Bowel issues following right heart cath

[whattagirl]

My husband had a right heart cath to diagnose mild pulmonary hypertension in Nov. 2007.  Within 2 weeks, his bowels suddenly stopped working on their own.  He has had a colonoscopy and endoscopy which were normal.  He had a CT scan which showed his entire intestinal tract was filled, with 1/2 gallon of fecal contents in his stomach in February 2008.  In order to 'go' he has to take stool softeners, high fiber, lots of water, and about once a month the bowel cleansing regime for relief, with phospho soda. Enemas have slightly worked, but no longer work.  He will go days and only be able to go a 'white foam.'  He gets very severe cramping, very low near where they put the cath into his groin.  When he hasn't been able to go and is backed up, his testicle near where they inserted the cath turns black and gives him a lot of pain.  We can't figure out what is going on.  The stool softeners are not working like they did.  The doctors have not been able to figure out what is going on and we are desperate to find something.  

[Dr J Singh]

Hi,

I don’t think there’s any relation between constipation and catheterization. One important diagnostic test which I suggest is thyroid function test as hypothyroidisim is one of the important causes of constipation and it’s usually overlooked. Meanwhile, lactulose/milk of magnesia/increased fibre diet can be continued to improve the symptoms.

I hope that helps. Please do keep me posted. Kind regards.

[angelsnks3]

Although it has been almost a year since your post about your husbands' heart cath complications, I have been searching web to find anyone who had similar problems following heart cath. I had one two weeks ago for a cardiac clearance to have spine/neck surgery. The problem is, now have severe pain in right belly, NOT groin area where the insertion was, and cannot even turn to my right side without severe pain. It feels like something is pulling in the right groin area and am having severe constipation. LIke your husband, I have had to take stool softners, laxatives,,,etc just to get bowels to move. I am also running low grade temp at night. All this is besides the spine pain is about to wear me down. A call to the cardiologist office who did the heart cath, only reulted in nurse saying you need to call your primary dr. not the cardiologist., What happened in your case? Did your husband finally get relief? and how?... I might add, I am female. If you get this I will try to get back to this forum. Found it while browsing the web. Thanks........angelsnks