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nerve block after having a knee replacement

my grandma had a knee replacement 1 month again and had a nerve block. she is now having trouble going to the bathroom (having a bowel movement) my question is can nerve blocks cause constipation after surgery
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Avatar universal
Get the probiotics going, increase water, gradually increase fiber, and some regular exercise even if it's stretching, do those things until she talks to the doc again, perhaps.  Also, the "BabyLax" stuff will work when nothing else does, mainly because it goes right to the source of any blockage that is ready to come out but won't.  If you do nothing else, get probiotics going.
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She's tried enemas, laxative, prune juice, and some kind of drink. But still not going right. Its been over a month that she had surgery. And went fine before surgery. So that's what made me think it was the nerve block. But of course can't find anything about it online.
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Avatar universal
I do not think it is the nerve block, rather could be the surgery's use of anesthesia and antibiotics has constipated her, kind of wrecks the normal intestinal balance.  Best thing to do after antibiotics is to get some "probiotics" in her, you can buy them at the health food store in pill form, there are several kinds, I think "Pearls" is one.  Also, at the grocery store, they are in Acidophilus milk and Activia yogurt and some other yogurts, too.  She should consume them for two weeks.  Also, more water and gradually increasing fiber at the same time, this will help her bowels move easier, which fiber foods include oat cereal, whole wheat bread, big colorful salads, fruit as a snack.  She should shoot for at least six glasses of water a day, keeping a cup in the bathroom and drinking it every time she's in there will make it easy to keep up.  Any physical movement she can engage in without pain will also help the digestive muscles move more easily.

Right now, if she's got waste that's right there and ready to come out, but it's stuck and stuck good, while enemas help, she could get some "BabyLax" or "PediaLax," which is a small box of tubes of ointment, she can squirt two in her rear and the waste will come out in minutes, it's a big surge of muscle contraction and the ointment together that make this work as an emergency type thing.  There just isn't anything worse than really needing to go and getting all cramped up, and then nothing comes out, but that mild ointment and laxative combo does the trick.  Now, if she needs to go back and get another nerve block, and her digestion is still goofed up, she must tell the doctor what's happening, becuz while I say I don't think it's the nerve block, I suppose there is a chance some nerve could have been affected that did this, but I don't know where she got her shot and I don't know nerve anatomy very well, so the doc would be the one to ask.
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