Yes I am gonna do a crappy post, literally. Someone has to talk about it right? I did say I was going to share the Good, Bad and the Ugly when I started this blog right? I think this falls under a little of them all.
So what made me decide to write a post about poop? Well lots of reasons really, but I decided it was time after a good friend of mine recently had Gastric Bypass Surgery and was having some trouble and called me for advice. Yes one of those awkward phone calls – normally I talk about all kinds of crap on the phone, but this time it was really crap. And I gave my crappy advice and hoped it would help, lol.
So the problem my friend was having was similar to what I went through right after my Gastric Bypass Surgery – “The Log Jam”. I will explain what that means if you are unsure, which I hope your not, but who knows, that is when you cannot poop. You know it is there cause you can feel it – that dreaded bloated feeling. Then you do go, BUT it is like you are giving birth to a baby and after all that work it is just a small nugget and you are left in pain. Yes gross I know, but I only speak the truth.
Luckily for me my surgeon warned me this may happen and I think a lot of it has to do with a combination of things such as; all the pain meds you are on in the hospital and after surgery, the lack of fiber right after and your body in shock saying WTF did you just do to me.
My surgeon had told me in the hospital before I left that if this was a problem to take Dulcolax Stool Softener to help move things along. You can see I wrote about it in my Third week after Gastric Bypass blog post and that is around the time I felt the need to start taking them. Of course always check with your surgeon if they allow this for you, because they all have different rules.
The good thing is that if you are reading this prior to having surgery you can add it to your list of things to ask and to have in the house just in case. Not everyone will have this issue, but I would guess that about 98% will due to all the factors involved.
I am happy to report that my friend had her hubby run to the store to get her some and after a day or two things started to move out slowly, softer and less painful – so in the end my crappy advice was not so crappy after all. Kudos to me!!!
While I am talking about all this crap let me tell you something else. Prior to me having surgery I would always feel backed up and even though I would have bowel movements pretty regular I just always felt backed up and bloated. It was bad enough that I had even talked to my doctor about it and they diagnosed me with IBS due to my symptoms and my bad gas (yes I said it bad gas).
I am happy to report I do not have that at all anymore, in fact it is quite the opposite. Wait let me back up a bit, I do have gas still and yes you will notice after having surgery some things will make it worse than others and the smell at times you think will kill you and everyone else in the room. BUT as far as feeling backed up in the poop shoot or bloated – well for me those days are pretty much gone. Now to get really gross… when I have a bowel movement now they are huge, soft and almost as though my intestines clean out all in one poop like a giant snake. I am sorry if I made you throw up in your mouth a bit, but I have to share that so you know there is hope. Yes there will be lots of moments when you are like – where the hell was all of that inside me and then you will smile and be glad it is not and wonder if you should run to the scale and weigh in again.
So to conclude this crappy post of mine know that if you are in the beginning weeks of recovery after Gastric Bypass Surgery and having these issues talk to your surgeon about a stool softener and if you are prior to surgery do the same thing and be prepared for it.
In the end it will all work out (literally).
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