Better sleep after surgery

[rorho19]

I have been waking at 4 or 5 am since my first symptoms 4 years ago and never get back to sleep- just lie there feeling exhausted, trying to rest and not disturb my partner. Anyone had experienced significantly improved sleep after surgery? I assume bowel starts doing stuff a couple of hours before you get up and even if it is not causing pain in your strictures that there is sufficient happening to wake you even if you are not aware of it.


2 small bowel strictures. possible resection coming...

 

[JessPeper]

I have been waking at 4 or 5 am since my first symptoms 4 years ago and never get back to sleep- just lie there feeling exhausted, trying to rest and not disturb my partner. Anyone had experienced significantly improved sleep after surgery? I assume bowel starts doing stuff a couple of hours before you get up and even if it is not causing pain in your strictures that there is sufficient happening to wake you even if you are not aware of it.


2 small bowel strictures. possible resection coming...

It took my body a little while to adjust after being released from the hospital. The first night there was a nurse in every 1/2 hour. After that they were in a couple of times a night. It was hard to actually sleep while I was there. Once I was home and had a comfy position in bed I was able to sleep like a baby!

I used to be up like clock work around 4 every morning that's when my bowels would tell me they were ready to get going for the day!

 

[rorho19]

Sorry I'm being thick here. are you saying before surgery you used to be up at 4.00 am every day and after surgery..long time after you now sleep much better than that?

 

[JessPeper]

Sorry I'm being thick here. are you saying before surgery you used to be up at 4.00 am every day and after surgery..long time after you now sleep much better than that?

It's been 8 weeks since my surgery so not that long ago, but yes I do sleep a lot better now. My body has adjusted, my work like clock work. I have to be up at 5:15am for work usually 20 minutes after I'm awake its time to go. I'm not waking before my alarm anymore.

I've also noticed that my bowels empty a lot more now than what they did with the strictures.

You don't have to apologize for being thick here. I wish I would have found this forum sooner than I did. I went through a year with out having anyone to talk to that really knew what it felt like. My mom also has CD but she takes no medications and eats whatever she pleases. It sometimes makes me wonder if she really has it at all. I wish I could go without taking a handful of pills in the morning and what I wouldn't give to eat some buttery popcorn. Its good to get the answers to your questions, from what I've seen is there are people here that can relate to just about anything. I used to think it was weird that I had CD and didn't have constant D like most that have it, then I came across your story and was like. I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE!!

Ask all the questions you like and don't apologize for it.

In the long run I think you'll do just fine after your surgery and I think you'll be glad you did it even though the road to get there was scary!

 

[rorho19]

many thanks Jess,

What did you have done and was it elective or emergency..I have just left the surgoen's office having signed the paperwork for the operation. He could not promise to save the ceaocal valve..only to do what would be best for me in the long term.

Her in the UK it is a 14 week wait on the NHS - so I may have to find the money and have it done privately. I still cannot come to terms with it yet.

I had back surgery on a disc in 2010 - but that was emergency due to level of pain I was in - so I did not know I would be under the knife when I woke up that morning.

I am very very scared- I guess most people are before their first one.


R

 

[JessPeper]

I had an Ileocecectomy. They did take my valve.

Mine was done emergency, I did have chance to dwell on the what ifs. I went to the ER at 6am after I had been throwing up since midnight I have pains that were worse than being in labor. Our local ER is terrible. When I went I let them know that I have CD all my records show as having it. They did a urine sample and told me that I had a UTI that I could get dressed and go home. As I was trying to get up to get dressed I threw up all over the nurse. They then decided that they'd do a CT scan. It showed I had an obstruction consistent with CD and there were several pockets of fluid from a small rupture. They kept me comfortable until the surgeon was able to operate. They took me down that same night.

I remember when I have my gall bladder taken out how nervous I was about the pain and what to expect after. Let me tell you the D after my gall bladder was 100x worse than what it was having the valve taken out!

 

[rorho19]

Yeah, my wife has a favourite Aunt who had GBlddr out many months ago and she cant visit us because she can't get out the house before mid day due to the D.

Obviously I should not be concerned about the D - it should pass in a couple of weeks.

 

[rorho19]

And yes the surgeon said he has done hundreds of these and after first resection you should not have any permanent D problem.

hope you are continuing to improve and wound healing ok now.

 

[JessPeper]

And yes the surgeon said he has done hundreds of these and after first resection you should not have any permanent D problem.

hope you are continuing to improve and wound healing ok now.

I am! Thank you. Its been a slow process but I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Best of luck to you!!

 

[rorho19]

Jess
If you were throwing up beforehand is that because you had strictures? My situation is being complicated by urinary urgency issues- which is very distressing and causing me to struggle to get much sleep. I have struggled to get any of the doctors...GP/ Gastro consultant/ surgeon to suggest what is causing this. They all kinda shrug their shoulders. There are a range of possible causes

1.
including that the bulging between my two strictures is pressing on the bladder..

2. similar bulging in large intestine due to stools compacted by strictures
3. kidney stones
4. prostate enlargement ( though this was ruled out when I had similar issues 4 years ago)
others? IBS/ Anxiety?

Now no one is commiting to any cause. I really don't feel able to commit to going through with the operation -I am on 14 week waiting list if the op might not solve this and I have to try and recover while fighting this unpleasant sysmptom and then try and find the cause and maybe have some other procedure to fix that later.

 

[JessPeper]

I was throwing up because the inflammation was to the point of causing an obstruction.

I'm not sure about the bladder issues. I would almost wonder is maybe there was a fistula to your bladder? Maybe that would cause the urgency. I'm really not sure though.

 

[rorho19]

Fistula...possibly but would that not show on my recent MRI scan? surely they check crohn's patients for all those kinds of things when they scan their strictures...

 

[JessPeper]

I would think so.

 

[rorho19]

I see somewhere else you recommending vit b12 for exhaustion etc- is this something one needs to consider even before surgery..can inflammation be blocking absorption?

 

[JessPeper]

I'm not sure whether or not the inflammation would block absorption. I was fatigued quite a bit when I was first diagnosed. My GI did the blood work to test the levels of B12 he told me they were fine. So I started taking an over the counter and it made a world of difference. I had stopped taking it for awhile and my surgeon told me I needed to start taking it after surgery

 

[rorho19]

b12 I have seen some people on here that use o t c sublingual tablets ( think that meansunder the tounge..easier and cheaper than injections.

 

[JessPeper]

I take a OTC that you just swallow. At least that's how I've been taking it, I should look at the bottle.