Any ideas for post-SMA surgery???

[elly1986]

I am a 39-year old female, have hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's, removal of thyroid, hysterectomy after cysts and endometriosis X 2, gallbladder removed, then was diagnosed with SMA Syndrome, had a gastric bypass for that, and now am having problems with bloating and supposedly constipation, (although I'm going every day.)  I've had myofascial release therapy, as the doc thought it was a muscular problem, and am on 900 mg. Neurontin daily.  Scar pain is better, but bloating and "constipation" aren't.  I've had 2 x-rays in the last month-and-a-half that say I'm completely packed with stool.   The docs had me do the "colon cleanse" and the "enema" treatment.  That didn't work.  Then I was prescribed Amitiza, which only gave me severe diarrhea.  Now I'm on Constulose, which doesn't seem to be working either.

I've had MULTIPLE endoscopes done, as my tests show I have a "narrowing" at the place I had the bypass, but my Mayo doctor says when he scoped me, there's no narrowing there.  So...........................my GP and Mayo doctor are giving me a couple of weeks to try this Constulose.  

Any ideas or suggestions?  I'm on Neurontin, Premarin, Synthroid, and now recently Cymbalta.  I would appreciate some feedback, as I feel I've tried just about everything, from therapy to home treatments.

Thank you.

[elly1986]

I forgot to mention other things:

Cluster headaches (which I was referred to the University of Minnesota neurologist).  I get onset of weird headaches with no apparent reason.  Left eye waters, left ear runs, and the left side of my face swells up.  I get Morphine shots for it and it immediately goes away.  

Also fibromyalgia.  I try to stretch daily and that seems to help.  

I maintain a good attitude, keep my weight at 130, and keep moving every day.  I think there's a correlation with thyroid for all of this.

thanks again.

[elly1986]

Thank you so much for responding.  I have been tested for gluten and it came up negative.  Had stool samples taken and they just come up "fatty".  I have not heard of probiotics before and will research that.  I can tell you that I've been on NUMEROUS stints with Predinisone.  It clears up everything but the bloating and constipation.  Yes, I do have redness and rashes at times.  Was just in to the doctor again for that.  They don't understand it.  I believe that's why they give me the 7-day Prednisone routine.  As far as the fatigue thing, I was thinking that was due to the Neurontin and the Cymbalta.  

I have taken different "supplements" and have found that Coconut oil (pill form GNC) helps.  I was also told to take vitamins, but believe it or not, I get extremely nauseated when I take them so have discontinued.  

I'm going to investigate the "casein" idea and the gluten idea.  I have noticed that I get EXTREMELY bloated after eating dairy products.  I also notice that I don't do well after eating salads, broccoli, etc and stay away from that sort of stuff.  (But that's old news since all of these problems.)

I really think that a lot of my "problems" are because of my thyroid issues.  The docs have never been able to regulate my thyroid since it was taken out in 1994.  I go in every month for blood test.  One thing I can say about that is I cannot take generic stuff.  It has to be Synthroid.  (Was referred to the University of Minnesota endocrinologist specialist to find that out.)

Anyway...................................thanks so much for the help.  I've got another week of being on these 2 constipation meds.  If they don't work, my Mayo guy wants me back for another colonoscopy.  (I am confident with them down there.  I am also on their "educational studying", so I know they'll eventually figure it out.)  I've only been treating with them since September.  

I hope your husband feels better.  Does he have thyroid issues too?  Hashimoto's???????  

[CalGal]

I've got a couple of off-the-wall suggestions. I assume you've been on a couple of rounds of antibiotics for the surgery and 'whatever' so have you ever considered giving probiotics a try? Antibiotics can really 'skew' the decent bacteria and that has been know to cause a variety of GI symptoms in a lot of people. You might want to give the stuff a try it just might help. A decent brand to try is Culturelle, and I suggest that because of the surgery you've had. A slighly cheaper version is Digestive Advantage-IBS which is also good. But keep in mind that not every brand works for everyone, so you might have to experiment a bit. The only reason not to take probiotics is if you're severely immunodepressed, and it doesn't seem like you are, so I thought I'd mention it.

I'm als wondering if you've noticed any correlation between foods and how much fecal material you retain? Some people seem to have problems with foods as they get older, and the one I noticed a lot of people have trouble with is dairy. For some, it will give them diarrhea. But for others, the result is something akin to constipation. So I'm wondering about your system???????? And if it is correlated in your case, it could be due to the casein in the milk, not the lactose which to me means you should also check to see if you're intolerant to gluten (wheat, rye, barley and oats).

I'm bringing that up because I'm seeing an autoimmune component in your post and because of some of your symptoms. My husband found out he was gluten-intolerant 2 years ago after years of vague symptoms, nothing like what should be seen with gluten problems. We only found out when we put 2 and 2 together and had a fecal antibody test run on him and it showed up positive. I've since learned that the blood tests for anti-gliadin aren't that great and if we had run him through the 'regular' blood tests we'd still be strugging with problems because he would have turned up negative.

One of his 'symptoms' besides bloating, was constipation, but he never considered it constipation because the 'state' was 'normal' for him. I can't believe the change in him since he's been off of gluten and casein (he cross-reacts to both). And boy have his bowel habits changed.

So I'm wondering if you've got any signs of any redness, or rashes at times? And fatigue that hits like a ton of bricks? Anything else that seems out of the ordinary?