>
> Hi everyone,
>
> This may sound really stupid, but when do you know personally that you have
> a bowel obstruction? I believe I have had partial obstructions in the past
> that take car of themselves, but never a complete obstruction.
Jenny,
I think it would be pretty difficult not to know that you had a complete bowel obstruction. Just imagine what happens when you get a clog in a drainpipe: first the water may drain slowly when some fluid can get by. Then your kids dump the potato peelings in the sink and try to wash them down the drain. You accidently flush down half a chewed up orange.
Pretty soon, the drain fills up and when you try to put anything else in, everything gurgles or splashes back up. Meanwhile, if you could see the end of the pipe, nothing would be coming out!
For me partial obstruction causes pain, some vomiting when I eat a large meal, and alternating constipation and diarrhea. When I had a complete obstruction the pain was much worse and became crampy, I vomited buckets without being able to control it. It was an emergency, and I knew it.
Kate
-- Kate Murphy katemm@mindspring.com