You should consult your healthcare provider for intestinal obstruction if you have the following complaints:

• Abdominal pain
• Abdominal distension
• Vomiting
• Not having passed stools or wind for more than 2 days.

You may also want to have a regular check up if you have any of the following complaints:

• Frequent episodes of stomach cramps
• Reduced appetite, frequent vomiting or nausea (sensation of vomiting)
• Difficulty in passing stools
• Hard stools
• Incomplete voiding of stools
• Frequent diarrhoea and bloating
• Dependence on laxatives to open bowels
• Unsatisfactory recovery over weeks and months, even after medical therapy.

Your healthcare provider will discuss your symptoms and ask you a few other questions about your health. You will then undergo a thorough physical examination of the abdomen, usually along with an examination of the anal region. Based on the findings, an initial diagnosis of intestinal obstruction is established, after ruling out most other conditions.

To confirm the diagnosis and further ascertain the cause and location of intestinal obstruction, your healthcare provider with prescribe you some tests, which could be a simple X-ray, or a CT scan along with some blood work up. An abdominal CT scan is usually performed along with intravenous (and sometimes oral) contrast medication, for a more detailed scan.

People with suspected intestinal obstruction are usually admitted into the hospital, as they may be in urgent need of medications and care. It is always advisable for you to proceed with admission at this stage, so as to promptly manage your condition.

Established intestinal obstruction usually needs surgery, which is the gold-standard of care. If the symptoms are not very severe and in a few case in which the tests are suggestive of a lower grade of intestinal obstruction (subacute intestinal obstruction), your surgeon may give you a trial of conservative treatment, involving intravenous fluids, antibiotics, antacids, pain relief and bowel rest. But most people with symptoms of intestinal obstruction are likely to require a surgery at some point in their life, as even if an episode of obstruction resolves by itself, it is likely to recur in the future.

Traditionally, the treatment of intestinal obstruction has been an exploratory laparotomy, which is an open abdominal surgery, usually through a large midline cut. It is associated with post-operative pain and slower recovery, with hospitalisation periods often stretching to more than a week. This is still the procedure of choice in acute intestinal obstruction, if someone presents to the doctor in distress, and the imaging and other tests are indicative of a serious illness. In emergencies such as this, surgical options are usually limited, and life-saving surgeries need to be performed. Therefore it is suggested that help should be sought when the disease is early and before your symptoms are severe. Elective surgical options with less damage to your abdominal wall can then be employed, reducing the need for emergency surgery, risk of hernias and life-threatening conditions in the future.

Today, laparoscopic assisted surgery is an easily available alternative to open surgery for intestinal obstruction. Provided your condition and investigation results are favourable, your surgeon may offer this procedure to you as a much less invasive surgical option with significantly less post-operative pain and recovery.

Intestinal adhesions is a very common cause of intestinal obstruction, which happens due to sticking of bowel loops to each other or to the abdominal wall. These may happen spontaneously as well, but is more common after any previous abdominal surgery. Patients with adhesions may be asymptomatic, or have only very mild discomfort. The more severe ones can present with repeated bouts of pain and intestinal obstruction that can merit more aggressive treatment.

Depending on what precise procedures were performed during the surgery, your surgeon will gradually start water intake, followed by liquid and then solid diet. After laparoscopic adhesiolysis, recovery is usually quick, and you should be able to stand and walk around after 6-10 hours. Any drain placed in the abdomen is usually removed after 5-7 days. Once you are able to tolerate soft diet and have opened bowels satisfactorily, you are discharged. After 8-10 days of the procedure, you are advised to follow-up for a wound check.

You are advised to eat a healthy diet and chew well while eating. Excessive salts, spices and difficult to digest foods like red meat, nuts must be avoided. Precautions must be taken to avoid constipation for 3-4 weeks. You must avoid lifting heavy weights (more than 2 kgs) or strenuous activities till 3-4 weeks after the procedure.

Apart from this, there aren’t any such limitations to your diet and activity, unless specified by your healthcare professional. 4-5 days of rest at home is usually enough.

• Rather than a 10-15inches incision, the operation requires only three to four small openings in the abdomen.
• Patients usually have minimal post-operative pain.
• Patients usually experience faster recovery than open surgery patients.
• Most patients enjoy a quicker return to normal diet and activities.