Hi Katrina,

Welcome to the board, I am glad that you have decided to take action and learn more about adhesions and the damage & suffering they cause to such a large and mostly silent number of people.  It really helps to have others who understand your pain, frustration, anger and anxiety.

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Hello all,

This is my first time to post on this page. I had my 13th surgery in December and have been told by both of my doctors that it had to be my last. One doctor agrees that the adehsions cause pain the other says he is not convinced because there is no "medical evidence".

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Hello all,

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Hello all,

What you are just beginning to realise how important it really is to be more informed and ask questions and seek several opinions for accepting advice that surgery is the only thing that can solve your particular problem.  Sadly Katrina there are many before you that have experienced numerous surgeries only to find after each one that our problems and pain have grown and more and more of our quality of life has been ripped away for us forever.

You have also discovered just how many differing opinions there are around the world when it comes to the subject of adhesions, pain and ongoing medical consequences of this vicious condition.  Many surgeons seem to refuse to listen and understand the pain, anxiety and suffering adhesions cause.  It amazes me that our organs can be covered & squeezed by them, organs can become tethered and pulled out of it's natural position within our body and it can attach that organ to another causing endless lists of problems, pain and danger to the patient.

Now that you have found the International Adhesions Society web site, you are well on the way to finding the answers to the questions that are ricashaing around your in brain constantly.  It is important that you read all of the information available and visit the adhesions quilt.  There you will find many horrifying stories of youmg women and older women undergoing countless surgeries searching for the one that will give them freedom from the pain and torment that they live with.  What I hope you find from reading those stories is that there is no real answer at the moment and there is really only danger in having surgery after surgery to remove them.  Karla's story is one that you MUST read, she is now in a very delicate situation where surgery could help her, or it may be the cause of her death.  However, if she doesn't have the surgery, eventually her kidneys will shut down and she will die. 

Karla, like many of us trusted her doctors and believed that she was in safe hands.  We have all been brought up to respect professionalpeople such as lawyers and doctors and many of us wouldn't dream of questioning a doctors diagnosis or advice.  When in reality, that doctor actually works for us, we pay a consultation fee and we deserve a satisfactory service for our money.  We can no longer use ignorance as an excuse for us to blindly follow every direction given to us by a physician.  We should read, ask questions and expect answers.  These answers should be given using words and phrases that we understand, and if we don't understand, then we should feel comfortable enough to ask the doctor to explain it again, another way so that we can feel confident that we know exactly what is going on.

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My husband and I have decided that it is now time for us to take this into our hands and help in any way with this cause. We know that they cause pain because I live with it. Since I am just starting this journey I am open to any suggestions or ideas that you may have. I am not ready to give up and "learn to live with it".

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I can understand that you don't want to "learn to live with it", but consider it this way, learning to live with it, getting to know your pain, noting the triggers - what causes your pain to get out of control?  When the pain has settled down, what is it that you did to get to that point?  By learning to understand & know your body, activities and pain, you will allow yourself an excellent opportunity to find diversional therapies and perhaps some pain medications which help to keep it all under control.  Remember Katrina, at this time, there is no cure.... some are having a small amount of success with adhesion barriers and others have managed to be relatively pain free after many many operations BUT at this time, those success stories are very few and far between.  So why risk making your condition worse, by continuing to persue a surgical solution to a problem that is only made worse by surgery?

I don't believe that learning to live with it is giving up either.  I accept my pain and I have almost got my long term pain management plan just right.  It will need tweeking from time to time, but that's fine!  BECAUSE in the mean time I am able to be as active a mamber of my family as I possibly can.  There have been sacrifices, but that's OK too, because I am still alive, I have all my senses... sight, smell, sound, voice, touch..... so I can iuse all of these gifts to watch and wonder at the beauty and excitement of watching my four daughters grow up.  I have the joy and pleasure of having a great relationship with my husband, who I have been with since I was eighteen.

I hope this doesn't sound like I am trying to lecture you Katrina, because that is certainly what I wouldn't want to do.  I am simply a fellow adhesions sufferer offering understanding, support and friendship to others who are in this rocky boat with me.

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My adhesions keep attaching to my colon and I have already had 12" taken out. My doctor said that he is very concerned about me getting paratenitis (sp?). So now I am not just looking for a way to live with it but to help with research to find out what causes it and how to prevent it.