Probably just adhesions. Pay attention to your diet and avoid gas producing foods. The stress of returning to work could also be playing games with you, so you may want to dial back your diet to what you were eating. You can expect some setbacks during these early months. Foods that seemed fine can suddenly cause problems again. Even many years post op, I still have inexplicable upsets. I guess it is just like normal people, where nothing is guaranteed to be the same all the time!

Jan

Super Digestive Enzymes, brands Solray or LifeExtensions brands, worked well for me after take down. I've purchased them at Health Food stores and from Amazon.com. They are much better than beano, as cover more foods and are cheaper. Beano does work, just not as well.

You can take up to 8 Imodium daily, if your system needs them, I'd suggest just adding one at a day slowly. Metamucil also thickens.

Certain pain medications, if in pain, also slow down our systems.

I hope you are feeling well soon.

Thank you Jan and TE Marie for your responses. So, I am wondering: If I do have adhesions - makes sense to me - do they go away on their own or is some sort of intervention needed? I am trying to alter my diet. But I wonder if digestives enzymes would help or if something more is needed. Btw, my pain is somewhat persistent but not excruciating.

Thank you.

Adhesions never "go away." But, what does happen is that your gut settles down and adapts to them. This is evident in the fact that as more time elapses since your surgery, the risk of obstruction lessens. Still, the risk is never totally gone, so you should always be mindful and chew your food well (as your mother surely taught you!).

Sometimes though, when symptoms are persistent and/or severe, surgical intervention can be necessary. Another possibility, but less likely this far out, is paralytic ileus, where your intestines just sort of quit working. So, like mentioned before, be cautious when increasing the bowel slowers. There is a cumulative over several days. If you are concerned, do not hesitate to contact your surgeon.

Especially early on, digestive enzyme supplements are helpful to some. I never used them though.

Jan

My adhesions are still here and still hurt. I was told they don't operate on adhesions as to do so would cause more adhesions, unless they are causing problems, such as obstructions. You might want to do a search on the topic as we have discussed them here before. I still am not happy at the learn to live with them answers I get. They do say them in nicer words but that's the real life translation.

All I can say is Super Digestive Enzymes helped me an others on the board and you need to give all of this time. That is one of the hardest things about recovering from these surgeries. They take a long time to recover from. They took a large approx. 5' organ out of our bodies and had to move almost everything else in our abdomens around in order to do so. They had to take care of blood supplies, nerves and everything else concerned. No wonder it takes a long time for everything to settle down back into it's original or new resting place. Then there is the scar tissue that was caused by the surgery that can form adhesions in there as well.

If you have continuing pain please discuss this with your GP doctor. I need pain medication which is prescribed by my Internist/GP. My surgeon doesn't take care of after care like this. The last time I saw him he asked me who was taking care of my pain and I told him. Maybe all you need is Tylenol, maybe more. Please do not take NSAIDs as we are not to take those, right Jan?

Prolonged use of NSAIDs can cause pouch and intestinal inflammation, so that is a no-no. However, occasional NSAID use may be more helpful than not - but you have to know your body. I actually find that when I take them, they slow my gut - unless I take them for multiple days. Then, I start to have some issues.

Steve