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[Angie's Mom]

Hi,

I just returned home from a horrible stay in hospital. I was given a sigmoidoscopy and diagnosed as having proctitis and sigmoid inflammation as well as "a sever bowel obstruction"
They treated the obstruction with some sort of intense 4Liters of fluid laxative. I passed (sorry to get graphic here) a tone of water that started of murky at best but never passed anything more then that.
The hospital discharged me without any further testing and now home I am felling a bit crampy, I have trapped gas constantly rushing about my colon and my stomach is distended.
Bottom line, I'm not dying here but I suspect I still have an obstruction.
Any thoughts on what I should do?
Thanks

 

[HannahR]

I don't really have personal experience with bowel obstructions but many of these lady's protocols have really helped me. I urge you to take a look.

http://listentoyourgut.com/symptoms/20/intestinal-stricture-or-bowel-obstruction.html

 

[Jennifer]

When I had an obstruction in June this year (saw it in the CT scan) they admitted me into the hospital and gave me pain meds, nausea meds, IV fluids, went on clear liquids the second day (stayed 3 days, no fluids the first day because I was vomiting), received steroids in my IV and had an x-ray every morning to make sure there was no obstruction (a regular x-ray will be able to see a mass). When I first went in my abdomen was very distended and I was passing a lot of gas (including burping). The day after I had the IV steroids my abdomen was completely flat and all the pain, nausea and excess gas was gone.

Its important for the obstruction to be cleared (shown in tests that its clear) before you're sent home because obstructions can be life threatening if they perforate your bowel causing you to go septic.

Since you still have a lot of gas, distention and cramping its possible that the obstruction hasn't cleared. If the pain gets bad or if you start vomiting please go back to the hospital (another one if possible but if not then hopefully they will do a better job the second time around). In the meantime if you're going to eat anything try to make it soft, low residue and in smaller amounts. If you don't feel comfortable with foods then you can try liquids only for a few days. If you have a GI doctor then give them a call and let them know what's going on (I'm sorry I don't know your history so if you don't have one then hopefully you're seeing one soon).

Keep us posted and please be careful.

 

[Angie's Mom]

Thanks Jennifer,

I do have a GI doctor, I'll get in contact with him first thing tomorrow morning. The hospital had me on clear liquids and than no food at all over the 4 days there. They never did a cat scan just the X-ray and sigmoid. They did treat me with IV fluids and meds.
Thank you for sharing your experience, it really helps me to get an idea of how things should have been handled.
I promise, if I need to I will definitely head to a different hospital. Thanks!

By the way, I'm sorry to hear that after 13 years you are having trouble again. Hopefully you get through it quickly.

 

[shamrock15]

Down the road in Ottawa here... Doesn't really surprise me unfortunately that they discharged you already. Having lived through crohn's in Ottawa for 25+ years, I have seen huge declines in the quality of care for crohn's (and just health care in general). Our doctors here seem to think things through - I had a doctor want to give me digital exam to check for occult blood when I told him I had bleeding. I have had previous supposed crohn's experts put me on remicade, and then not follow up on blood work on a regular basis (I was actually battling anemia at the time, and he wouldn't even do regular monitoring for that!). All in all, I am not surprised you were discharged. It's a direct consequence of our current (and previous) governments' ability to tax us specifically for medical purposes, and then direct the money into their friends' pockets. Sorry for the rant!

Make sure you get in touch with your GI ASAP. I do believe you have at least a partial obstruction still, and will likely need follow up really quickly. Any time that I went in for something like this (it has been 10+ years), I was in for at least a week to 10 days. 3 days just isn't enough. Take care.

 

[Angie's Mom]

Thanks Shamrock15,
In my discharge papers they doubled one of my meds and forgot to tell me about it. They wrote down that I was to discontinue remicade immediately but never told me anything about it (or even what to do instead of remicade) they sent out blood work to check for antibodies and lost it the first time. The second time they forgot what lab they sent it to but were sure I'd get a call when the results came in. The entire thing was just a gong show!
Hopefully I can get into see my GI ASAP!
Thanks

 

[Jennifer]

Does your GI have an emergency line? Maybe letting them know that way may help (rather than waiting till Monday or waiting till things get worse). That hospital or at least the staff while you were there sounds horrible. How are you feeling today?

 

[Angie's Mom]

Unfortunately he doesn't have an emergency line. I'm feeling much the same today as yesterday. I'm haven't passed any stool at all and I'm still distended and filled with gas that I can't pass. Cramping comes and goes but these is also some discomfort in my lower back which I assume is being caused by pressure.

I'm sticking to liquids today and if anything worsens I will just head to the hospital, a different hospital.

I'll let you know what happens,
Thanks

 

[Jennifer]

Ya the back pain is from the pressure. I forgot to mention that my back was hurting a lot as well. The back pain also went away once the distention was gone. I hope you start feeling better soon. :hug: