Hard abdomen, bloating, cramps, lower abd pain, no gas?

[Nik Colon]

As I am also new to this I am just giving what I know, but I was informed if it's just lymph and it has not attached to anything that is good or better at least. If it attaches to to something in the abdominal area it is worse. Well that's what I understood when I asked about peritoneal mets, lymph as I was confused on this since I have at least 1 lymph that they know of.

[justin case]

Although I am not female, many people associate gas ,with bloating and cramps. Acid stomach from peppers, onions, tomatoes, and alike, can also give major problems. Milk has become somewhat of a problem for me, with the same symptoms It would be wise to keep the doctor informed, and keep on top of this. I don't know your partner as well as you, butt, some hardheads like me, refuse to go to the ER. A blockage of any kind would be a lot easier to deal with, earlier than late
justin case

[seasnail]

Pain pills tend to add to the problems associated w/abdominal pain/cramping due to the constipating factor & they don't help anyway w/that type of pain. Just so you understand, one can still have what appears to be normal bowel movements & still have an impaction higher up. This can result in normal passage of solid stool followed by loose stool, or even diarrhea in an alternating pattern, within the same day even.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome can be the culprit in that one doesn't feel "emptied out".
Of course you should contact the gastroenterologist asap. Sounds like they may have stopped short of what all is going on once they discovered cancer. I would be curious to know if this problem subsided temporarily around the time of colonoscopy when she was "cleaned out", as it sounds like this problem may be what sent her to the doc in the first place.
Let us know what you find out.

Best Wishes
bitchslapped

Sorry to bandwagon on this thread, but this caught my attention. My husband, post ileostomy reversal (now 6 months out) has had this pattern you've described of normal BM's, followed by softer stool, followed by diarrhea, with at times, pain in his intestines (like he is feeling the waste move through his system, as he described). Once he hits the diarrhea stage he is good for a few days. Also passing gas also seems to relieve the pressure and make his belly less bloated looking. This thread kind of just freaked me out because we never thought anything of it, since it always passes and he's not in excruciating pain or anything...he's just not very comfortable...but should we be looking into blockage? He just thought taking Immodium with his meals has made things, ahem, at times, too solid and that maybe this was part of the reversal process?

[justin case]

Seasnail,
I take one immodium per day with my vitamin, and BP med. I wonder whether immodium with every meal is a good thing
Bro nut

[bitchslapped]

seasnail, I can't speak to bowel issues after ileos/reversals, however if you do a search on blockages, reversals, ileo, clustering, takedowns you should find a wealth of information here on CT w/those who have experience in that area.
If you notice, my reference in the post was to impaction vs obstruction because his SO was able to pass some stool, though a partial obstruction could certainly be possible. Through my DM I have much experience as a patient advocate for her regarding IBS/spastic colon, impacted feces, finally leading up to colon cancer followed with colon obstruction. She had all of it over a 35 year time period, & later as her caregiver it was up to me to manage based on her history. I don't believe one passes gas or stool w/a total obstruction. In her case, nothing would go down, nothing would come out. This was a result of scar tissue build up from colon resection where approx 12" of her colon was removed, then hernia repair causing a complete obstruction. It is life threatening, to say the least & she spent a week in the hospital having emergency surgery on a weekend.

She did end up in the ER one time getting a milk & molasses enema due to impaction during her precancer days.
It's possible your DH is experiencing spasms of some kind from the description of "feeling the waste move through his system", but I would think this would be lower down. Bear in mind, I was not the patient & was difficult for my DM to describe. She would have to lie down for 30 minutes or so to relieve the spasms. Then of course, there was also cramps/stomach pain.
It was debilitating @ times & difficult to manage. IBS was barely recognized as legit at the beginning. Sometimes a bland diet was recommended, in which case the bowels didn't want to evacuate, sometimes a high fiber diet is recommended which can be irritating to the bowel. One just has to do their best to find a middle ground, in which case the bowel becomes dependent either way.

FYI, diarrhea does not relieve impaction, rather is a result of it. The diarrhea collects behind & escapes around the impaction. Sounds like your DH might benefit by a visit to the gastro doc for evaluation. Not something I would ignore long term.

I would have to agree w/Bro Nut re: the immodium.

Best Wishes
BS

[Nik Colon]

I just found out through searching that anal cancer is different than crc which is obviously why the staging is different. Now I know

[jaycey60]

Hi Everybody,

Wanted to give a follow-up to my initial question: L continued to have severe pain in her lower abdomen (especially left side) all week when we were on vacation, especially after eating, and absolutely worst during her period. Occasionally semi-rigid abdomen. But she did have pretty normal BM and no gas, and she was taking Mirolax every time she took Percoset for the pain. The idea that it might be an obstruction was pretty scary, however. So, as suggested by the group (thank you!) I called the onc who said that . . . the pain probably came from the cancer in the lymph nodes in her pelvis. Apparently the tumor activity in the lymph nodes (up the iliac chain, among other places), is significant enough that the enlarged lymph nodes are probably pressing on nerves in the pelvis and lower abdomen.

Not good news, since it means it that the pain won't go away until the tumors shrink. But at least it's not obstruction. And, as far as why worst during period/ovulation, doc suggested that either the increased hormones activate tumor activity (and hence pain) or that there is metathesis in the ovaries.

There's more going on, but I'm going to post that separately, because I could use some input and want the subject header to say what the issue is.

thanks all,

[Nik Colon]

As far as ovulation, my whole life, at times I have severe pain on the side I'm ovulating, usually only lasts a day or few.

[seasnail]

Wanted to follow up as well, just in case anyone else might have this situation and finds this in a search...turns out, at least for now, it seems the pain was too many Imodium's (thanks Justin and BS)! Our nurses said to take 1-2 with each meal post-reversal, and I suppose that was the need early on. He just never stopped for fear it would turn back to the crazy diarrhea immediately after the reversal. He now takes one in the morning and one at night, and he's had no pain and normal bm's all week. He might try transitioning down to 1 a day at some point too.