This concerns a family member in the hospital. She's been there 6 days on antibiotics and morphine. Stopped the morphine, was causing bloating in the abdomen-which caused more pain. She has emphysema, so surgery is out. Can colonoscopy be done with local, or epidural? Drs have done several ct's but just aren't giving us answers! help.
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You might be talking about something called Ischemic colitis. That is where the blood supply to the intestine is either too low, or blocked because of a narrow blood vessel, or blood clot. The good news is the bowel can heal itself. As long as the blood supply returns, then after a few days of abdominal cramping, and passing blood, the bowel heals itself. They might need to look at the bowel to make sure of the diagnosis, or to check for narrowing after the bowel has healed. Most colonoscopy is done under sedation, so there is no need for anesthesia, epidurals or other forms of anesthesia. The CT scan shows the area of the bowel that is involved. Once things improve, then they can start drinking fluids, then soups, then regular foods again.