Ever since I learned that Elvis died with more than 30 lbs of feces in his body all I can think of is….. how???? Assuming a person is continuing to eat day after day, how can you continue to put things in and have nothing come out? I don’t understand why your body wouldn’t force you to expel what’s in your system (well before 30lbs) one way or another?
In: 7849
There are many ways a bowel obstruction can occur. One may be diet, another could be narrowing of the intestines (trauma, scarring, cancer, etc.), another could be aganglionic mega colon, some prescription drugs can slow bowel motility enough, the intestines can twist on itself, etc.
Many reasons.
Your intestines (small and large) are smooth muscle that is approximately 15’ Iong (4.5m). There is a lot of space there and dehydrated feces is dense (density = mass/volume). From the formula you can figure out what happens when the numerator or denominator changes.
Often with people that have a bowel obstruction they will begin to vomit, and show signs of constipation, which indicates that the food can’t move forward and is being expelled. Typically, an NG tube is inserted, they are given IV fluids, and are NPO (nothing/nil per os). Barium enema can aid in diagnosis and NG tube placement is confirmed with X-ray.
If the obstruction is complete surgery is needed in most cases.
Latest Answers