I had an 8 hour surgery for sinus and nasal repair. Was ok for few days. Took Oxycodone for pain, which slowed my bowels. A few days later I was admitted to the ER for small bowel obstruction. I was in so much pain after the NG tube and going on IV's, that I realized it was likely pouchitis. Has anyone taken antibiotics before a regular surgery to head off any pouchitis complications, or started right after? I'm wondering if 8 hours under anesthesia shocked my body into pouchitis, or maybe I had a little bit of it going on before I got into surgery. Thanks.
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This doesn’t sound anything like pouchitis to me, unless you have symptoms you didn’t mention. This simply sounds like a small bowel obstruction that was tipped over the edge by the oxycodone. You probably have a slightly narrowed portion of small bowel, either intermittently as the bowel moves around, or permanently from scar tissue, and this will predispose you to obstructions (hopefully rarely).
Antibiotics probably won’t do you any harm, but they will never prevent a small bowel obstruction.
Thanks for the input. Makes me think it could have been both. 20 years in and I have no doubt now that this was pouchitis. About day 7 of Levaquin/Flagyl and I am healing just about on the same path as usual, but with a lot less energy due to not eating for close to 7 days. One side benefit of being on antibiotics is that I an enjoy sugary drinks for a few days before getting off and going back to low sugar to keep gas down.
Should I ever need surgery again that requires a long anesthesia or heavy pain pills, I will need to consider the implications more and think about getting on antibiotics right after.