post op constipation when to worry

Hi Sisters,

Today I am 11 days post op, I had a LSH (Laparoscopic Supracervical Hysterectomy) and they also took my ovaries and tubes. I only used the pain med for 2 days post op, so I have only used Motrin for the last 9 days,

I have been super careful about my diet, even eating some prunes and drank a little prune juice. drinking lots of water, I took plenty of stool softners and I have been taking lots of walks. I have avoided dairy products too.

This past Tuesday I final took a stimulate laxative and it did not work I was in so much pain I ended up in the ER, the told me my bowel were very full and they did not understand what was happening so (sorry for the details here) the nurse came in with this IV bag full of pink foamy stuff which was an huge enema of sorts. needless to say I did go to the bathroom there in the ER but not as much as I would have expected . It has been 5 days since my ER experience and I am still having troubles yesterday I took a double dose of miralax and again this morning and noting yet. It feels like things are not moving from my upper bowels into my lower bowels. I am getting really scared should I worry or has anyone else had alot of trouble here ???




thanks marie

While it is common to have problems with constipation, if it is five days and you are still having trouble, call your surgeon. They may have some suggestions like increasing the Miralax, or trying Benefiber or Metamucil or something like that. I also have a lot of problems with very slow moving bowels and believe me I understand the pain that goes along with it. I would definitely call your doctor and ask for help. I think they need to know NOW what is going on. As I said, I did have problems with constipation and needed medical help with it. Good luck. Hopefully your body will start to get more regular and this will be behind you. Sending lots of hugs.

I agree with Zenyatta. I was struggling a bit too, but a few days of softeners and a couple double doses of miralax got everything going... in fact better than pre op... you need to call your doc!

It took about a week after my surgery before I had a bm. It took about three days before the miralax worked. I am on iron supplements though and that is contributing to the problem. The miralax ended up being too much for me. I am now taking a double dose of citracel each day and eating a bowl of bran cereal each day. That has been working well. Hope you can get this worked out. You can use miralax and citracel.