# Fecal Impaction the cause of left flank pain?



## CCinNW (Jan 5, 2017)

I'm having pain in my lower left stomach and back. It really flared up five days post-op from gallbladder removal surgery (laparoscopic). Also had my kidneys looked at. Left kidney is only functioning at 30% but this should not be the cause of my pain. Now I'm having gas and bloating. Been in the ER 3 times in five days with this pain. They prescribe pain mess and send me home. I finally figured out the pain mess could be causing constipation. I cannot seem to pass a good stool! It's mostly liquid with some strange looking smaller feathery poops (sorry so graphic!). I have done Fleet enemas and the liquid comes out along with the gas. How emergent is this? Please help! I feel bloat and pain and am obviously stumping the ER's here! Thank you!


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

yes, opiod pain killers are very constipating.

did the ER do any x rays of your colon? an x ray is really the only way to tell if you have an impaction and where it is located.

symptoms of impaction include abdominal cramping and bloating, leakage of liquid or sudden episodes of watery D, small, semi formed stools, rectal bleeding, low back pain...an impaction is when you go for a while, like a week or so, with no bm at and then all of a sudden you get watery diarrhea which is the body doing a sort of "self enema" by using the watery D to unblock things...

if you totally stop passing any kind of stool at all and stop passing gas, then you may have develop an obstruction. symptoms of obstruction also can include nausea and vomiting and fever. this is an ER situation. an obstruction means the stool cannot move, has completely filled that part of the colon, nothing can get by, not even gas and eventually you will begin to vomit up stool when it needs to get out but it can't due to the obstruction. the symptoms of an obstruction are unmistakable. i've had one, so believe me , i know.

it's always best to get a doctor's advice about things like this, but you might want to consider taking a laxative--either an osmotic, like miralax and/or a stimulant --exlax or dulcolax--to get things going again. or try a large volume enema instead of the smaller fleets, which are not as effective.

another good thing to do is to call your surgeon's office and ask them about the pain, in case it's surgery related and also to see if it's safe to do a large volume enema so soon after surgery.

good luck. hope you feel better soon.


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## CCinNW (Jan 5, 2017)

I have been to 3 ER's, 1 surgeon, 2 urologists and 1 gynecologist. Nobody has been helpful. They just prescribe pain meds and send me on my way. I explain I cannot take the pain meds due to the constipation and I need to get to the source of the problem! I have had one urologist tell me I have a "bolus." And take MiraLax. Last night I resorted to a Fleet enema and I felt like the liquid D was just going around the stool.


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## annie7 (Aug 16, 2002)

nobody did an x-ray of your colon to see how bad the impaction was and exactly where it was? that's the first thing they always did for me whenever i was really backed up and/or impacted..so sorry your docs haven't been more proactive and have been so unhelpful.


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## flossy (Dec 8, 2012)

If your taking some kind of Oxy________, it's probably causing your constipation.

You could always buy some senna at the store, along with docusate sodium. They are both inexpensive and would help. I would take them every time you take a pain pill.


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