Has anyone had a Paralytic Ileus

[happymummy72]

Hi, just wondered how common or not this condition is, i had paralytic ileus 2 days after the birth of my son via c-section, we would like to try for another baby next year but have worries as it made me very ill and i hardly seen my son for 4 days as i was moved to another part of the hospital and was filled full of drugs for the pain.

Have you spoken to your consultant about this, and whether this could be preventable in subsequent pgs?

Bumping for the morning crew, for more advice.

I touched on it at my 6 weeks check up, tbh he did'nt give much advice on it other than it happened because the section but i was left feeling like they were trying to hide something

Paralytic ileus is the term given to the response of the small intestine after it is handled in any way. It happens after any form of surgery to open the abdominal cavity (C.Section or anything else like having your appendix out) and affects everyone differently. Also- the pain killing drugs used after surgery can make it more pronounced - which can be a bit of a vicious circle as you need pain relief but the side effects can make it last longer. Some people hardly notice it at all but for some it can last over a week. Essentially, the small bowel stops contracting the way it normally does and fills up with fluid and gas, makes you very bloated and usually makes you vomit- most people need a tube into their stomach via the nose to reduce the amount of vomiting and bloating as well as a drip to keep your fluid levels topped up. I'm a General Surgeon so I see it every other day and know how normal it is whereas perhaps your Obstetrician hasn't quite so much experience. It won't necessarily happen to you again if you have further surgery but it is undoubtedly a thoroughly unpleasant experience- especially when your priority was to be with your baby!!! Finally, the only thing we can do for paralytic ileus is to wait for the bowel to start contracting again- you may have noticed you started passing wind in the day it began to settle. There are some medicines that can help speed up the process but these aren't good for baby if you're breastfeeding.
I hope this has answered some of your questions. Take care.

Thank you for your response (sofasogood)
I was told by the midwifes it may have happened becuase the trauma from the section but they had never seen a case of it after a section. What i'm trying to find out what is the risk of it happening again to me as i already have a bowel condition and this has not been right since the ileus, we want more children but we need to weigh up the pro's and con's and maybe have an elective section so things would be more under control, i wish i knew about the drugs to speed up the process because of one thing an another i never got the chance to breastfeed my milk never arrived!

Hi, you are not alone! I too suffered with a paralytic ileus 24 hours after giving birth to my son by elective csection. I was extremely poorly, it was awful. My c-section follows years of bowel surgery (my last being about 4 years ago) so I put it down to the fact that my bowel didn't like being man handled again! My large bowel (colon) was removed in 2001 just leaving the small bowel and lots of operations after I had IVF (for the 2nd time) and it worked!

I too would love another child but it would have to be IVF and am scared about having more complications. For the moment am enjoying time with Charlie who is now 15months. The nasal tube is a distant memory when I look at him!

I had an elective section last week, and resulted in paralytic ileus, probably not helped by my eating a tube of sweets as soon as I got to the ward, was starving having been NBM for hours!!My husband(medical)said I shouln't have and should have waited for Dr to check that I had bowel sounds before stuffing my face. It resolved in 24hrs, but very painful. Make sure someone listens to your tummy before you eat!!

When I arrived at hospital I was 8cm dialated however Daisy was Breech so had an emergency c-section. Due to ileus had 5days in hospital but as no bowel movement they moved me to another hospital where I spent another 5days. Had 3 nasal tubes & still throwing up & been on NBM for 9days!!! Due to ct scans, no food for 9days & the drugs I was taking I was unable to breastfeed. I ended up discharging myself as the medical staff were treating my like I wasn't there & I wasn't getting better & within 2 days of being at home with my husband & beautiful daughter I was able to keep my food down & was able to go to the toilet!!!! Don't let the staff push you around..they're not always right!!

I had to have an emergency c-section when I wasn't dilating. My uterine artery tore, and I lost a lot of blood and nearly died.
My ileus was not diagnosed for around 4 days, and I was in hospital for nearly 3 weeks. They sent bub home after about 6 days, they "decided" that I was taking up unneccessary resources and that if they sent him home they could move me to the surgical ward. I had to have an NG tube (nasogastric tube) which they had to aspirate every (I think) couple of hours. If it wasn't done regularly, I'd start to feel nauseous and I'd either vomit up my own faeces or I'd have a panic attack. It took over 2 weeks for it to start working again.
I remember them wanting to do an ultrasound to confirm that it had shut down (and you ladies who have experienced an ileus can guess what my reaction to the thought of them pushing down on my stomach) - I told them "You're the (insert a lot of expletives here!) doctors, find another way to find out" (they ended up using some dye I think)

And by the way, I've been told that the chance of having your bowel shut down is around 0.02%, so it's very rare.
I still remember the agony for those weeks, and since all that trauma I have some memory loss (from the start of the pregancy up until bub was around 8 months old - he's 10 months now)... only in the last 4 weeks has my brain re-started to store new information again.
But despite this, I'm going to have another baby as soon as I'm medically allowed. I don't want that to be my last childbirthing experience.