Bowel problems post-op

My LAVH was on Sept. 18th and I think I felt better at 2 days post-op than I do now at 6 days!!

My bowels seem to be really messed up. The main source of my pain seems to be coming from my either needing to have a bowel movement or pressure in my rectal area. Yesterday, I was constipated and panicked so rather than wait it out, I took chocolate EX-lax, now today I've spent most of the day on the toilet!

I have 3 abdominal incisions that aren't causing me any pain at all. It all seems to be coming from this gas and bowel thing!

Has anyone had the same experience? Please help, any suggestions would be great!!

Susieb,
I'm about 3 weeks post op and have experienced the same. The doctors and nurses told me to expect this (pain from gas or bowel movement). I have a six inch vertical incision which has been pain free until the last few days. I think it's because the nerves and other things are truely healing now. The most pain has been from gas. Even in the hospital, I stopped the morphine because it just didn't seem to touch the gas pain. The nurses said there really wasn't anything that would relieve the pain (how barbaric in the 21st century).

I was in the hospital for 7 days and home now for 12 and have had constant diarreha and gas pains since I've been home, although now most of the gas pain is first thing in the morning. Anyway, walks help and so does simethicone (Gas X). I understand the whole process is very hard on your very sensitive intestines.

Lee

the gas pains can be awful. the hospital told me the same thing that pain meds don't help the gas pain. Gas-X helped me. I've heard orange juice is very bad at causing gas and abdominal pain at this time in our lives. I have stayed away. They say carbonated soft drinks cause more gas too than juices or water. My dr said DO NOT LET YOURSELF GET CONSTIPATED then put me on iron!! She did say to use something gentle like milk of magnesia.

I had my LAVH on 8/26 ~ already 4 weeks ~ and experienced the same symptoms you've described. The intestines only sense pain when they are stretched! Gas-X and Milk of Magnesia, plus the magic red pills (stool softeners) really help.

Here's what has helped me:

no straws (ever) since they make you gulp air
no carbonated drinks
juices (like apple and grape)
lots of slightly cold water (not a lot of ice)
pureed fresh fruit every day
steamed vegetables (no broccoli ~ too gassy)
no salad
no beer (carbonation again) or wine

Pain meds make the intestines sluggish so that could be why the gas is trapped. Walk, walk, walk and it will get better.

Take care ~

susieb,
I also had the same problem. I am 6 weeks post op from TVH and 4 wks post op from losing my ovaires and tubes. That was the big one and hardest to get over. I had such a hard time with constipation and painful gas and BM's. My doctor told me to take stool sofeners 3x daily and take some milk of magnesia once daily. And 8 8oz glasses of water everyday. And one cup of Fiber one cereal every morning. And since I had a hard time even going I had to use an enema once a day. After the 3rd day of that I am finally pain free. I thought there was something else wrong with me because of how intense the pain was. I didn't realize your bowels could do that to you. But now that it is getting better I know that was my problem. I sure hope you feel better soon. I know how bad that makes. I even went back to work today. And came home after full day and still feel pretty good. I have gotten such great info on this website. I am really grateful to have found it. Get better Susie.
Sheri

Your bowels were moved around during the surgery probably more than anything else. They are very sensitive to being touched on the outside or stretched from the inside. The first couple of weeks we have all the pain meds and anesthesia working their way out of our system and we're also taking pain pills that make it worse.

I experimented until I came up with the following and it helped me a great deal, even though I still get the discomfort whenever I "Need to go". I can say discomfort now - at 4 weeks - during the first 2 weeks it was torture. I stopped the Vicodin and used Advil only at 2 weeks. That helped.

I worked at developing the habit of eating oatmeal for breakfast every morning. I has good fiber for your system and your heart.
I fixed a mug of regular ol' hot tea to sip while I read the paper after breakfast. Believe it or not, this helped the most.

The first week I took Colace daily. The second or third day I increased the dose from 1 to 3 to try and get some results. I got some stomach cramps, but it did work the next day. I kept taking 2-3 a day until I was regular again, which was probably between week 2 and 3.

I really didn't think I would ever be normal again, but now as long as I eat my oatmeal and drink my tea I'm OK. I stopped the Colace about 2 weeks ago. The doctor cut my iron supplement in half at week 1 and about a week later I saw some definate improvement, so I gradually forgot about using the Colace.

I ended up staying in the hospital for 7 days instead of 4 when my bowels wouldn't wake up after surgery. My abdomen was so swollen and bloated, hard as a rock (plus I had internal bleeding). Lucky me, I got to wear an NG tube for 36 hours until I passed enough gas to suit the doctor. That experience was more miserable than the surgery (which went without a hitch). I still have gas pains at home and some constipation, but take Gas-X when needed and I get up and walk when I feel pain coming on. Also, oatmeal, fruit, and LOTS of water help. During the first week home, I tried to stick with more of a "soft GI" diet like the hospital dietician provided. I'm still careful about what I eat, and have not yet eaten any red meat, nor much in the way of sweets except for oatmeal cookies. Look for fiber foods! Be patient - this, too, shall pass (pun intended).

Shanna
____________________
TAH, BSO, endo cancer Stage I

My surgery was three weeks ago, and I'm relieved to know I'm not the only one with these problems. My Percocet ran out the day before my bowels kicked back in. Until then, I wasn't in much pain, so I didn't think I would need any refill - I'd just stick with the Motrin. When I could speak and walk again without sobbing, I called the doctor's office and requested more pain med. Did I get more Percocet? No. Wouldn’t want the pitiful woman to become a drug addict, you know. Tylenol 3's were so ineffective they weren't worth taking. I wasn't passing stools - I was giving birth to them! Lamaze breathing and relaxation techniques, Bible verses (Lamentations?) all ran thru my head, as well as mental images of me doing an Elvis on the can. It took a couple of hours of shaking and lying down to recover from each bathroom session for the first couple of weeks.

Now I am just very, very sore. My thighs and those little fat pockets on my hips feel bruised from the effort they make on behalf of my behind, keeping some pressure off the incision between my rectum and vagina when I sit oh-so-slowly. I've spent considerable amount of time today thinking about how people talk about someone's "butt in a sling," and thinking how nice it would be to have a sling to hold up my crotch, and wondering if I might find one on this site somewhere.

I take one or two hot soaks in the tub each day, and walk around with an ice bag stuck in the butt of my jeans. When it developed a leak, my kids thought I was now incontinent as well as stooped and decrepit. A handy tube of super glue has saved the day – it hurt the girl’s appetites to see me sitting on a bag of frozen stir-fry.

Thanks to you all for helping me get through this. After three non-medicated deliveries with third and fourth degree epiosiotomies, I figured this recovery couldn't be that much worse. Stop laughing at me now, you'll hurt your stitches!

Here's hoping for all of us to be on the downhill side of recovery mountain. Take it easy, girlfriends.

I really enjoyed your story and could not keep from laughing no matter that it hurt like heck! I too feel like my insides are falling out and would love to find a "butt sling". After surgery my gyno stated that he did not know how I was even having bowel movements as my uterus and fibroids were so large that they were compressing not only my bladder but my intestines. Before surgery I was not constipated in the sense of "not being able to go". In fact I went every day with no trouble since my bm's were very thin! I now know that my "before" bm's were not normal at all! What is coming out of me now is like huge aliens!! Talk about hurting~! What I first thought was pain from the surgery ended up being pain from the (large) stool moving thru my virgin bowels!!! I too have tried the frozen bag of vegetables on my stomach - the hard corn kernels just didn't make things feel better though. No one could have ever made me believe that after surgery I would be spending 3/4 of my day focused on getting rid of and having a bm!! Oh what fun.

Again - thanks for the laugh! I'll write my whole story soon.

Constipation is usually caused by gas, so if you relieve the gas things start going smoothly.
I take caprylic acid, works like a charm. its ayeast killer, but not all yeast killers do the trick, some cause gas. You can get it as "Capryl" or just a generic caprylic acid.
If you drink peppermint tea it helps a lot alos. Celestial seasonings makes the best one thats easy to get.
If its really bad pain and you just can't take the agony anymore a hot water bottle will help too, but its just a temporary fix. Pain killers will make you more constipated, the narcotics freeze the bowels. If you need pain relief take Ibuprofen its the only thing that keeps the bowel turned on.
Stay away from laxatives and enemas and many of the things zillionth reccomended like salad, roughage, carbonations hard candy and stresssssssssssssssssssssssss.
Keg