Volvulus can be defined as a condition in which one part of your digestive system folds and then starts looping around itself. It can prove dangerous for your health because intestine twisting can cut off the supply of blood. It can cause extreme pain, bloating, cramping, and discomfort.
People with this issue also get bloody stool and obstruction of their bowel. It makes the movement of the bowel tough to happen. Moreover, it can lead to necrosis of the bowel. This condition is very dangerous and irreversible.
Symptoms
The onset of symptoms is usually slow. It can become worse as time passes. It appears with cramping and then the pain becomes worse even unbearable. There are some common symptoms of volvulus that are also associated with signal bowel obstruction.
These symptoms are abdominal tenderness, constipation, vomiting, abdominal distention, and blood in stools.
Causes
Doctors are not sure about the exact cause of volvulus. It occurs predominantly in people of older age i.e, around the age of 70. Some studies have reported that the problem of volvulus is common in males.
But other studies showed that there is no link between the disease of volvulus and gender. It is common in people who have psychiatric and neurological issues associated with constipation. The exact cause of volvulus is unknown.
Different factors are involved in causing this disease. These are colonic and anatomic factors. Some anatomical features include a sigmoid and redundant colon. Another cause of volvulus is the dysmotility of the colon. Sigmoid colon torsion can occur from abnormal colon movements.
If rotation of the gut is abnormal in children, they can have the problem of volvulus while the baby is in utero. Many children with the disease of volvulus also have congenital anomalies like atresia which refers to bowel blocking.
Treatment
Doctors use different tests to diagnose the disease of volvulus. Once they are done with the diagnosing, they move on toward the treatment. The goal of treatment is relieving the intestine twisting and preventing the episodes of twisting to occur in the future.
The process in which the untwisting of the intestine occurs refers to reducing the volvulus. Firstly, doctors perform sigmoidoscopy in order to do it. It decreases sigmoid volvulus. It also allows restoring the supply of blood to the tissues.
The doctor uses a scope to examine the colon and the damage of tissue in it. There is no need to go through surgery in this case. There is a great debate on sigmoid volvulus management.
The reason is that some doctors suggest that endoscopy is done on patients only who cannot have surgery. Others recommend that they should perform surgery after doing sigmoidoscopy. It helps to get further episodes.
The reason for this debate is that sometimes endoscopy fails to reduce volvulus. Some patients may still need surgery to overcome the symptoms of this disease. There are also people who can’t undergo this procedure because they have certain diseases.
Sometimes reduction is not successful and people get episodes of symptoms again. The chances to get episodes of the disease, again and again, are higher if it occurs a second time.
In order to make yourself less vulnerable to developing the disease of volvulus, improve your lifestyle and food. We all know a balanced diet is necessary to live a good and healthy life. Keep an eye on your symptoms.
Do not try to treat the symptoms at home if you suspect that you have the disease of volvulus. The reason is that delay can cause more complications. These complications, later on, become difficult to treat. That is the reason it is important to immediately report to a doctor about your health condition.
Delay can make the disease difficult to treat. Even health loss can become irreversible sometimes. Quit the habit of smoking and consuming alcohol in excessive amounts. If you have volvulus and still you smoke and consume alcohol, your symptoms can become worse.
You need to alter your lifestyle in a good way to reduce the risk factors for getting volvulus. It is possible to recover from the mild symptoms of the disease. But still, you need to be careful in examining the symptoms if you have volvulus.
Some other intestinal diseases can pair up with volvulus and make it worse to deal with. In this case, visit your doctor regularly.
