Question Hi there, my husband has been suffering for close to 4 months now from a severe cramping pain in his stomach (he specifically says it tends to favor the left side). He has been from one specialist to another and is no further ahead in finding out what ails him. He has recently had a colonoscopy which unveiled "thousands" of fragments of pills in his "upper colon". The specialist didn't seem concerned, and told him to just talk to a pharmacists to see what they say. Isn't this guy the specialist?? Anyhow, the pharmacist, Poison Control and the specialist's nurse said this is not normal!! But, no one seems to know what to do about it. His stomach is permanently cramped now, worse than before, and a trip to the Emergency ward came back with no results either. He sometimes has a pus-like substance come out at the end of urination, but any urine test set up has failed to replicate this issue. He has been taking a form of morphine in a 3 morning, 3 night format for about 6 yrs. He has managed to cut it down to 1 morn/1 night now (he suffers from sciatica leg/back pain). No one seems to have an answer for him as to why his stomach is so sore -- a thought about crones went through our minds, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Can you provide any thoughts about this phenomenon?
Answer hi nora,
i am actually surprised as this is common knowledge to health-care professionals. the fragmented medication may be a one-time event as your husband was probably on heavy doses of laxatives prior to the colonoscopy. the laxatives increases the transit time and thus decreases the ability of the medication to properly breakdown and absorbed.
the use of morphine or its sister compounds are highly correlated with the problems your husband is facing. these drugs are well known to cause
- a reduction in gastrointestinal motility
- an inhibition of stomach contents from emptying appropriately
- a reduction in secretion of vital gastrointestinal juices to breakdown food products
- an abnormal increase in the absorption of fluids in the intestine
all of these physiological changes increases the risk of constipation and a spastic colon.
as far as his back pain, that can also increase his risk of constipation and other intestinal changes. it may be important to re-examine his back pain in detail. a quick spinal mri may demonstrate if there is nerve impingement.
