abdominal distension after surgery on small intestine

Of course, he can be helped with Homeopathic treatment.There are good many medicines.

Can you provide more details?

Please specify the location of pain(upper,middle or lower abdomen, or entire abdomen)

The entire abdomen is distended, but the main pain is an inch or two below the navel.

What is the type of pain?

Intense pain from the pressure of the distention.

When is the pain worse?

A few hours after eating, most often at night.

Is there belching or flatulence?

Flatulence relieves the pain, while there is pain there is no movement in his intestines of any kind (which seems to be the problem). There is belching only if he gets to the point of nausea (which has only happened a few times).

How is his appetite? - appetite is good, but he has taken to eating many smaller meals (which seems to help prevent the distention/blockage to some degree). However, after a major incident he is afraid to eat for several days. He eats, but it makes him very nervous.

How is his thirst? - His thirst is fine, but sometimes he gets too busy and distracted to drink.

What about his bowel movements and urine?

Both normal.

Can he sleep well?

Has had a problem with insomnia his whole life due to thinking when he should be sleeping.

Does any food seem to aggravate his condition?

Any food that increases gas in the intestines - beans, fiber, most vegetables (all the things that have the nutrients that are good for you - and I worry about that). Also, medium to large meals aggravate the condition. He loves potatoes and eats them almost everyday for the 25 years I have been with him.

How is his general health?

He is strong and generally healthy. We run (not jog) most every day for an hour. He is a top runner for his age group. However, he has had prostate cancer (had his prostate removed and has had radiation treatment for that) some years ago.

Give details about his mental/emotional state?

He is very analytical in the world. Likes to understand the way things work. Has a PhD in psychology. He is very even in his emotions except when it comes to me. He likes us to be on the same page - or think about things the same way. When that doesn't happen he gets upset. I worry sometimes that the stress of that can cause the problem to occur, but I cannot always control for that. Also, when he is having pain he is stoic to a point and then becomes depressed when he can't do anything about it.

Thank you, and let me know if you need any additional information.

He eats cream of wheat in the morning with a variety of fruit and nuts (almonds, pumpkin seeds, a strawberry, a few blueberries, a small portion of apple, and banana.

Around 10:00 am he eats one half of a bagel with sesame seeds, toasted with peanut butter on top and a half of an orange.

At 1:00 pm or so he eats a homemade cookie - peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips and whole peanuts, the recipe also includes eggs, yoghurt, apple sauce, flour, a little soy milk, and chocolate powder. He likes these cookies and says they sit with him very well. There is no added sugar or oil, other than the oil from the peanut butter, so they are not real sweet cookies like you'd buy in the store. He thinks the peanut butter helps move things along with his digestion.

In the afternoon around 3:00 pm he might have another small snack of crackers and a little cheese. Or maybe some avocado on a cracker.

Then we go for our daily run on the mountain trails.

For dinner he generally has steamed potatoes and maybe a little white fish with a boiled egg sandwich with avocado and tomato on white bread (he used to eat whole wheat but worries that it causes gas now). When he has something to drink it is just water and sometimes milk. Sometimes he will have an omelet with mushrooms black olives and cheese with toast and strawberry jam.

Around 2:00 am in the morning he wakes and has another cookie and some milk, which he says helps him go back to sleep.

Although he sometimes varies from this diet, it is infrequent. Mostly this is what he eats every day. It is what he has come to trust and seems to work for him. He used to eat lots of steamed or stir-fried vegetables (brocolli, cauliflower, chard, celery, onions, mushrooms, etc)and also salads, soup, and maybe pasta now and then, but those things make him nervous now because of the distention and pain.

I would appreciate any suggestions you have on improving his diet. He will not eat anything like sweet potatoes or cucumbers or beans or green or red peppers or . These are things he has never liked and would never eat.

By the way, I have been giving him Calc Flor when he has an episode coming on, and I think it has been helpful. It's hard to tell because the episodes are so periodic. He can go for quite a while without one, and then it comes again, so it's hard to tell exactly what has helped. That will be the case with the Nux-V as well. We won't know whether it has helped unless he never has another episode again. And if he does have another episode - maybe he just needs another dose of Nux-V.

Do you have any suggestions as to how to know if the Nux-V is helping, given that the episodes happen periodically and we never know when they are going to strike?

Thank you for your help Dr. Saravanan. I appreciate it very much.

Dr. Saravanan,

I received an email that you had replied to my answers to the dietary questions, but when I went to ABC Remedy to look for your response, there was nothing new there. Don't know if you answered or not.

Thank you, Dr.Saravanan.

I will pass your words on to my husband. I thank you for your kind assistance.

All my best to you,
Zoe

Dr. Saravanan

My husband is still having problems with distension and intense gripping pain in his abdomen. If he eats very small amounts of food - and only certain foods (potatoes, eggs, cottage cheese, white bread, and peanut butter) he is okay, but if he eats a just a little more than usual, he will get the distension and pain and sometimes nausea. I believe that he has scar tissue in his intestine from the surgery where they removed 18 inches of his small intestine. I am wondering if Staphisigria or some other remedy might help with the scar tissue and the pain.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks,
Suze

Thank you for your replay, Joe De Livera. It is true that as soon as soon as my husband can pass gas, the pain and distension is relieved. However, the food he eats, is the only thing that keeps him going. He has experimented with different types of food and the things he eats are the only food that works. He already eats 'very small' meals, four or five times a day (as you suggested. It is when he tries to eat just a little bit more (only a few bites more) that he has the problem (and also if he experiences any psychological stress. He had a test recently, and was told that his digestion is 'very fast,' faster than most people. So that is most likely not the problem. Also, he has never suffered from constipation. It is just that sometimes, his digestive system gets full of gas and he becomes painfully distended.

My feeling is that it is the scare tissue from his intestinal surgery that is causing the problem. Perhaps, the area where he removed 18 inches of his small intestine, is narrowed and if he eats too much things get trapped there temporarilly and cause pain. So, I am interested in a remedy which will help get rid of the scare tissue.

Thank you.
Suze