Questions

[nnmfam]

I have had diarrhea for at least the last 2 years. I also have severe allergies and angioedema so I keep them in the house. Needless to say I would take steroids and diarrhea and pain that was moderate would go away.
3 weeks ago went to dinner came home fine a few hours latter started sweating in pain then passed out from the pain.i was hospitalized and told I had a bowel obstruction and given fluids pain meds released after 3 days.

My primary sent me for a lower GI and the prep helped the obstruction. Was still in pain after and test showed nothing.
So sent to GI last week sent me for blood work and stool precalctin. (Excuse Spelling) . Blood work came back today showed low protein , increased wbc 22 and neutrophils I forget number, and bun was high. Crp was normal as well as sed rate.
Yet my left lower abdomen hurts and I am back to dirrhea and eating hurts within a few minutes.
Questions are can stool test work on liquid stool?? What do those numbers indicate other then infection? I have a colonoscopy with biopsies scheduled for may. Also with eatting you can see a huge bulge on my left side.
How do you keep weight on I have lost 15lbs and was small to begin with
they say no work yet and really I want to just feel better.
Thanks so much

 

[24601]

When you have a partial obstruction and find eating painful or that it causes other symptoms like abdominal distension or nausea it can be so easy to start eating less and less to control the symptoms. A lot of people find that it helps with the symptoms and to maximize their nutritional intake if they eat soft foods, have several smaller meals, add in some liquid supplement drinks or even have all liquids if necessary. If you go the all liquid route it's best to have drinks that are complete nutrition like Ensure, Fortisip or Modulen. You should talk to your doctor about your weight loss, if you haven't already, and see if they would prescribe supplement drinks or a largely or exclusively liquid diet.

If your albumin was low then that suggests you are already malnourished (which it sounds like you're probably already aware of as a possibility) so it's really important to find better ways for you to get more calories in. You can buy drinks like Ensure and Boost easily if you need to get it without a prescription.

Also yes, I believe the stool test will have worked just fine no matter the consisitency.

The high wbc might mean infection or inflammation. The high bun could mean a number of things. Apparently "If your kidneys are not able to remove urea from the blood normally, your BUN level rises. Heart failure, dehydration, or a diet high in protein can also make your BUN level higher.". Could you be dehydrated? That's not uncommon with a partial obstruction. But obviously it goes without saying, get your doctor to explain all those results to your satisfaction!

Good luck! Hope you start feeling better soon! I know how frustrating it is to want to be well and able to get on with a normal life!

Q: Where in your bowel did your doctors say they saw the obstruction? And what meds are you currently on?