[psmom]

Hi everyone. This is my first post. On Aug. 6, I had pelvic reconstructive surgery (bladder suspension, bowel suspension, etc.). The surgeon told me to take senna to counteract the anesthesia and pain meds. I'm not sure if that's what started it or not, but I ended up back in the hospital on Friday, the 13th completely dehydrated as even ginger ale went right through me (Immodium didn't help). Because I had recently had surgery, the ER docs were worried that it might be an infection, so along with IV fluids, they bombarded me with 2 different antibiotics and did a CT scan which of course involved the barium drink. I was admitted and was classified as NPO (nothing by mouth) as I was still going thanks to the barium drink, until Sunday afternoon when I was upgraded to 'full liquids.' I tolerated liquids well and was given solids on Monday morning. I seemed to be fine -- no pain or diarrhea. I then had lunch (1/2 a sandwich) and was released Monday afternoon, feeling better. The doctor told me it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay on liquids for another couple of days, but I decided to try to eat. By the way, I have not had any appetite, so when I did eat, it was very little. The first time, I was fine until the next morning when cramps woke me up. Now I'm back to pain and diarrhea after anything I put in my mouth. During the course of this whole episode, I have been given completely different advice from many RN's and docs. I also battle with depression and have been extremely weepy (just thinking about it can make me cry). My recovery from the surgery has been slowed by all of this too as I am still having pain from that. My stomach is very tender and sore; I'm weak and run down and I am sooooooo sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have lost quite a bit of weight, which I had been trying to do before all of this, so I'm not bothered by that, just the way it's happening.Any suggestions????

 

[BQ]

My suggestion is to demand that someone do stool cultures on you to rule out a C-Diff infection. Are you still on the antibiotics? And if so how long have you (or were you) on them?

 

[psmom]

Hi everyone. This is my first post. On Aug. 6, I had pelvic reconstructive surgery (bladder suspension, bowel suspension, etc.). The surgeon told me to take senna to counteract the anesthesia and pain meds. I'm not sure if that's what started it or not, but I ended up back in the hospital on Friday, the 13th completely dehydrated as even ginger ale went right through me (Immodium didn't help). Because I had recently had surgery, the ER docs were worried that it might be an infection, so along with IV fluids, they bombarded me with 2 different antibiotics and did a CT scan which of course involved the barium drink. I was admitted and was classified as NPO (nothing by mouth) as I was still going thanks to the barium drink, until Sunday afternoon when I was upgraded to 'full liquids.' I tolerated liquids well and was given solids on Monday morning. I seemed to be fine -- no pain or diarrhea. I then had lunch (1/2 a sandwich) and was released Monday afternoon, feeling better. The doctor told me it wouldn't be a bad idea to stay on liquids for another couple of days, but I decided to try to eat. By the way, I have not had any appetite, so when I did eat, it was very little. The first time, I was fine until the next morning when cramps woke me up. Now I'm back to pain and diarrhea after anything I put in my mouth. During the course of this whole episode, I have been given completely different advice from many RN's and docs. I also battle with depression and have been extremely weepy (just thinking about it can make me cry). My recovery from the surgery has been slowed by all of this too as I am still having pain from that. My stomach is very tender and sore; I'm weak and run down and I am sooooooo sick and tired of being sick and tired. I have lost quite a bit of weight, which I had been trying to do before all of this, so I'm not bothered by that, just the way it's happening.Any suggestions????

They did test for C-diff and a stool culture -- all negative. The only thing that was positive was the urine culture (UTI). They gave me Flagyl and Levaquin while I was there, but didn't think I needed any more. I actually got in to see my gastro doc late this pm. He thinks its some kind of virus, not IBS. He said if it was IBS, I wouldn't look as badly/sickly as I do. So he told me to stay on liquids for a few more days, gave me a script for Lomotil and told me to call him tomorrow to let him know how I am. Apparently Lomotil 'dries' you up too, so I'll have to drink more to stay hydrated, which is tough because my reflux (which is usually well controlled by Prevacid) is worse.

 

[Trudyg]

First, back off of any foods that are normally not tolerated well by ibs'ers. Eat only 'white' foods--rice, baked or roasted chicken (I crockpot mine), baked potato, applesauce, that sort of thing. Small amounts every so often, not large amounts. Water or weak peppermint tea is fine for drink, or anything with real ginger. Viral, ibs, whatever, these apply equally. You must get back your strength. Be careful of the Prevacid--I call it my dementia drug. If you start going stupid, you may want to get off of it. Long term after effects of anesthetics can really bother some folks--they say it'll slow your bowels, not me! They give a laxative as a matter of routine after surgery, but that kick started me--maybe that's what happened to you and now you need to get back to your normal. That always takes me about a month.

 

[BQ]

Or clear liquids to other liquids to the BRAT diet (Bananas,Rice, Applesauce & Toast) to well tolerated.. light easy to digest foods... slowly back to a normal diet.Also look into taking a good probiotic like Align as the antibiotics as well as any viral bugs can wreck havoc with the fine intestinal bacterial balance. A probiotic can restore the correct balance.Hope you feel better real soon!