> To Cathy:
> It is very hard to give you specific advice about your condition and if
you
> are at a 1-2-3 level of pain and it does not last long and your life is
not
> being direly affected by it. It is not uncommon for women to have cysts
on
> their ovaries and sometimes they will rupture and set up some scar tissue
> which will bother you from time to time but I have been there and it was
so
> very livable compared to the hell I am in now. You should get the report
on
> this just to see what it showed. My personal opinion is just to watch it
> and see what happens. I am one of the unfortunate ones who are adhesed in
a
> way that I never get any relief(my small intestine is adhesed to my
> diaphragm and both move 24 hours a day so there is no
> relief for me. Sometimes I have to take two Vicodin ES to give me enough
> relief that I can just do my necessary activities and that just brings it
> down from an 11 to about a 8. I simply must have something done and take
my
> chances as somedays death would be merciful. Wishing you the best.
Dolores
> dtouch@bellsouth.net
>> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "cathy:-" <anonymous@medispecialty.com>
> To: "Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS"
> <adhesions@mail.medispecialty.com>
> Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 11:15 PM
> Subject: ok, everyone, I need the benefit of your 20-20 hindsight
>
> > I introduced myself a couple of weeks ago, but I'll recap...
> >
> > About 7 months ago I started having on-and-off sharp stabbing pains on
> > my right side in exactly the same place and very much the same feeling
> > as I get each month when I ovulate. But it is not nearly so intense --
> > my ovulation pain is 12 hours at about a 5 or 6, whereas this is more
> > like 0, 1, 2, and an occasional spike to 3. At the same time I started
> > having an intense (like 6 or 7) pain at orgasm, which fortunately only
> > lasts like 10 seconds or so. (When I read of you ladies who need an
> > oxycondon to even consider sex I'm not sure whether I should be
> > incredibly thankful that I don't have anything like that degree of pain
> > -- or really bummed that no matter how you look at it, it is now
> > confirmed that EVERYBODY is getting better sex than me! <wicked grin>)
> >
> > About 6 weeks ago I visited my family practice doc, who listened to my
> > description of symptoms and immediately guessed "adhesions." I knew
> > something about adhesions because I have a book where the author talks
> > about her surgical spiral where each new surgery for adhesions only made
> > the adhesions worse. The FP said that she would refer me to a
> > gynocologist, and that if they decided it was adhesions then they would
> > probably go in and cut them. I immediately questioned that, "Don't they
> > just come back worse if you cut them? She said, "Uh, no, I don't think
> > so." (But then she is not a surgeon. The important part is that she
> > obviously believes that adhesions=pain, which I know is a good sign.)
> >
> > So she referred me to a gyne, who kept giving me "the look" -- as in "if
> > you only have this little bit of pain why are you in here complaining?"
> > This is in the middle of "ovarian cancer awareness month" where the
> > article I read in the paper made this big deal about not brushing off
> > vague abdominal symptoms, because with OC it's frequently true that
> > there are vague "not right" things, but the first really significant
> > symptom is often death. I kept feeling like she was saying that I
> > didn't "deserve" her time because I wasn't in enough pain.
> >
> > The first doc had ordered a pelvic ultrasound which I had a couple of
> > weeks after the appointment with the gyne. So far neither doc has
> > called me with any results. I did get a bill from the hospital for
> > DOING the ultrasound, but no bill from the radiologists for reading the
> > films. I posted to the Q&A board at obgyn.net because of 2 things about
> > the ultrasound -- one is that it took like 10 minutes, and two was that
> > the tech worked only from the left side of my bladder, which is a good
> > 8-10 inches away from the pain on the right side. The doc on obgyn.net
> > told me that first of all it sounded like I needed a transvaginal
> > ultrasound, not an abdominal one, but that anyway a "real" pelvic
> > ultrasound requires moving the wand on both sides and the middle of the
> > abdomen.
> >
> > So I'm trying to figure out what to do next...
> >
> > Do I call my family practice doc and find out what the ultrasound said?
> >
> > Do I call the radiologists and ask for a copy of the report? (At least
> > that way I'll know that there IS a report!)
> >
> > Do I try for a referral to a different gyne? My FP clearly believes that
> > diagnosing and operating on adhesions are outside her expertise --
> > although she DOES believe in them.
> >
> > I live in rural western IL. There is only one gyne who even does
> > surgery at my local hospital -- I went to a nearby slightly larger town
> > to see the gyne. I know how many of you have had your inside (and
> > lives!) totally mucked up by ignoramouses making a bad situation worse
> > and worse... Should I just blow these people off completely? I've been
> > told that a diagnostic laporoscopy is "minimally invasive" surgery like
> > any schmuck can do it and do no harm. But there are those of you who
> > clearly have formed new adhesions from diagnostic laporoscopies. I have
> > this idea of calling Drs Reich & Redan's office and going to Scranton
> > for a lap. But I feel silly calling in the "A Team" when I don't even
> > know for sure whether I HAVE adhesions! Which brings me back to my
> > central problem... I'm really not in a huge amount of pain, and it's
> > not interfering with my life. Except that part about how a "successful"
> > sexual interlude includes getting "kicked in the nuts" which really
> > tends to put a chill on the old libido! So far I've only had one
> > abdominal surgery, my (unnecessary) c-section 7-1/2 years ago. Does a
> > diagnostic lap, even if done by a really good surgeon, mean a big risk
> > that the adhesions and pain will get worse? I mean that seems like a
> > pretty big price to pay to satisfy idle curiosity... What happens if I
> > just blow all these people off and wait until the pain becomes
> > debilitating and then seek treatment?
> >
> > So, anyway, for those of you who've made it to the end of another of my
> > long rambling discourses... Once a lot of you were in roughly the same
> > situation I am now. Knowing what you know now, what do you think I
> > should do? Think of me as you "doing it all over again." So I guess my
> > question is "if you knew then what you know now, what would you have
> > done?"
> >
> > --
> > cathy :-)
> >
>