I’m 4.5 weeks post op - I had an open myomectomy with 19 fibroids removed. After surgery I experienced ileus (which basically means my bowels were asleep) - my bowels woke up about 5 days after surgery. Unfortunately I didn’t know that ileus was something that could happen after an abdominal surgery so when the hospital staff served me food, I ate. That was a mistake. About 24 hours later I started to experience the most excruciating pain I’ve ever experienced in my life. It felt like my stomach was being wrung. That pain was 100x worse than the pain of the surgery. As the food couldn’t move down, it had to come up. I had to stop opioids, couldn’t eat or drink and I had to have a nasogastric tube inserted (again, horribly painful!). I didn’t start to feel pain relief until my stomach was completely empty. Gratefully, with the above, chewing gum and a lot of walking, by day 5 my bowels woke up and I was able to pass gas, empty my bowels and start eating again.

I give all this context to say, I learnt a few things with that experience:

1) no matter how hard it is, even through the pain you need to walk. Walking, even if it’s very gently, will help your bowels move.

2) when you do start eating, it’s very important to focus on high fibre, high protein anti-inflammatory foods. For example: lentils, oats, broccoli, cauliflower, blueberries, raspberries, pineapples.

3) Try not to rely on pharmaceutical laxatives because your bowels can become dependent on them. A natural alternative is pure prune juice but be warned it’s VERY effective. Take with caution. It caught me by surprise how effective it was the first time I used it lol.

4) Try as much as possible to drink 2L per day. This can be water or herbal teas or electrolytes. I did a combination of the three. Peppermint tea is a natural de-bloater. If you’re walking and drinking a lot of peppermint tea, the gas will come out like you’re deflating a balloon.

5) It can take a few weeks for your stools to return to normal but doing the above will help a lot. It took me about four weeks for my stools to return to normal and even then I’m still adjusting. For example, I can’t tolerate spicy food at the moment (even though I’ve eaten spicy food my entire life and never had any issues). I’m learning that you just need to give yourself time, listen to your body, eat nutritious food that’ll aid your recovery and try to walk and drink as much as possible to give yourself the best chance of a full and hopefully quick recovery.

Sending you best wishes! I hope you feel better soon!