Question:
Has anyone had similar abdominal pain (bowel obstruction?) long term post-op?

Hi all. Wow..I've been gone for a while. I've been to the GI and had an endoscopy and I have a mild ulcer, but not enough to cause these symptoms and I don't have a stricutre. I have an abdominal CT scheduled for Monday and an appt. with a surgeon on Tuesday, but I'm worried that this may be a bowel obstruction and I'm wondering if anyone who has experience with these had these long drawn out symptoms? Here's my story: I've had this "stitch" in my right side up under my rib cage which felt like something was stuck under my ribs for a few weeks; however, more recently the pain spread and became more intense and goes up the middle of my upper abdomen and around my diaphram; worsening with eating and drinking. Sometimes after I eat, the pain becomes so unbearable that I am doubled over in pain, sometimes I'm nauseated and vomit, sometimes I vomit without nausea and sometimes the food just passes, but it's always uncomfortable to eat to some degree. I am constantly burping with every sip of water, bite, etc... to the point that I'm basically avoiding eating....I've lost 16 lbs in 2 1/2 weeks and my weight has been pretty stable weight now for a year at around 150-155. I took lax. last night and had my first small bm today since Monday and that was small but watery and the bm before that was ....well who knows....I know it was a while, but that's not that uncommon for me. Although, I've never been this impacted before and when I actually moved my bowels this morning it was very painful internally. Anyway...I know you all aren't docs but I appreciate any input...I told my GI this today and he just set me up for a CT and that's only because I asked him for it. I really think he just thinks I need exploratory surgery so I set up an appt. with a new Doc because my old Doc is out of network and in another state. Bummer. Thanks in advance for any words of advice. Denise 280/150/139 RNY 3/20/03    — denisel (posted on November 4, 2005)

November 4, 2005
Your symptoms sound similar to those my father had last spring. He ended up in the hospital with severe diverticulitis. Luckily, they caught it before he had permanent damage to his colon, but the inflammation and infection made him very sick. If it is Diverticulitis, they should catch it with the CT scan. Good luck!
   — LauraA

November 4, 2005
This sounds similar to what my daughter had, she had lost so much weight, that she had an internal hernia. The ct scan didnt show the internal hernia, but her gastric bypass doc was quick on the diagnosis, and did lap exploritory and fixed it in about 15 minutes. Her pain would start 20 min after she ate anything even drinking water, the pain was so unbarable she put her legs up on the ceiling of her car. She also had an ultra sound and it didnt show anything either. Her pain was gone immediatly. If the ct doesnt show anything, get lap exploratory surgery ASAP, so the bowl doesnt strangle and die. Good luck to you, let us know what you find out. Rosemary
   — wizz40

November 5, 2005
My grandmother just went through having an bowel obstruction and this was the third one for her. She had abdominal pain right up under here ribs and she was vomiting and it was black. I took her through ER and they gave her fluids because she couldn't keep anything down. The CT scan is what revealed the blockage. She did have expolratory surgery Monday evening and they revealed that her small bowel had wrapped around some scar tissue from a previous surgery. Long story short they took out 2ft of bowel an some of her colon. She is doing a lot better and but has not had a meal yet.
   — Sheronda L.

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