Stabbing pain and bowel trouble 6 week’s post laparoscopy

[Whitt]

Hey guys, I had a laparoscopy to excise endo from behind my uterus and an adhesion to my bowel 6 week’s ago. After the initial recovery (and horrific first period!), I felt much better, but a week later I woke up in the night with a stabbing pain deep under my lower lap scar. For the last week I’ve had constant pain, along with all the old bowel symptoms - cycling between diarrhoea and constipation - and, during the constipated phases, bladder spasms and a desperate need to urinate which can last for hours. I’ve been tested for a UTI and it was all clear, but this all started a week before my next period was due (and is now overdue) and feels such a similar pain to the old adhesion - I’m worried it might be a new one from surgery. Has anyone had something similar? Might it just be a particularly fun prelude to a normal period?

Thanks all x

[Starry]

Big hugs. I relate a lot, I had bowel surgery for a nodule and adhesions that had glued my bowel to my vagina and a fun time recovering.

Its a good idea to check if your worried especially with the bowel, but I definitely had bowel issues for around a couple of months (I was addicted to lactulose for a bit) and the first three periods were hell due to inflammation, which might perhaps be irritating your bladder? But things did start to improve after then.

There's a general guide to how the body reacts to a lap in the first 3 months in this article, which helped me a lot.

centerforendo.com/is-my-end...

[Whitt in reply to Starry]

This article is great, thank you! I’m really hoping it’s all related to my next period (second one post op), but the fact the bowel is so involved and it’s so in advance of the period is what’s making me worry about another adhesion! In the nicest possible way, it’s good to hear that you had some bowel stuff for a little while afterwards though! Hopefully it’s part of the healing.. x

[Starry in reply to Whitt]

Yes my issues were all the time but then worse again at periods. I still have to use a footrest when going even now. I developed quite a severe food anxiety post op because of it all which has taken a long time to get on top of. I got viral meningitis 4 days post op and vomitedy guts up for a week and got a complete blockage. I got lots of pain and was terrified I'd rupture something but it all seemed to hold. A couple of time I queried things but pain itself seemed to be part of it. I still get bad dyspareunia which sets things off too.. If you have a protracted blockage or bleeding seemed to be the alarm bells.

Assuming your surgeon did a comprehensive job an endometriosis adhesion would be extremely unlikely as its the end stage state of mature disease, though you can risk getting standard surgical adhesions after any surgery.

Things that helped me, (but check with a clinician) were getting off opiate painkillers which bunged me up, eating lots of fresh, organic fibre rich veg and avoiding processed and stodgy food, prunes (actually taste OK surprisingly) pukka licorice tea, taking anti inflammatory foods like turmeric and ginger and a high quality probiotic to help settle my upset digestion.

It just seems to take far far longer than you ever expect. 7 months on for me now and only just starting back to work on reduced hours. Take care x

[Whitt in reply to Starry]

Oh wow. Sorry to hear about all your troubles post op! I actually seem to have had a pretty lucky ride for the first section of recovery - I'm a dancer (and yoga teacher) and was actually back on the dance floor and yoga mat (carefully!!) two weeks post op! That I think is why it's been so surprising to have it suddenly slam back into my life 6 weeks on. I got my period last night though, and, although excruciating again, it does seem to have shifted the pain away from the bowel a little. So I'm going to see how it is after the period, hoping it may die down a while again until the next one.

Thanks for the food recommendations too - I'm vegan and always cook stuff from scratch so have been on lots of veggies and (non wind-promoting) fruits. Annoyingly though, I don't seem to be able to tolerate wholegrain breads at the mo - and my partner bakes the most delicious spelt sourdough every other day, which is torturous!! I've also been avoiding taking codeine because of the block-up probs...and have found turmeric tablets and Optibac probiotics (along with charcoal tablets) to be pretty useful. Great idea on the liquorice tea - i hadn't thought of that!

Also really great to know about prolonged blockage/bleeding, so far my blockages only last a day or so (and then are followed by the diarrhoea phase...), but haven't been longer than that, and no unusual bleeding. I think it's just finding patience with my body healing time...! x

[Starry in reply to Whitt]

I'm ovo vegan. Sounds like your fitness and healthy lifestyle has set you up well for recovery. Perhaps you're just pushing it a bit too hard after such major surgery.

I ended up going gluten free but that was due to esophagitis as well as the Endo research on it. The sound of home made spelt sourdough sounds lovely. Sigh.

[Chezzerl in reply to Starry]

Great article thank you x I have saved it as waiting for my excision op x