Diet and Health FAQ

Tagged As: Ischemic Colitis Diagnosis

Question:
On Jan.31st I had a tubal ligation--routine procedure but my MD told me he had to make an additional incision b/c he discovered that my colon was wrapped around one of my ovaries and tube-needed to retract the bowel away so he could complete the ligation of that ovary. My recovery was without problem. As suggested I sought out a GI consult due to the findings during the ligation and b/c of some other upper GI symptoms. An endoscopy and colonoscopy was recommended and I had the two procedures on March 30th --several benign polyps were removed from my stomach and the colonoscopy was totally WNL--you should never need another colonoscopy unless you are symptomatic I was told my the GI MD. Ok, 13 days later [April 19th], I experienced internal bleeding--large and multiple blood clots coming out rectally, along w/severe abdominal cramping [had severe diarrhea throughout the night prior to the blood clot episodes]. To make a long story short, I was admitted and worked up for infection, CA, arteroscloris of the intestinal arteries--another colonoscopy, CT Scan, and ultrasound, biopsies, cultures....etc....The colonoscopy showed several areas of colitis in my lower colon [around the spenic flexure].  All the tests were negative for everything.  So, the final diagnosis was ischemic colitis--the MD's hypothesis was that for some reason, at some point in time, there was a lack of adequate blood flow to the splenic flexure of my colon resulting in this acute attack of colitis.  I have no history of colitis at all. I was told this was an acute event and should not expect to experience it again. I was in the hospital a total of 5 days and within two days of my return home, I felt as good as ever [and continue to feel good since]. My question is this-could there be any relationship between the tubal ligation and the episode of ischemic colitis?  Could the MD who performed the tubal retracted the bowel in such a manner that would cause the colitis to occur 6 weeks later?  Is it possible that I had an absolutely clean colonoscopy two weeks prior to the colitis episode?  I am not looking to sue anyone, I'm looking for answers to this mystery.  All this seems like more than just irony to me-or am I just fishing?

Answer:
Scar tissue? Adhesion formation? Maybe you formed excessive scar tissue? Who knows. There are many possibilities!