Post surgery 4 years severe abdominal pain - HELP

Hi all. I am just about 4 years post op and I have been having severe lower and upper abdominal pain for months now. The pain would last anywhere from an hour up to five or six hours and then slowly go away and then I would have a slight stomach ache for days. I went back to my original surgeon and he ordered a CT Scan with contract. From those results, he decided it was an internal hernia or "Petermans Space". Had surgery to fix. Recovered and was good for a few months and now severe pain is back. It will come and go and now coming on more frequently and much more painful, where I have to walk with a hunched over back. It will happen with anything I eat, so I can't rule out dairy, chicken, beef; even hurts with water.

I went back and read my CT results and it said: distension of the small bowel loop proximal to the distal anastomosis. stenosis or functional dilation. distal passage of contrast. Any idea what this means?

I am scheduled to go back in for surgery this coming Thursday to explore, maybe some adhesions and fix a hernia that has developed from the last surgery from a surgical port.

Galbladder is not an issue. Had an upper GI scan and all seems well.

I went to another doc and he suggested I have an endoscopy (which I haven't had yet), but he stated that the care I have been getting all this time is all on point.

I'm at a loss.

Anyone else had this happen to them?? Thoughts? Suggestions?

Thanks in advance!!!

I should also say that I have had no issues with foaming, throwing up, dry heaves, normal BM ( well as normal as they can be).

I would not rule out gallbladder if you still have it. I had mine out years ago, but my scan came back fine at first and my pain continued. I went back to the doctor and asked them to take another look at the scan and oops there was a stone. Had it out and have been fine since. Your pain, if it's more after you eat, it sounds like gallbladder. Could also be adhesions, or scar tissue forming, both can be very painful. I would ask them to take a second look at the results for gallbladder issue.

I'm sorry you have to endure additional surgery to explore what might be wrong. I have had four abdominal surgeries, nothing to do with my RNY, but I am an expert of sorts on adhesions and scar tissue. There are times I would stop dead in my tracks the pain was so bad, and like you walked hunched over. There is nothing that can be done for them, you just have to suffer if out until they stop. And they will, they will just go away as abruptly as they arrived. Hopefully you don't have anything too serious, but it needs to be checked out because a twisted colon or blockage is very serious.

Best of luck, keep us posted on what they find.

Thanks! Yes, very painful and they do go away as quickly as they come on, so that's why I won't go to the ER since it will go away!

Good Job staying proactive with body maintenance. My weak attempt at being proactive had me accepting the PCP's explanation lower left abdominal pain was adhesions; bowel obstruction surgery proved it was an internal hernia instead. Your CT result word "distention" sounds like you have swelling/irritation. From years of listening to support group members speak, the most contorted faces I see made are when someone describes what it is like having an ulcer. One member commented, "even drinking water hurt." My top thoughts causing your pain are: ulcer, your hernia, kinked bowel. Good Luck finding out Thursday; let us know.

Hi! This is what I'm afraid of. I think I am going to push out Thursday's surgery and have the scope and go from there. Thanks!

I think the other doctor's recommendation to get an endoscopy is a good one. Does he think you should get it before exploratory surgery? Could give your surgeon some valuable data. Good luck!

Hi! I am going to have the scope before any more surgeries. I want to see what the results are before any more surgeries. If there is swelling and lack of a clear passage, I only want to go back in for one more (hopefully) surgery!!

I am sorry to hear you are dealing with that.

From my personal experience- you can be constipated even if you have daily good BM

I was. I had few surgeries to deal with hernia and other things... They fixed some of the pain I was dealing with gut not all of it.

I deal with ibs-C and SIBO. My bowels don't move very fast - I am dealing with motility issues. Unless I get proactive- my food moves very slowly in my intestines. That can create a back-log.

The slow movement of food that through my intestines can create ideal conditions for bacterial overgrowth. Bacteria will work on the "leftovers" causing gas, that is just stuck inside me - because of the back up- causing bloating and pain.

To control the pain - I need to make sure I have a complete BM. I need to limit food that can cause gas- like some veggies and fruits. Limit fiber. Yes - limit fiber. Fiber feeds bacteria- that would cause more gas and more pain and slowing the food movement through my gut.

Read on SIBO and IBS-c.

Good luck.

Thanks for the info, I will have to read up on it!