The Cesar Chavez Mini Film Festival, a two-day event in downtown Riverside, kicks off tonight (4/1) with a free 7 p.m. screening of âThe Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Struggleâ at the Culver Center, 3834 Main Street.
Ileus is a blockage of the intestines caused by a lack of peristalsis. Peristalsis is the pumping action of the intestines that helps move food through the digestive system. Ileus is used to describe both full and partial blockages. Solids (food), liquids, and gases are not able to move properly through the body when ileus occurs. Bowel movement can stop due to a mechanical blockage as well. Mechanical means there is something physically lodged in the intestine that is causing the blockage.
Ileus (paralytic ileus, adynamic ileus) is temporary absence of the normal contractile movements of the intestinal wall. Abdominal surgery and drugs that interfere with the intestineâs movements are a common cause. Bloating, vomiting, constipation, cramps, and loss of appetite occur. The diagnosis is made by x-ray. People are given nothing to eat or drink, and a thin suction tube is passed through the nose into the stomach. Like an obstruction (blockage) of the intestines, ileus prevents the passage of intestinal contents. Unlike a mechanical obstruction, though, ileus rarely leads to rupture. Ileus commonly occurs for 24 to 72 hours after abdominal surgery, particularly when the intestines have been manipulated.