Intestinal Spasms! Help pls

Hi Beautiful People! 

My name is Jackie! It has been a little over a year since I had gastric bypass surgery. I couldn’t be more happy/excited about my new life! I went from a size 18 at 220 pounds to a size 2 at 134 pounds! Over the past month I have however been experiencing horrific abdominal pain. I just had an endoscopy last week and my doctor believes I am suffering from intestinal spasms. I can't even explain the intensity of the pain...its right in the center of my stomach above my belly button. The waves of pain are paralyzing and have really affected my life. I've had to leave work various times,  so that I could go home and lay down. I was jus prescribed a type of muscle relaxer that works on calming the intestines. I have yet to try it, but am praying it works. In the mean time i've been prescribed vikes. I just hate having to lean on narcotics.

Has anyone else suffered from this in the past or experienced similar issues? Would love to know how you are copying. This has been a rough experience! Any advice you could provide would be GREATLY appreciated.

Love,
Jackie

If I were you, I would take magnesium malate in the mornings.
Take care
Straw Walker

I've had these phantom spasms since 2003. The only pattern I can see is that narcotics taken on an empty stomach are a guarantee. I prefer Vicodin if I must, but it's not help for the spasms, and can cause them. I take it with PB if there is a pain I must treat. They don't touch the squeezing sensation.

levsin does help some, taken during a spasm, I take 2 under the tongue, swallow 2. I can't breathe during spasms, so i have to act fast.

Dialy, I take magnesium citrate, which works better for leg/foot cramps, but B5 (pantothenic acid) is especially helpful with smooth gut spasms. I've given up trying to find a cause. Been scoped,, both ends. It has nothing to do with food or liquid.

But when I broke my arm, they hit 1 hr after taking any narcotics on empty. Stopped doing that, but unless it was FAT, like PB, I got them anyway. I couldn't even grab myself to rock and moan.

How long do they last? If I get them immediately, when I find myself just "rubbing my tummy" and slap the levsin on board, they last about 4 minutes. If I am asleep or "pretend" that it's not going to be one of those, it takes more like 10 minutes. That's a long time without a decent breath.

I get terrible abdominal spasms as part of my IBS - irritable bowel syndrome.  My doctor gives me Hyoscamine .375 - or levsinex - it is a stomach muscle relaxer.  It works really well. Sometimes when I am really bad I will take 2 at a time.

I had this before my reversal and still have it ( a little over a month since reversal) and was rx'd and still take Bentyl (dyclomine) for it. It does help a little bit but, not much. I think between it and a hot bath or heating pad on my belly works the best. I hope that you find some relief soon!

I've been having severe cramping as well.  Mine started just below my sternum, but now it expanded a little and is central from there to about my waist.  In the 1-10 pain scale, it has gotten as high as a 9.  One day about a week ago I dealt with it for about 6.5 hours.  Today it has been an issue for 2-3 hours (Will take some Vicodin shortly so I will hopefully be able to sleep.)  Had a CT scan 2-3 months ago to see if there was a twist in my intestines.  Everything looked good.  I had an upper endoscopy almost 2 months ago.  Everything looked good.  Talked to my surgeon last week...next option to have a surgery where they go in & look at everything....all the way through the entire surgery process, or something like that. He said he'd check to see if there is scar tissue, etc.  I will set an appt to meet with him & get the scoop.

I was prescribed lidocaine that they have me mix with Maalox to help with the pain, and that seems to work pretty well, but I would certainly like to have it fixed instead.

I'm in the same boat & would surely appreciate any suggestions as well.  (Surgery was 7/22/09.)

I don't know that I can help you, but at least you know that you're not alone.  I wish you well!
Ann

I am almost 8 years post op and have suffered from abdominal spasms ever since my original surgery.  My GI also prescribed Levsin, which I called my miracle drug.  It worked about 90% of the time and within 5 minutes.  If it didn't, the only thing I could do was to go to the ER and be sedated, which got old real fast!  I got tired of being told that it was in my head or to learn to live with the pain.  I got into a pain management program and lived on narcotics for the last 5 years.  I started out on Vicodin and ended up going all the way to Fentnyl (sp?) patches. 

In January I had a test called an enteroclysis.  It is a fluoroscopic x-ray of the small intestine.  Radiocontrast is infused through a tube inserted through the nose to the duodenum, and images are taken in real time as the contrast moves through.  The test showed that I had what they called as blind loop syndrome or stagnant loop syndrome.  It is when the intestine is obstructed, slowing or stopping the progress of digested food, so bacteria grows to the point that there are problems in nutrient absorption.  For me I had a loop of bowel that would just become paralyzed for no reason and was always dialated.  I was told the spasms were a result of the bowel being paralyzed and then trying to work again and squeeze the food through.  I had many catscans and x-rays and no one ever caught it.  If I had a test during an episode they just told me I had a small partial bowel obstruction and after several trips to the ER they would say that was just normal for me.  I prayed for someone to listen to me and do something.  This test was the answer to my prayers.

I was finally referred to a surgeon that specialized in blind loop.  He tried antibiotics and they didn't work.  So in August I had surgery to remove the bad section of the bowel.   He ended up removing a foot of bowel and redoing the Y portion of my roux-en-y.  I am happy to say I have made a full recovery.  I have not had any spasms or daily pain since surgery.  I know it is only two months post-op, but I am optimistic that they are gone for good.  I have even been able to go off my daily pain meds!

My suggestion is to listen to your body and be your own advocate!  I trusted the doctors and thought it was something I was just going to have to live with.  I lost five years because I didn't push the issue.  I'm not saying this is what everyone has, but it is worth asking your doctor for an enteroclysis or discussing it with him or her.  No one deserves to live in chronic pain!  I hope this helps.

Stephanie E

I just happened across your post today 10-24-10.  I know that it has been several months since your original post.  I just wanted to say that I hope you are feeling better.  If you pain is anything like what I was experiencing (sounds JUST like what I experience) you should ask your surgeon about the possibility of adhesions.  The adhesions that my body has formed binds my intestines together and prevent them from floating freely the way they were designed to float within a normal abdominal cavity.  The adhesions stick the intestines together and when food passes through and the intestines attempt to float the way they should, being stuck to each other causes a pull and tug and give a sensation of rolling and stretching feeling followed by pain so intense that it has caused me to double over in pain, it has caused me to pull over on the highway to try and walk it off, it has caused me to weep silently at work, it has caused me to second guess myself because every test came back negative.    My pain comes on suddenly, without warning, and can last a few minutes to several episodes over the course of several days.  While I have been given many medications to help with the pain, nothing stops it completely -- for good!  Just when I think wow!  I haven't felt that pain in a while, I blink and there it is again!