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Things To Know About Bowel Obstruction

An obstruction can occur in the large or small bowel, and it can be a pretty serious condition. A blockage or twisting of the loops of the bowel can result in an obstruction. This problem can be partial or total and mechanical or non-mechanical. Whenever it occurs, it tends to block the pathway of food, liquid, and gas.

Bowel obstruction

There can be many reasons for the small bowel obstruction to happen. Those conditions include the following.

  • Mechanical obstruction

  • Development of fibrous tissues after pelvic or abdominal surgery

  • Twisted bowel

  • A segment of the bowel pushing into another bowel segment, also known as intussusception

  • Growth of tumors in the large or small bowel

  • Swallowed objects getting stuck in the bowel

  • Inflammatory bowel disease

  • Impacted stool

  • Diverticulitis

  • Infections

Non-mechanical obstruction

A non-mechanical bowel is also known as ileus or paralytic ileus. This condition refers to the failure of peristalsis, which is a natural movement of the bowel. This condition can have a long-term impact. The reasons for it include the following.

  • Pelvic or abdominal surgery

  • Gastroenteritis, appendicitis, or other infections

  • Medicines to manage opioid pain, such as morphine or codeine

  • Parkinson’s disease

  • Hirschsprung’s Disease

  • Diabetes Mellitus

  • Hypothyroidism

Symptoms of bowel obstruction

Bowel obstruction symptoms can be quite painful. Some of those symptoms are the following.

  • Severe pain in the abdomen

  • Inability to eat or decreased appetite

  • Inability to pass stool or gas

  • Diarrhea or constipation

  • Swelling in the abdomen

A bowel obstruction becomes an emergency when you have a fever with increased abdominal pain. These symptoms are the signs of intestinal rapture, which can be fatal in some cases.

Diagnosing bowel obstruction

Your doctor will feel around your stomach to check for any lump or swelling. If there are signs of an obstruction, the doctor will send you for an x-rays test or CT scan. A colonoscopy may also be an option to check if there is an obstruction. During this test, the surgeon inserts a tube with a camera on its one end into the rectum to check if there are any abnormalities.

Treatment of bowel obstruction

First and foremost, your doctor will want to hospitalize you to stabilize your condition. The immediate procedure to help you get rid of pains include insertion of an intravenous (IV) line into a vein to administer medications, passing a nasogastric tube into the stomach through your nose to suck out any fluids or air to reduce abdominal swelling, and placing a catheter into the bladder to drain urine.

In case you have a partial obstruction that allows the passage of foods and fluids to some extent, you may not need any treatment other than initial stabilization. A complete obstruction will, however, require more dedicated treatment. This treatment could be surgical or non-surgical.

In some cases, the surgeon will want to remove the obstructed part of the bowel if other options do not work. He will reconnect the bowel after the removal of its obstructed part. In some cases, the surgeon may choose to give you an ostomy, which refers to the bowel diversion in which an end of the bowel is pulled out through the abdominal wall. The edges of this end are stitched to the abdominal skin to create a stoma.

You may want to discuss treatment options with your doctor if you have a bowel obstruction.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease Treatment

While inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic condition, there is currently no cure available for it. You can, however, work with your doctor to control its symptoms and live like you don’t have this condition. Options that you can consider for managing its symptoms include medications, therapies, and lifestyle changes. Surgery may be required if symptoms are more painful or uncontrollable.

Treatment options for IBD will depend on the type of condition. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis are the conditions that fall into the category of IBD. Depending on your condition, your doctor will recommend prescription medicines to alleviate symptoms. You may also discuss over-the-counter therapies with your healthcare providers in this regard.

Over-the-counter therapies

Following are the OTC treatments that you can get to alleviate IBD symptoms. You can discuss these options with your doctor.

  • If you experience mild-to-moderate diarrhea, you may get treatment through a fiber supplement. These supplements add bulk to your stools.

  • In case you have severe diarrhea, your doctor may suggest an anti-diarrheal medication, such as Imodium A-D.

  • If you are suffering from pain in your abdomen, you may consider getting OTC pain relievers. One such medication is Tylenol, which is ideal for alleviating mild pain.

  • Iron deficient anemia is common in people suffering from chronic intestinal bleeding. The best way to treat this problem is iron supplementation. It, however, can result in constipation as a side effect. You will need to speak to your doctor to get a recommendation about the best supplements that you have to treat this problem without suffering from any side effects.

  • If the treatment of your IBD involves steroids, you may need to have calcium and vitamin D supplements. Both steroid-based treatment and Crohn’s disease can increase the risk of osteoporosis. Calcium and vitamin D supplementation can help maintain healthy levels of bone density.

Lifestyle

If you have IBD, you may find it very challenging to get appropriate nutrition, because many foods can cause flare-ups in symptoms. So, there is no standard list of what foods you should take to avoid any flare-ups. You can discuss with your doctor regarding foods that you can take.

In most cases, doctors recommend a low-residue diet. It will reduce the likelihood of undigested foods getting stuck in the narrowed areas of your bowel.

In severe cases, the doctor may choose to supply nutrients through feeding tubes. They will place these tubes into your stomach through your nose or a cut in the belly. They may give you a sterile liquid chemical formula through an intravenous catheter (IV). It will bypass your GI tract entirely.

Surgeries

Depending on the type and severity of your condition, your doctor may recommend surgery. Both ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease require different surgical treatments. Your doctor will ask you to consider this intense option if your body fails to respond to conservative treatment methods. While a traditional surgical procedure to treat IBD involves the removal of the affected part of the bowel and connecting two healthy ends, your doctor may find it necessary to bypass the lower part of the GI tract, including your rectum and the anus. In such cases, the healthy end of the bowel is brought out through the abdominal wall and formed a stoma, which passes out stools.

You can discuss these treatment options with your doctor in detail.