Delicious foods but can easily cause intestinal obstruction if eaten too much and eaten incorrectly

From the case of a patient who had to be rushed to the emergency room at Phu Tho General Hospital due to eating jackfruit leading to intestinal obstruction, many people asked: what foods can easily cause intestinal obstruction, what are the signs and how to prevent it?

1. What foods can easily cause intestinal obstruction?

Phu Tho General Hospital has just received emergency treatment for a female patient who was admitted with abdominal distension, abdominal pain, and nausea. The patient had a history of stomach cancer, had received chemotherapy, then stopped treatment and switched to a macrobiotic diet. Before being admitted to the hospital, the patient said she had eaten a lot of jackfruit and honey and had abdominal pain, bloating, and vomiting, and had to be hospitalized for emergency treatment.

High-fiber, tough foods like jackfruit can easily cause intestinal obstruction.

After being examined by a doctor and the abdominal CT scan results confirmed that the patient had intestinal obstruction due to food residue. The doctor prescribed a gastric tube, intravenous fluids, nutrition, and the use of food softeners combined with pain relievers. However, the condition did not improve, the hard food mass could not pass through the blocked intestine, so the patient had to have surgery to remove the food residue.

The cause of the above condition is due to the food mass causing the intestine to become blocked, blocking the normal circulation of the digestive tract. In addition, because the patient had gastric surgery, the ability to contract and crush food is not good. Currently, the patient's health is stable, and he has been instructed to practice eating soft, liquid foods.

In fact, not only jackfruit but many other foods can also cause intestinal obstruction. Doctors warn that eating a lot of fiber-rich foods such as jackfruit, bamboo shoots, fruits with a lot of tannin (like persimmon, sapodilla, guava...) will create a burden on the digestive system, the food residue will form in the stomach and then move down to the small intestine, causing stagnation and being compressed, leading to intestinal obstruction.

Excessive consumption of fruits with cellulose fibers can cause or contribute to intestinal obstruction. One of the most common fruits reported to cause intestinal obstruction is persimmon, but intestinal obstruction has also been reported with citrus fruits in general and some other dried fruits, nuts and dried seeds, whole grain cereals or other high-fiber breads...
2. Signs of intestinal obstruction

According to Master. Doctor. Nguyen Ngoc Dan, Department of Digestive Surgery, Xanh Pon Hospital, cases of intestinal obstruction due to food residue often have the following symptoms:

Abdominal pain: Abdominal pain often occurs in bouts, and between bouts the patient feels better.

Vomiting: The patient vomits old food and digestive juices.

Abdominal distention: Abdominal distention is gassy and tends to increase if left untreated. However, in some cases where the obstruction is high (near the stomach), abdominal distention is minimal or even absent.

Constipation: The patient cannot pass gas or defecate.

If not treated promptly, the stagnation will worsen, causing pain, vomiting, bacterial growth in the intestines... which can lead to serious consequences such as: dehydration, electrolyte loss, systemic infection, and in some cases, can lead to necrosis of the intestinal loops, causing intestinal rupture, intestinal perforation, and endangering life.

Therefore, patients should not be subjective. When there are signs of suspected intestinal obstruction, they should immediately go to a medical facility for emergency and timely treatment.

3. Diet to prevent intestinal obstruction

Sapodilla contains a lot of tannins which can cause intestinal obstruction.

To prevent intestinal obstruction due to food residue, doctors recommend that people pay attention to the following when eating and drinking:

- You should eat slowly, chew thoroughly, do not eat in a hurry or eat too fast.

- Should use cooked, soft food.

- Limit eating foods that are too rough, tough, hard, and difficult to digest.

- Do not swallow hard food such as tendons or cartilage to create a core for other foods to stick together or clump together, or swallow fruit seeds.

- Limit eating foods high in tannin such as persimmons, sapodilla, green mango, guava; foods high in fiber such as bamboo shoots, jackfruit...

- Do not eat too much fiber-rich foods at once, especially on an empty stomach.
It should be noted that people who are susceptible to intestinal obstruction due to food residue are often the elderly with weak teeth and reduced chewing and swallowing ability; people who have had gastric surgery or chronic pancreatitis with poor food digestion; eat foods with high fiber, tough fibers, and are difficult to digest; mentally ill people who eat their own hair, feathers, etc. These cases need to be even more careful in their daily activities and eating to avoid intestinal obstruction.

MSc. Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Dan also noted that in the daily diet, people should add green, soft, viscous vegetables such as jute, Malabar spinach, okra, etc. It is necessary to drink enough water, an average of 2 liters of water per day to help the digestive system circulate better./.

According to suckhoedoisong.vn

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