Hi,
I am new here. My name is Patricia and I am in the hospital with complications. I had the first stage of the j-pouch with the ileostomy on June 6th. Went home and then developed ileus and have been in the hospital since last wednesday (june 11th). I have an ng tube and they started tpn with a central line yesterday. How long is the average ileus? Any advice???? Please I need some words of encouragement. My patience is running thin!
Does it develop again once it goes away... if I go home again? Any advice would be appreciated.
Patricia
Ulcerative colitis since 1991
mother of 20 month old in MA and wife

Hi Patricia,

Check this link out: http://j-pouch.org/eve/forums?a=search&reqWords=ileus&u...rum_scope=5951071921 there are already a few helpful posts on the topic.

Dan

Patricia, Ileus, I believe is a somewhat common complication of having bowel surgery. First I would not panic about having it, I understand the aggravation of having an NG tube, central line, and I also had TPN to go along with it. Any surgery that involves the bowel is at risk of this complication. Unfortunately you just need to wait it out for it to pass, I have also read that chewing gum helps to stimulate the bowel back working again. Where did you have surgery? I live on the south shore and had mine done at The Beth Israel. Good Luck and ask for ativan to help calm you down, it worked wonders for me. Scott Mc

I heard that chewing gum helps to wake up the bowels.

Patricia, hang in there. Most of the time an ileus will clear on its own. Just be sure to let the drs and nurses know how you are feeling in case it gets bad enough to need intervention.

I live in West Roxbury and had my surgeries at the BI and Lahey.

Hey, I'm from Clinton! Pretty close I had my surgeries done at Beth Israel and I got an ileus too. I ended up needing a second surgery a few days later. Mine lasted about 10 days. I definitely reccomend Ativan also. You've got to just relax and things work themselves out. Good luck!

Welcome to the site! I am from Amherst. I had my surgeries done in Hartford CT and am in fact here now recovering from my takedown. I never had an ileus so I can offer no advice, just compassion and good wishes. Be patient - not that you have a lot of choice - in time it will get better and you will move on and be feeling great. Just keep that in mind. Good luck and let us know how things go.
Jenny

Patricia,

I had the same thing happen after stage 1. It was likely due to using too much morphine as I was hooked up to a morphine drip. What happens is that your liver is producing bile and stomach is producing stomach juices and all this digestive fluid, which cannot go down, must go up. That's why you have the NG tube. I started vomiting and they actually inserted the NG tube in me while I was vomiting. It was not exactly a great experience. I had the NG tube in for about 24 hours and it started to drive me crazy and I pulled it out on my own which led to the Mount Sinai Hospital Staff yelling at me in a big way. I know I should not have done that but I just couldn't take it any more, it made me gag and I was getting the gag reflex and choking. I pulled it right out! BUT PLEASE DON'T EMULATE THIS AS IT WAS FRUSTRATED AND CRAZY BEHAVIOR.

The NG tube protects you from having to vomit which is a very bad thing for your body at this time, you could rip your wound and stitches open and other bad things can happen like getting an infection which also happened to me. So keep it in please!

Don't worry, you will start feeling better and the bowels will start to move. The NG tube sucks, I know that, but you will get past this and things will improve. I did get a few more blockages but none in the last 15.8 years.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DJBHusky,

just to update everyone... my ileus seem to have resolved. I had the ng tube removed wed, on fluids yesterday and started with some food today. I am sooo scared to eat! anyone had problems with ileus again or other after one ileus? Can something bad happen again? I am so happy to have the ng tube out! Thanks for the words of encouragement. Now, I just need to get used to living for a while with the "bag". Any advice on that too?

Dear Patricia,

Thanks for the good news on the ileus resolving itself. That IS really good news.

As for the bag, let me say, in all honesty, that life with a bag is possible. I had mine for 2 1/2 years, because life just sort of got in the way and I had a hard time scheduling my takedown surgery. So, your time with a bag will be much shorter, and you will be able to manage it.

If you check out the Ostomy and Skin Care Forum, you'll find lots of good advice on the subject. If you run into problems, be sure to post, and you will get lots more good advice that is directed to your specific concerns.

When I first had my bag, I also had a great ET (enterostomal therapy) nurse, aka stoma nurse, to help me out. She was on the staff of the hospital where I had my surgery, and I could always call her for advice, or go in and see her if I needed hands-on help.

Good luck, and you will be fine!

I have a perm ileo so feel free to ask any questions you have about the bag...

What hospital are you at? Most of the major hospitals in Boston have good ET nurses and they will help you a lot...I've worked with the ETs at Lahey, BI, Brigham and BMC so let me know if you ahve questions or concerens!

I had my takedown surgery June 11th released from UCLA on June 15th. A happy camper, no bag and quick release. Although elation ended quickly. Two days after release developed horrible pain in incision area and was forced to enter hospital. I'm not sure what ng tube is? I've been Iv drip and pain pda. It's very frustrating. i was in hospital 16 days after illeostomy from infection and drainage.
And now after enjoying my take down for day and half I'm back. But apparently I'm not an isolated case.

Eric,

NG tube = nasogastric tube. Inserted through your nostril, down your throat, and snaked down into your stomach/intestine.

The one they shoved down my throat looked like it was about 1" thick. I have thin nostrils and did not think it would fit. They told me don't worry, it will. Well let me tell you there was no room left there. You have to breathe through your mouth like when you are snorkeling. It's an experience that sucks, totally and completely.

Infections like yours are not rare, I had one too. You will get better.

I'm glad you are feeling better. As for the bag... I had mine for 6 weeks and though it takes a bit of getting used to, I really found it was no big deal. I had trouble with dehydration because of the loop ileostomy, but once that was figured out I felt great and the bag definitely did not stop me from doing anything. I had a bit of skin irritation early on and the nurse recommended a convex appliance wafer which helped a lot to kind of push the stoma out a bit so I could get a better seal.

Oh and here's one more piece of advice that came from Shell and I wish I had tried earlier. She said that she often (always?) adds water to her bag and "swishes" a bit before emptying. It eliminates the need for kind of squeezing things out as they get thicker and makes it all much less messy. I found that very helpful. You can just invert the end of the bag, and use a cup to pour in a bit of water.

Take things slow and good luck!
Jenny

Patricia,

I was always embarassed to empty my bag at a friend's house or in a restaurant, due to the resulting odor. Another tip from Shell is to add a few drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide to the bag each time after you empty. It really works!

Anjuli