And will it reach the small intestine? If yes how will it be guided in? Won't it straighten out the intestine as it's just a tube? The one I had was very firm but it was stuck into my stoma so it didn't have to go very far but if it has to go through the mouth I have questions how it will actually resolve a blockage.
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Andrina it’s a flexible tube just like what they scope you with, it doesn’t straighten. It goes in through your nostril down your throat, in my case forcefully. As far down as needed. It resolves the blockage totally. It’s hooked up to a huge vacuum cleaner and they suck it out. When I had my ileus there was damn near 2 gallons or more of green bile in the receptacle into which it’s sucked. You have no idea how much gastric juices your body produces until you are hooked up to one of those suckers for 24 hours. It will blow your mind away, how much gets produced, backed up and sucked out. We produce more gastric juices than cows do milk. It will blow you away. And all that stuff can’t go down if blocked, so it’s gonna come up whether it’s vomited up or sucked up, and you don’t want the former. I was actually vomiting when I had the NG tube put down, and it’s not what you want after surgery. The bile backup causes the worst nausea ever!
An NG tube goes down to the stomach. It doesn’t usually resolve the blockage, but it relieves the painful back-pressure into the stomach. This can also make things much safer, particularly if the blockage isn’t too far downstream.
I didn't know it vacuumed. That's interesting! I'm not asking because I need one but because I'm curious.
It’s generally connected to a low pressure pump.
The machine mine was connected to made a noise that sounded like a vacuum cleaner (not as loud) and there was some suction mechanism that caused the liquid to be sucked up through the tube and into a large bowl (like a big fishbowl) and you could observe the fluid so removed. The principle of physics is probably not much different than siphoning gasoline from a car- probably not much pressure is needed, once you get a backflow going. I have seen people siphon gasoline from a car with their mouths and spit out the gasoline. I know that’s gross, but it’s the same principle of physics going on with an NG Tube and it shows not much suction is needed.
Obviously nobody is going to siphon bile out of your gut by mouth, so mechanical pressure is needed to start the siphon.
Just one addendum to what I posted above for purposes of clarity of this thread. An NG tube will completely resolve a blockage caused by an ileus, because you stay hooked up to the NG tube until your bowel motility returns and feces is excreted into bag/through anus as applicable. They will not remove the NG tube until the ileus resolves. It will not necessarily resolve other blockages as Scott indicated, but will relieve “back up” which is causing intense nausea and/or vomiting by removing gastric fluids as they accumulate. And they accumulate fast.
Thank you so much for explaining. Yes I've seen my dad do the gasoline thing I thought it was weird and gross but it worked haha
Just finished a pleasant five day stay at NY Presbyterian with a combination stricture / small bowel obstruction.
Admitted Sunday after J-pouch decided to cease operations for 36 hours. Bilious vomiting Sunday night with an NG tube placed post haste to alleviate the constant gastric back pressure as described above. Successful procedure on Wednesday to dilate the stricture and use a balloon to clear the 'kink' causing the SBO.
While placing the NG, and I could well be wrong, but recall the 3rd year telling the 1st year that '55 cm" of tubing needed to be entered (I thought I saw them use a sharpie to mark the tube but, again, I wasn't in such a great place to notice things). Around 21", this seems to be about right though I defer to others on their experiences / areas of knowledge.
Placement is one of the more uncomfortable experiences for me. Always triggers more vomiting, an on-going gag reflex and continual irritation at the back of the throat. With all the fantastic scientific / medical achievements, can't someone pls come up with a low-pain, low-impact method to relieve gastric juices?! You would think...
Clear fluids on Wednesday with soft solids on Thursday both tolerated well. Home on Friday and my sheets never felt so good.
All I can add is that certain surgeons place the equivalent of an NG tube directly through a hole in the upper abdomen during surgery (for post-op comfort for the patient)...I had mine when they created my k pouch and it was not removed until I was discharged 31 days later.
That was the only surgeon that I have ever had who did it that way (although I have heard that Dr R at Palms who does the BCIR does that too)...But that is during pouch creation surgery.
For the ileus or blockage it is 'up the nose' they go...and turn the Hoover on high speed...feels and sounds like there is a mighty compressor going off in your head.
I had it for 7 days post-op for a pouch revision. I cursed the surgeon for the whole time...but I did not get an ileus!
Sharon
