Need serious help

OK where to begin....Had an endoscopy on 12/24 and came home and though I was dying.  Felt like I was giving birth naturally and having a heart attack.  Was a very horrible feeling.  Well needless to say I went to the er and then was transported to clarian north.  I spent Christmas day and part of the 26th in the hospital and came home yesterday afternoon.

Today I feel like crap....there is so much air in my body that I don't feel like I can take it and that it hurts soooo bad.

Any recommendations?

How did u know about the tear?  how did this happen?  the endoscopy how did u know that u needed this? could you keep down liquid?  or soup?  I am just not sure if I should call my doctor yet.  How long does this take? do u have to stay overnight in the hosp.  when did u know something was wrong?

It was a rather quick outpaitent procedure.  I knew there was something wrong when I was having so much pain.  I could keep soup and liquid down but that was it.  Anything thicker was impossible to keep down.  I just knew because it was hard or immposible to take my vitamins too.

Keep moving.   Walking is the best way to work the air out of your body.
Best wishes.

Man it sounds like you really are having it rough. I am so sorry.  I know I was told to take beano if I got too gassy.  And when I get that feeling I try to lay on my stomach. Seems the pressure helps to move it out of me quicker.  I wonder if some flat ginger ale would help you belch and get some it out too.  I think Annette is right about to keep moving too.  That would be hard if you are feeling bad though.  I have had a cough and that has me swallowing alot of air.  The beano has helped with that to some extent.  It feels like a burp is caught in my esophagus. I don't think beano has anything in it that can upset a pouch either.

Get yourself some Gas-X, I use the store brands, you can chew them and my Dr ok'd them from day one. They sure helped me get through the first few months. Walking is also a must to help with the gas. Hope you feel better soon.

Cathy

Thanks everyone

Trying to walk and have been taking gas-x....scared to lay on my tummy cuz it hurts so bad.  Can't get rid of the other problem either and it seems very gross to me.

Michelle,

I am trying to read between the lines here. So correct me if I'm misreading something...ok?

All right.....
 
I take it that your stoma (connection between your pouch & your intestines was/is closing up and that causes a stricture (blockage) of your stoma. This closing  up is caused by scar tissue usally and can be re-opened back up to ~15-20 mm via an endocopy (the smallest mine was 1 mm). They put a tube down your throat and it has a camera & baloon on the end of it and they vibrate the stoma back open while you are in la-la land. ~20% of patients who have an RNY have to have this done (as per the stats 4 years ago). If you have 1 endo, they usually schedule 1 or 2 more as a follow up to be sure you are staying open. RARELY, you may have to have multiple endoscopoes before your stoma gets with the program and stays open. For me, it took 15 of them and finally stopped because Dr. Gupta started injecting the stoma with steroids to stop the scar tissue growth. After 2 rounds of injections, the growth stopped and I didn't nee anymore scoped because of that. The first tell-tale sign of this is not being able to keep down meals. Not flu symptoms...and you are SURE you chewed well...but food just won't stay down. It can get so bad that liquid won't stay down either and you end up dehydrated. So...if you KNOW you chewed well and yet. food won't stay down, call your surgeon's office so that an endscopy can be scheduled.

There are complications that can happen during and endoscopy just like any medical procedure. The most common complication is probably with the  balloon. Like all ballons, if it gets stuck by something sharp...like a staple in your pouch, they can and do pop. That's extra work for the specialist doing the scope but no big deal for you. This happened a few times on me. If they hadn't told me it happened, I probably would had never know other than a little bit of air in my tummy from the popped ballon. No problem. I just walked a little bit, tooted a little and belched a little more than normal  and that had gotten the air out of my system.

Another risk is a perforation. This happened twice for me. Both times, the stoma is what had torn. Think of a paperclip. If you bend it back and forth repeatedly, eventually it will start to break. For me, it happened on the 5th & 6th endoscopy. With dilating it back open and then it closing back up, the stoma got brittle and ripped. My upper left hand check hurt as did low, below my ribs. The test that St. V's did showed that it was air near my clavical of my chest and the lower pain was from liquid that had passed out of the perforation. Both pain was on my left side. Once I spent the night in St. V's on IV's and nothing by mouth for a night, the perf had healed up on it's own. I had to stick with just liquids for an additional day to take it easy on the stoma since it was newly closed up. The first time the perf happened, I didn't notice the pain until I got home. The 2nd time, it was as soon as I got out to the parking lot. I would up having to have arevision because of how brittle my intestines were at the connection. To get rid of the gas, I used gas x chewable (maximum allowed dosage!!) and walked alot. I did make sure that I SIPPED for a few days instead of 'drinking' anything. After I had my revision, I didn't perf an on those scopes (9 more afterwards due to strictures...and a few more this year to check out my intestines.

My rule of thumb was if I thre up 2 mels out of three on 2 consecutive days, I called my surgeron's nurse & I was scheculed for an endoscopy.

Sherri