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Partial obstruction/blockage - do you wait or see dr?

partial obstruction/blockage - do you wait or see dr?

I'm sitting here going thru my 8th partial obstruction within the past year or so. I've become pretty good at knowing it's coming (standard script: stomach blows up with gas, pressure feeling, can't poop, then a night of intense nausea/vomitting and cramping as everything comes up instead of going down)...

In each of the cases, I've done the same thing - pulled back off eating anything else to prevent aggrivating it, only liquids for 24h, and then soup and back into soft foods over the next few days when things start moving and the appetite comes back ravenously.

I travel *a lot*, and though I've got great coverage, I don't feel comfortable always hopping over to the ER whenever I'm having a flareup, especially when past experiences have just shown that I just have to ride it out and suffer in agony for a couple days. But, I also know the flipside of this from reading - that there can be a bowel blowout and shit can get hectic if not properly diagnosed.

So, what I'm asking is, how many of you ride out your partial blockages, and how many of you go straight to the ER? Am I in good company amongst those who just suffer through it, or do I need to hear the error of my ways from those who wished they'd had it checked sooner?

Also, anyone got any tricks for getting thru a blockage/partial obstruction episode? Plz do share if so...

Thanks in advance!
 

Silvermoon

Moderator
Like you say, blackages can go real wrong, real fast, so it's never really a good idea to wait... maybe not enough to head to ER right away, but your "regular" GI/GP should be aware and setting up further testing.....

As for tips, other that what you are already doing, the only other thing I can recommend is small meals more often.... lets only little bits of food try and pass through at a time, rather than a bigger mass of food.....

Hope you can sort it out soon. :)
 

Jennifer

Adminstrator
Staff member
Location
SLO
I agree with Silver. Its nothing to mess around with. You do not want a full blockage as they are life threatening. No harm in going to the ER EVER. I've gone in just to get antibiotics cause waiting for an appointment with a GP or GI can be a long wait. If inflammation is causing the stricture then your GI should be able to prescribe something to try and reduce it. If its scar tissue then this is just going to keep happening and the only things that can be done for scar tissue is either stretching it (but that's temporary and depends on the severity) or removing it via bowel resection. I hope you get the help you need soon cause that's no way to live.
 
I just experienced a 4 day hospital stay due to a partial blockage and my best advice is to try and avoid them at all costs by following a strict diet. I was close to having everything rupture my GI said and i've never experienced pain like that before. They gave me an assortment of cipro and flagly. I'm now on preds x8 and imuran for the past week and so far so good.
 
Thanks for the diet hints... I do try to keep my meals small...

I guess my main issue has to do with the travelling - I'm on the road 80% of the time, and that doesn't allow me much access to my regular doctor/GI, so I'm wary about walking into the ER in a strange land and having to explain what's up, rather than riding it out in the hotel.

Based on this feedback though, I'll definately be reconsidering in the future, and contemplating just getting a resection done to fix up the tight spots.

Thanks!
 

Jennifer

Adminstrator
Staff member
Location
SLO
I don't think it really matters what ER you go to. An obstruction is an obstruction (or partial). They know how to handle it. You can also let them know that you have records at ____ hospital with ____ doctor. Also when not doing tests your GI doc can do prescribing meds/treatment plan over the phone based off of your symptoms and previous tests and you just tell them what pharmacy you want it sent to.
 
I'm curious. You've not mentioned what your current treatment plan is to handle your Crohn's. Have you had a chat with your doctor about these obstructions and what they plan on doing to treat them? As Crabby mentioned, it could just be a simple matter of sorting you out with the correct drugs and a proper home-treatment plan rather than surgery. I dunno how many doctors would be willing to have their patients cut open simply because they asked, and from my my experience of two resection surgeries, surgery is no small matter! ;)

Another thing to consider along Crabby's latest post is trying to get an e-copy of your medical records (on a CD, for example), that you can keep with you when you are travelling. They can pack all sorts of information on those things from the doctor's notes to lab results and even radiography images.
 
I agree with Carrie and Crabby.

I have had surgeries and they are no small matter. A copy of your medical records is a good thing to carry around if you are always on the go.
When I had my blockage there was decision to be made if I should go or not to the ER. The night before I just thought it was my acid reflux which when it acts up I just feel like a stuck feeling in my upper part of my chest. The next day it was the same. Later on that night my fever came high on and within a couple hours it went from just the pressure to screaming pain where I could not even move. My mother earlier that day talked to me on the phone and heard in my voice something was wrong and drove over to me. I was glad for her motherly instinct because there would have been no way I could have gotten to the ER without her and my brother. It was a 2 week stay in the hospital.

If you feel a blockage coming on then get it checked out. If you are having that many in such a short period of time then I would definitely have a doctor help you more. It sounds like you are pushing yourself to be like a walking time bomb for something to possibly go wrong.
 
Another thing to be ware of with partials. I had them going like you for the better part of a year - every Friday night like clockwork. Most painful thing I've ever had. Like you, I got pretty good at reading the symptoms as they were coming. The big problem is that partials can have complications. As was mentioned above, maybe this time it's going to be a complete obstruction. I ended up with a microfissure that led to septicemia. If it weren't for my mother taking a wrong turn to pick me up from work and letting me see how it was developing, I would have been dead. I assumed at the start it was a partial, but by the time my mom got me, my vision was going wacko, and at the ER, the triage nurse didn't even ask my name. Found out later I was about 10 minutes away from saying goodbye permanently. Get it checked out, if not for yourself, but for those who love you.
 
Hi Crankypants.....
I go to ER as soon as I've determined that what should be going through my gut isn't going ......that is --I'm bloating, gut is tight and nausea is settng in! When I was first diagnosed w/a full blockage, I thought I had a virus ---and four hours later I was so weak I could barely talk and had to be transported by ambulance, dehydrated to the point they couldn't get a vein and immediately a tube inserted into my stomach to relieve the vomiting--never again do I wait!!! Fortunately I got out of that emergency w/out surgery! Sometimes I do feel I'm being a wimp on those ER runs but I've been assured I should not wait --get to the hospital because bad things can happen!
 
Crankypants, I'd go to the ER. My family likes to joke that I an touring the ERs while on vacation. I've had to go to the ER in Sudbury, Canada, Boise, Idaho, NYC, and in rural Minnesota. Please don't put it off because you never know when this is going to be the "one".

Also, I've had surgery. It sucked to recover from. However, after, I was in complete remission each time for years. It isn't the worst thing that can happen, and if needed, it can really change your life for the better.
 
I'm sitting here going thru my 8th partial obstruction within the past year or so. I've become pretty good at knowing it's coming (standard script: stomach blows up with gas, pressure feeling, can't poop, then a night of intense nausea/vomitting and cramping as everything comes up instead of going down)...

In each of the cases, I've done the same thing - pulled back off eating anything else to prevent aggrivating it, only liquids for 24h, and then soup and back into soft foods over the next few days when things start moving and the appetite comes back ravenously.

I travel *a lot*, and though I've got great coverage, I don't feel comfortable always hopping over to the ER whenever I'm having a flareup, especially when past experiences have just shown that I just have to ride it out and suffer in agony for a couple days. But, I also know the flipside of this from reading - that there can be a bowel blowout and shit can get hectic if not properly diagnosed.

So, what I'm asking is, how many of you ride out your partial blockages, and how many of you go straight to the ER? Am I in good company amongst those who just suffer through it, or do I need to hear the error of my ways from those who wished they'd had it checked sooner?

Also, anyone got any tricks for getting thru a blockage/partial obstruction episode? Plz do share if so...

Thanks in advance!
Oh NO. please go to the hospital. I almost died last month, my bowel was dialating and I was told I was about to POP, go, please don't wait, I didn't even know I had Chrons untill after the surgery, they removed a small section and I feel better now. Please don't wait, its better to feel foolish because you turned out to be okay then to wait too long and OMG, who knows what will happen. I was told that I should have had surgery months earlier, but I was scared, didn't even know what I had, I had moments of life left before my surgery, it had gotten that close. Please go. Please don't leave it as long as I did, If I had waited another hour I was told I would have died. Don't wait untill you are vomitting diahria like I did.
 
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Update - had another blockage shortly after that one... ended up in the hospital in New Zealand for 4 nights, but had to check myself out against their advice to fly home.

They put me on pred (6 weeks - just weaned off it as of 2 days ago), and everything was going well until today when I woke up to another blockage, and started vomiting out the overload :(

Still don't understand why ASA might be recommended to help with my blockages, since it sounds like it prevents flares, not do anything about my scar tissue from my resection years ago that's causing the blockage... getting nervous though - supposed to go to Russia for a few weeks, and I'm terrified about ending up in the hospital there.
 
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