"Massive liquid output" sounds more like a viral infection or food poisoning than a blockage, at least to me. Does it happen most often after eating at that suspicious-looking take-out place (just kidding, mostly)?

hi Scott!
I don't know what other peoples' experiences have been like, but I also had massive liquid output with my many stoma obstructions, as if my body was trying to flush out the obstructions.

I stopped eating at suspicious-looking takeout restaurants many years ago after spending 3 days in the hospital thanks to a particular ethnic restaurant
I have chalked it up to food poisoning or a 24-hour stomach bug many times and not given it another thought. But now it's happening more often, and there never seems to be a culprit such as a suspicious food or anyone sick around me. I'm just really frustrated at this point and wondering if there's something I'm missing. T

It's hard to say because your symptoms are transient and seem to pass fairly quickly. I would lean more toward virus/food poisoning, given that the symptoms seem to come on suddenly, though of course it can't be ruled out that some of these instances might have also been due to a partial obstruction. In the past, I did have an excessive liquid, bile-like output with one of my more severe obstructions with the loop ileo; though with my other obstruction requiring hospital treatment (both post-op and all with the ileostomy) I had no output whatsoever. That being said, all my of obstruction symptoms, either partial or full, were also accompanied by severe wave-like cramping. When I've had intestinal viruses, the cramping was more generalized, feeling more like very bad gas. The symptoms of a virus also come on a lot more suddenly. At least with my obstructions, the symptoms always developed gradually and worsened over a period of several hours. The nausea/vomiting didn't usually set in until a few hours after the initial symptoms appeared, whereas when I've had a virus, the cramping, nausea and diarrhea usually hit all at once like a ton of bricks.

However, since this is becoming a more common occurrence (and I would say that dealing with these symptoms several times a year would be too much for me to accept!) it might be worthwhile to talk to your GI or surgeon. It's possible you have stenosis, stricture, adhesions, scar tissue, kink or other type of narrowing, resulting in somewhat frequent but relatively short-lived partial obstructions, and you have these symptoms until the blockage clears. From your description though, the good thing is that if this is the case, it sounds like the blockages are working themselves through on their own. The bad news is that you don't want this to keep happening, and you run the risk of a more severe obstruction at some point down the road. So my advice is that it wouldn't hurt to have this looked into, and rule out a possible narrowing/adhesion. At least then you'd have a little more peace of mind.

Remember, too, that some people are just more prone to intestinal viruses/bad food reactions than others, sort of like the canary in the coal mine scenario. That is, everyone in your group might eat the same food, but you're the only one who shows symptoms. If everything else checks out, it could just be that you fall into the category of one of these people who are more sensitive to food borne illness, and you might have to adjust what/where you eat accordingly.

Best of luck!