5 days post hysterectomy: constipation

Had my da Vinci LAVH on 12 May, released on 13 May. Doing okay, having pain on right side but controlling it with pain meds, vicoprofen. I was wondering if I should be worried bc I haven't had a BM yet, I am taking colace twice a day since Tuesday and drinking lots of fluids. Any advice?

You probably need to be taking some MIRALAX.. I had to learn the hard way. I am 4 wks. post op LAVH and I had issues being constipated, so bad infact that I strained to hard and the stress from surgery caused me to be in the hospital several times after day 10 with severe Diverticulitis and I was very sick, still on lots of powerful antibiotics/ Diverticulitis is extremely painful, worse than surgery and had to go through it with no MEDS.. the pain pills caused constipation to be really bad. Make sure to get on top of this ASAP, even if you have to back off your pain meds.. but please get some miralax, eat prunes and whatever else you can do. You do not want to go through what I just did. It was horrid. and scary. You can also try suppositories and enema's .. I did both but no results and strained entirely too much, I felt it when my colon popped. Do not strain.. dont mean to alarm you, this is a little rare to happen after surgery, but I would hate to see anyone else go through what i have been through.. Do what you can to get things going. Good luck to you

It took me 9 days before I did. I was taking Senekot since last Sunday, Mirolax on Monday. Finally my gynecologist had me go for an xray to check for blockages. Luckily none were found. But, my doctor recommended a fleet enema. I was able to go a little. Pain meds play a big role in the lack.of ability to go. I hope you are able to go soon.

If it gets bad here is the solution my nurse gave me. Warm prune juice with 2 tablespoons milk of mag. Yes it is awful. Take and wait 4 hours. If nothing repeat. She said she's never had a patient it didn't work on.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by crystal40 You probably need to be taking some MIRALAX.. I had to learn the hard way. I am 4 wks. post op LAVH and I had issues being constipated, so bad infact that I strained to hard and the stress from surgery caused me to be in the hospital several times after day 10 with severe Diverticulitis and I was very sick, still on lots of powerful antibiotics/ Diverticulitis is extremely painful, worse than surgery and had to go through it with no MEDS.. the pain pills caused constipation to be really bad. Make sure to get on top of this ASAP, even if you have to back off your pain meds.. but please get some miralax, eat prunes and whatever else you can do. You do not want to go through what I just did. It was horrid. and scary. You can also try suppositories and enema's .. I did both but no results and strained entirely too much, I felt it when my colon popped. Do not strain.. dont mean to alarm you, this is a little rare to happen after surgery, but I would hate to see anyone else go through what i have been through.. Do what you can to get things going. Good luck to you

Finally went 7 days post op, so glad. I am 8 days post op and back at work on light duty.

My doctor told me to give it a week and if I didn't have a bowel movement to use suppositories. I had never used them before but they were a life saver! I used them every other day until I finished my narcotic pain meds (a total of 3 times) and now I am having regular BMs on my own. She said not to use other laxatives because they can add to the gas and bloating already going on.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by ADC62679 My doctor told me to give it a week and if I didn't have a bowel movement to use suppositories. I had never used them before but they were a life saver! I used them every other day until I finished my narcotic pain meds (a total of 3 times) and now I am having regular BMs on my own. She said not to use other laxatives because they can add to the gas and bloating already going on.

I also recommend the suppositories. I've been using Colace, Miralax, fiber pills and prunes, as well as drinking a ton of water and I finally had relief in 15 minutes with the Ducolax suppository.

I cannot tell you how much better I feel!

I was told because there is more room for bowel to now move around because womb etc has been removed the bowel can become sticky so loads of fruit, fibre and lactulose x