Turds, Crap, Excrement, Poo... Whatever you call it, its a Sh!tty Subject

Like it or not, sh!t happens.  For bariatric patients, sometimes it happens less often than for most people. Seriously, as a bariatric patient, in my own experience, I am much less "regular" than I was before surgery.  I first thought it was simply because of the reduced intake of an RNY patient, but as it turns out, I had an impaction/large bowel obstruction.  I think what caused it was I was eating a lot of cheese because it's high protein and I had switched to a multivitamin with iron, even though my iron levels were within normal limits. I hadn't gone for almost 2 weeks and I passed a couple of squeaks of air but that was it.  It was to the point that I couldn't eat or drink hardly at all other than a few sips of water throughout the day because my system was full from one end to the other.  I was miserable.  I was trying to work and it was to the point that I couldn't sit upright because it felt like I was sitting on a ball bat - not that I know what that feels like.

I called my Bariatric surgeon and because I did pass a couple of squeaks of air, he was confident that my large bowel wasn't totally obstructed since air was able to get through.  He told me what to try first to get it resolved; he told me to add fiber to my diet, stool softeners, laxatives, and to try Miralax (which I think was named that because its a Miracle-Laxative), but still -- nothing.  I called him again and told him there was no progress and he told me my last two options were laculose and an enema.  I opted for the laculose (gladly).  He called in the prescription and I went to another pharmacy (one that they didn't know me) and got a 6-pack of enemas. I figured it'd be a long night.  
 





I took one teaspoon of laculose (which it called for 15 ml (1 tablespoon) but all I could get down at that time was 1 tsp.  I'm not sure why, but thick syrupy consistency liquids make me go into spasms.  Another bariatric patient that has become a good friend of mine has the same problem, or she did right after surgery; not sure if its still an issue with her or not, but it certainly is for me. 


It took several hours, but it finally passed.  I have been impacted 2-3 more times since and am having a hard time finding a balance.  It seems to be either feast or famine.  I have had trouble with my bowels my whole life and had IBS before the gastric bypass.  Bad news, I still have IBS AFTER gastric bypass too.  :-(  This will probably be a life-long struggle for me.  Did you know that they have a chart for your poo?  Yeah -- they do. I added it below for you to see.  

I'm not sure if any of you have been to a colorectal surgeon or a gastroenterologist (GI doctor) but I have had the "pleasure".. I guess you could say... of going to both.  They show you this chart and make you tell them extensively about your poo.. the color, the texture, the shape, the volume, etc etc etc.  I've never met anyone else who talked so seriously about sh!t.  I understand more now than ever though, how important expelling your waste is from your body.  I learned that from my cat having mega colon. My husband and I watched her suffer for 4 of her 6 years we had her.  It ended up killing her in the end and she died in my arms.

So after going through that experience with our first pet, I am neurotically emphatic on making sure my babies (my dogs) go potty and that they are 'productive'.  I never dreamed that I would actually have to track it though for myself.  My IBS that I had before surgery always leaned toward diarrhea, so not going was never an issue.  Normally the complications with RNY are more geared toward dumping syndrome instead of constipation, but honestly its a mixture of both.  Some things that are supposed to give me dumping syndrome don't and the things that aren't supposed to make me dump, do.  Right after surgery, I dumped for 2 weeks solid; it didn't matter what I ate or even drank it made me incredibly ill.  I'm not sure what changed but one day it just went away..