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Malrotation

My husband has been diagnosed with Malrotation. He has undergone a Ladd's procedure 3 wks ago to correct his duodenum , small bowel and he his apendix was also removed. He still continues to have abdominal cramping continuously , it seems to be worse than before the surgery. He does not have diarrhea, but semi solid stools 3-4 times a day. He seems to have both the incision pains as well as pains on both right and left side of his intestines.
The cramping pains are so bad he can not sleep at nights and his activity level is minimal. None of the pain killers
help!  Any thing he eats hurts. He is not even able to take in solids. Doctors are also puzzled as to why he still continues to have the pains. Will it take more time to recover? Or is there something else wrong with him. It has been almost a yr now and we were really banking on the surgery to help him..
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Avatar universal
Ladies,
I "feel your pain" as my son was diagnosed with malrotation at 14. He had the LADDS procedure with a 540 degree volvulus. However, because he was diagnosed so late in life (according to one web site, 50% of newborns are diagnosed within the 1st month of life, 95% are diagnosed within the 1st year of life) the blood supply was stinted and the surgeon (at the highly respected Cedars Sanai Hospital in LA) could only untwist the intestines without securing or "tacking" to the intestinal cavity. He acquired pancreatitus within a week of surgery. The pain continued mainly at the surgery site however, over the next 4 years the internal abdominal pain has increasingly worsened  to the point of presurgery.
We have taken him to many specialists which all point in the direction of  severe depression as the primary cause. IBS is their official diagnosis along with "he'll just have to adjust his diet and/or live with the pain."
We don't know what else to do! We are at our wits end!  
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Avatar universal
I'm sorry to hear of all your husband is enduring.  I found out the hard way with my son that it is always best to seek a second opinion.  He had his colon removed at 16 and at 22 started having stomach pains.  He was told it was adhesions and to live with the pain if he could.  He insisted something was wrong, and that they go in and look around.  He was right, and we lost him at 31.  This is not to scare you but to make you aware that if his doctors don't know what is causing his problem, they won't go looking for answers, you need to get your husband to another GI specialist. You can call your local AMA and ask for the names of the top Gastroenterolgists in your area, and go from there, or you can google "top gastroenterologists in..........(your city and state).  One of my son's doctor's was and is Chief of Staff at a very large hospital where we live, and I trusted him.  I asked a surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic why doctors don't ask for help when they don't have the answer, and his response was "because their ego's won't allow them to, and they also don't want to lose a patient to another doctor!"  It's truly appalling.  If you are able there are  hospitals where your husband can be better evaluated for his GI problems,  MD Anderson in Texas is excellent, Emory in Atlanta, and the Mayo & Cleveland Clinics.  A year is a long time for your husband to be suffering, as something is not right.  I would not waste another second on his current doctors.  Good luck to you both and I hope you get the answers you need and deserve.  Take care.
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