Re: Anyone had surgery to remove adhesions?

From: Jeanne (anonymous@medispecialty.com)
Thu Nov 1 17:53:27 2001


At Wed, 31 Oct 2001, Jo Eslick wrote: >
>Jo,

What a beautiful letter. Thank you, It's a warm feeling that you are out there. For a while I didn't know why I was in pain, the more "I" started looking into it, I found many things to consider. So now I have a place to get most of my questions and fears answered. Thanks again, talk to yoou over the weekend. Jeanne >
>Hi Jeanne
>Many of us have had at least one surgery if not many more to remove adhesions.  These surgeries have provided varying degrees of successful & unsuccessful pain relief.  Many of us now strongly urge very serious consideration before agreeing to surgical treatment of this condition.  Out of the many who post, a very small percentage actually achieve pain free success, many of us either continue to suffer with either the same or a higher degree of pain.  Others have experienced complications related to the surgery and have ended up in a far worse state than before hand.
>I am not saying that we are without hope, I believe that it is a matter of making more doctors and surgeons aware of the  crippling effect adhesions can have on many patients.  There are still a large proportion of the medical world who believe that adhesions do not cause pain or that trying to remove them in surgery only increases the likely hood of them returning.
>
>There needs to be better education for both the medical communities and their patients.  I always strongly urge those who ask us here about this problem to seek numerous opinions, to research, read, ask questions and then ask some more.  Don't stop until you are positive that you have explored all avenues before you agree to a surgical solution.
>
>The adhesions are so bad in my lower abdominal cavity that some of my organs are "invisible to the naked eye" because they are completely covered in dense scar tissue.  My ovaries were removed in April this year, they were so covered & buried in adhesions there was no hope of saving them.  Some of the pain associated with where my ovaries were adhered to has been relieved, however, I still suffer enough pain from the remaining adhesions for it to interfere with my daily life.
>
>Many will tell you that laparascopic surgery (key hole) is the safest and least likely to cause the addition of new adhesions, but they cannot guarantee this.  Mine are so dense that laparascopic surgery is out of the question because they cannot get the instruments close enough to the area that requires work.
>
>At this point, I am not considering further surgery, as this will in my personal opinion pose too greater risk to complications and further pain.  I use a very diverse plan to cope with pain on a daily basis.  This includes meditation, relaxation, visualisation, music, reading, hot baths, heat packs, pain medication, gentle exercise such as walking and chatting to my friends here on the IAS board.
>
>Please continue to visit us Jeanne, we are here for you to vent, seek sympathy, support, friendship and offer our advice based on personal experience.  Please remember that I am not a medical person, just a fellow adhesions sufferer hoping to help others through caring & friendship.
>
>love & gentle warm hugs
>
>Jo
>

--
Jeanne

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