Last night was the first time I went through this with THIS stoma (ileostomy). My fault entirely!
I had popcorn, almonds and pickles (not all together of course) and NOT enough water or other beverages with them. Woke up at midnight with really bad abdominal pain and pressure around the stoma. I KNEW it was going to be a long night. I tried Grape Juice, hot bath, hot pad, drinking hot water... no relief.
Called the surgeon's hot line and she said something about "if they had taught me to "irrigate" this". NO. I've never been taught any such thing. Maybe someone here knows about this - I'm interested. Anyway, she said if I started to be nauseous and throw up, I should go to the ER and they could help me.
About an hour and half later - 1:30am, I started throwing up from the pain. Throwing up gave me some relief but the pain came back. My sister brought me to the ER and I swear, I felt EVERY bump in the road! Miserable ride! Got there, told them about the stoma, told them I KNEW it was a blockage. They put me on dilauded and gave me Zofran for the nausea... took blood tests, took x-rays. X-ray showed it was not completely blocked. Yay. I finally fell asleep for about an hour in the ER... Doc came in and asked me if I wanted to go home on pain meds and I asked to wait just a little longer. I did not want to come back in. Fortunately, my bag started to show that it was filling with a little air... Thank GOD! That meant that even though it wasn't the clearing I thought I would get, it was starting to clear!
I was nervous to go home but after being there for 4 hours, decided that it would be worth the effort. Made it home, went to sleep. Didn't take any more pain meds or zofran... and I've been fine!! Amazing.
6 hours of pain, but today, just feel a bit fatigued from it all and of course, my stoma is swollen a bit.
Anyone else relate to this story? Do you think there's anything else I could have tried once I got to the throwing up stage?
I know that I will only eat those rough food with lots of fluids from now on... and I will wait until everything is calmed down (not swollen) before I try any harder foods than soft ones right now.
I'm curious about the irrigation the Dr. mentioned. Maybe that could have saved a visit to the ER?
Would love to hear what has happened to others and also want to encourage anyone who may experience a block. Those pain meds help... really. And so does the anti-nausea med.
I had popcorn, almonds and pickles (not all together of course) and NOT enough water or other beverages with them. Woke up at midnight with really bad abdominal pain and pressure around the stoma. I KNEW it was going to be a long night. I tried Grape Juice, hot bath, hot pad, drinking hot water... no relief.
Called the surgeon's hot line and she said something about "if they had taught me to "irrigate" this". NO. I've never been taught any such thing. Maybe someone here knows about this - I'm interested. Anyway, she said if I started to be nauseous and throw up, I should go to the ER and they could help me.
About an hour and half later - 1:30am, I started throwing up from the pain. Throwing up gave me some relief but the pain came back. My sister brought me to the ER and I swear, I felt EVERY bump in the road! Miserable ride! Got there, told them about the stoma, told them I KNEW it was a blockage. They put me on dilauded and gave me Zofran for the nausea... took blood tests, took x-rays. X-ray showed it was not completely blocked. Yay. I finally fell asleep for about an hour in the ER... Doc came in and asked me if I wanted to go home on pain meds and I asked to wait just a little longer. I did not want to come back in. Fortunately, my bag started to show that it was filling with a little air... Thank GOD! That meant that even though it wasn't the clearing I thought I would get, it was starting to clear!
I was nervous to go home but after being there for 4 hours, decided that it would be worth the effort. Made it home, went to sleep. Didn't take any more pain meds or zofran... and I've been fine!! Amazing.
6 hours of pain, but today, just feel a bit fatigued from it all and of course, my stoma is swollen a bit.
Anyone else relate to this story? Do you think there's anything else I could have tried once I got to the throwing up stage?
I know that I will only eat those rough food with lots of fluids from now on... and I will wait until everything is calmed down (not swollen) before I try any harder foods than soft ones right now.
I'm curious about the irrigation the Dr. mentioned. Maybe that could have saved a visit to the ER?
Would love to hear what has happened to others and also want to encourage anyone who may experience a block. Those pain meds help... really. And so does the anti-nausea med.
Last edited:
