdomen with a stethoscope, no bowel sounds are heard because the bowel is inactive. Also simply called ileus.
Some of the different medications used in the treatment of Paralytic ileus include:
Dexpanthenol......
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