Hi Anita, thanks for the question!

Some people have blockages due to "mechanical" issues in their bowel, so they may obstruct regardless of what's being eaten, but a liquid diet can be helpful.

Others, like myself, tend to get blocked up when we don't eat properly or have the "wrong" food. In this group of people, a liquid or soft diet can be helpful in the short-term, but it's not an easily sustainable diet in the long-term without extensive planning and supplementation, but it may not even be necessary for most people.

I haven't had any trouble with blockages for years now, and I really eat whatever I want (while being mindful of how I prepare and consume food).

If chronic blockages are a problem, then putting together a planned diet with the help of a dietitian, stoma nurse, and surgeon may be a good option.

Really? That is what you have to say after reading his whole experience? Not loving the energy your reflecting

Just adding here to the blockage thread - king oyster mushrooms coupled with adhesions from abdominal surgery. Can cook king oyster mushrooms like vegan scallops, but I won't do that again any time soon. They were yummy and I think I ate too many, and didn't chew carefully enough. Three and a half days in the hospital, with an NG tube. Scary and painful, but happy things were resolved without surgery.

Oh, Liz, that's terrible :(

Mushrooms are one of those foods that won't get soft/break down very easily with cooking alone. Blending and chewing really, really well is the only real option, although, that is still risky for some.

I hope you eventually do try them again in smaller amounts, since it would be a shame to avoid them completely.

Take care!

I'm about 9 years in on my ileostomy. Its my second time having one except this time, its for good.
After all these years, i had never even come CLOSE to a blockage because I am really finicky about what I eat and i've also been an avid chewer since i was a kid. People actually used to make fun of me for all the chewing.
Well, my new Nurse Practitioner noticed I was having a lot of bile diarrhea and put me on Colestipol right along with the immodium and diphenoxylate i was already on. She also told me to eat more of whatever I wanted. "you haven't had that many bowel ressections out of all 10 of your surgeries so eat whatever you want"
I went to TOWN. My output went way way down and I was eating whatever! I have always eaten mangoes but that day I had eaten a really stringy one along with some pretty stringy chicken.
And there you have it.. suddenly super severe pain in my abdomin, nausea, cold sweats, and an ER visit that told me it was a "small" blockage or ileius. It felt like death.. i would never want to know what a full blockage is like.
Fastforward about 8 hours, my stoma had blown up 3 times the normal size and my husband told me i should take off my appliance. I took it off and then EXPLOSION! It was just like the resolution of your partial one. It was horrifying but I saw exactly what happened! It was just super thick and nearly formed stool mixed with mango and chicken strings.
I threw the colestipol away and placed it in the fireplace (we didn't burn it but it was nice to see if in there lol)

Hi Amanda,

Thank you for sharing. That's such a shame that you ended up with a blockage.

Yeah, that appliance-off experience is really something, eh?! Glad it got resolved, and I hope it never happens again in the future!

Seems a common culprit is eating too fast along with eating certain foods.

I’ve not had to go to the ER and consider my self fortunate for that but I’ve had a couple of blockages and both were primarily caused by rushing while eating.

Take care all.

I’ve had my ileostomy for over 6 years. Earlier this year I got my first blockage. I didn’t know what it was at the time. I just had extreme pain in my tummy. I was at my mom’s house and she and her boyfriend wanted to take me to the hospital. I agreed if it wasn’t better in the morning I would go. Well it turned out I had to get up 4 or 5 times during the night to empty my bag and I felt much better in the morning. I attribute that to eating a big apple (peeled) the day before. I had barely eaten anything that day. 

Today I am having the same kind of pain. I believe it is probably a blockage. It doesn’t feel any worse than the last time (just extreme pain, not excruciating pain). I came home from work and crawled into bed. I told my hubby we can go to the ER if it isn’t better my morning. 

Does anyone have tips for how to remove a partial blockage. Small amount of liquid have come out and some little Squeaky farts but not enough to relive the pain. I had a latte this morning which usually goes right into my bad and 8 hours later, it still hasn’t come through.  That is the only thing, other than water I have put into my mouth today.   

I am guessing the culprit is nuts. I used to hardly ever eat them, but I did have some this weekend - definitely more than usual and more than I should have. 

Thanks in advance for any tips to eliminating a blockage. 

Hi liza , you could try having a hot bath and rubbing your tummy could help. Don’t eat or drink as it’s one adding to the problem. Hot water bottle good as well. But if ifs not shifting and plain gets worse get to ED. All the very best 🙏

Thank you John. I’ve been rubbing my tummy since I got home. I drank a small cup of tea a little bit ago and had some output, but there is definitely a lot more. I will assess it tomorrow and decide if I need to go to the ER. I just got into bed and the pain was much worse laying on my back. 

Thanks for taking the time to answer me with everything you have going on right now. 😊

Posted by: @squeakyandliza

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Does anyone have tips for how to remove a partial blockage.

For me, I always have good luck with some fairly deep massaging around my stoma. Sometimes you can get a feel of where the pressure is, and work on that.

It can take time, though, and it works better with the appliance off. So, I'll hang a trash bag over my waist, put an episode or two of Curb Your Enthusiasm on, and massage until things pass.

As long as it's a partial blockage, as in, you're still passing some output or liquid, there's a good chance that you can resolve it at home. But if it goes on for too long, or the pain is intense, I'd head to the ER.

Update: The tea started things moving and then I had to get up 4 times during the night to empty my bag. It is the one time that not sleeping well is handy. Today I’m just a little sore (maybe from all the massaging?), but squeaky is back on the job. 

I was starving today since all I had yesterday was coffee and tea, but I was nervous, so I just had a piece of toast, and that seemed to go okay. 😊

@squeakyandliza Keep an eye on things, especially if you aren't 100% certain what caused it.

But glad that it finally resolved itself!

I’m fairly certain I ate too many nuts over the weekend, but am being overly cautious with everything now. That was not a fun feeling!!

I was talking to my husband telling him I need to be careful using nuts as my primary protein. And my kidney dr told me to cut back on hummus and ground turkey because my uric acid was a little high and those are culprits of that. So my husband said I should eat some black beans. I told him “actually, I just read about an experience Eric had with the black beans”. It was very timely. 😊

Oh my gosh, I pull up this thread and I see Eric with a naso gastric tube in his nose. I realize it was from a ways back my oh my, gives me a vision of when I had my proctocolectomy a few years back. I was stuck with one of those for almost 28 days. Not fun!!! No we need to be mindful and just say no to certain foods. We don't want to even go this route.