Gas: To pass or not to pass.

Hi ladies. I'm 4 days post-op from a partial abdominal hysterectomy. I kept both ovaries and my cervix.

Due to some post-op nausea and vomiting, I was very slow in getting up and walking and in taking in any foods or liquids. Consequently, I ended up staying longer in the hospital because my bowel sounds were completely nonexistent and the doctor kept tossing out words like "Paralytic ileus" and scaring me half to death.

Anyway, he finally discharged me yesterday. I haven't yet had a bowel movement, and have only passed gas two times since the surgery.

I'm not taking any Gas X, and don't know if I should be(?), but the pains rolling through my guts are getting pretty severe. I'm not sure I should be suppressing it with medication when it doesn't quite seem to be completing the cycle, if you know what I mean. Shouldn't it be coming out the other end more than it is?

Maybe I'm just being paranoid given how the doctor frightened me with talk of paralyzed bowels. The doctor never mentioned taking anything for the gas, and as for the lack of bm's, since my incision got infected at the hospital and he started me on Keflex, he seemed certain that I'd end up with diarrhea from the antibiotic anyway (I have not).

I know there are a lot of threads about post-op gas pain and I have read them. I just didn't see anything that specifically addressed whether it was good or bad to be trying to suppress the gas if you haven't passed much of it to begin with. Or does that even matter??

Take some gas-x and get miralax as well...your bowels need a jump start to get moving again, you need to aid them...or it will be a very painful experience

Use the gas x, and don't even think of supressing it- the gas-x does not prevent gas, it helps break it up so you CAN expel it from one end or the other.
As for bowel movement, it may very well take a few more days- 4 days seems to be pretty normal and up to a week not unusual.
Avoid foods you know are binding such as cheese and white bread, eat lightly but often, fruits and veggies (but avoid stuff like broccoli and cucumbers that cause more gas), oatmeal, yogurt and other easy to digest fare (I found Japanese food especially good post-op).
A couple of prunes a day and plenty of liquids- water, tea, juice, broth... just avoid soda and chilled beverages (cold can tense up the digestive tract, which is NOT the goal right now )

Ah, thank you. I didn't realize that's how Gas X worked. I'll send the husband to the store pronto.