Colon problems

Babs

Hi Has anyone had the experience of bowel stopping as my daughter did following chemo pre transplant and then after transplant 20 days it stopping again? She also has mucositosis, rash. She refers to it as colitis but no bowel sounds or movements. She has been readmitted and being fed etc via tube. Thanks for advice.

Rachel_LeadNurse

Hi Babs,
I'm Rachel, Lead Nurse for Anthony Nolan. I'm sorry to hear that your daughter is having these problems following her transplant, from what you describe she sounds to be experiencing side effects of chemotherapy/transplant that are less common than mucositis alone. As you will likely be aware, mucositis occurs as a result of the chemotherapy damaging
the fast dividing 'good cells' of the mouth/gut lining alongside the 'bad cells' that the treatment is being given for.

This inflammation can become quite severe with a colitis type problem developing within the gut. Treatment with IV anti-biotics and pain killers are used initially and often IV fluids, in some cases the gut is rested completely but it is common to have a tube (called a nasogastric tube) inserted to help remove excess fluid in the gut, particularly if there are reduced bowel sounds.

I'm unsure of where she is post transplant- from what you write I think she may 3 weeks post Day 0? If this is the case and she is slowly recovering her counts this will hopefully help to improve the gut inflammation alongside the other treatment she is receiving.

I hope that's of some help to you. If you'd like to speak to someone on our helpline we are available Mon-Fri 9-5 on 0303 303 0303 or you can email us at [email protected].

I hope your daughter starts to feel better soon.
Kind regards
Rachel

Babs

Thank you for your response Rachel. I hope her bowel starts to work soon and other symptoms resolve. She is very stoical but it’s a dreadful situation.

Claire_AnthonyNolan

Hi @Babs,

I'm Claire from the Patient Services team at Anthony Nolan. I'm so sorry to hear of the difficult time that you are going through at the moment - I'm really pleased to see that you have found the supportive community of the Patients & Families Forum.

I wanted to share some information with you about our Telephone Emotional Support Service, which you might find helpful at this time (apologies if this is already a service you are aware of). This is our free service to support stem cell transplant patients and family members, provided by a team of wellbeing specialists including qualified psychologists, with years of experience in providing support for stem cell transplant patients. If you decide you would like to be referred at any point, we would be happy to do this for you - just email us at [email protected]. You can find out more here: https://www.anthonynolan.org/patients-and-families/get-support-us/telephone-emotional-support.

You can also find out more about the support available through our team here:
https://www.anthonynolan.org/patients-and-families/get-support-us

I hope this helps.

Best wishes,
Claire