Re: Pregnant wife 5 weeks without bowel movement!

***You need to get her back to a hospital IMMEDIATELY, and find a doctor that will actually do their job.

I definitely agree about the Dr., and I have called and made an appt. for a new dr (GI specialist) for her on wednesday. I also feel like it is an ER type situation as well, but when I sent her there just a while back they just said that there was nothing they could do (can't xray etc because she's pregnant) and told her to take stool softeners and fleet enemas...

***First of all if she has not had a bowel movement in 5 weeks she is going to be very impacted, and this has to be dealt with by a professional.

I was concerned about this as well and had talked to her about how they would check with a finger, etc and if necessary break small pieces off at a time etc. After and enema, without me knowing before hand, she actually checked herself with her index finger and didn't feel anything...so there at least is not an impaction 'down low' obviously wouldn't know if there was one up higher...

***Secondly, two likely causes are either a strangulated intestine, or a blockage from inflammation or a tumor. I had a call a few years ago about a similar case.

I hope not, I recently found out that her father suffered from chronic constipation and has diverticulitis/losis and had a polyp that had to be removed and had to have a large portion of his colon removed...

***What you do not want to do is to do any colonics and DEFINITELY NO LAXATIVES OF ANY TYPE until she is unimpacted and the source of the problem can be found. If there is strangulation or some other problem that can kill the tissue this could not only be dangerous, but could be deadly. This is not the kind of problem you experiment with trying to find something that might work. GET HER TO THE HOSPITAL NOW!!!

I definitely agree!! I can't understand how that first GI (actually the GI's assistant!!) would just rx her some miralax and send her home and then remain unreachable by phone. Seems like a big deal to me, I would send her back to the ER in a heartbeat if y'all think that they might actually do something for her...