Re: Chicken or the egg?

From: cathy:- (anonymous@medispecialty.com)
Sat Oct 26 22:39:43 2002

This is actually not so mysterious. While 90% of adhesions are caused by surgery, 10% aren't. The most common non-surgical causes are infection (often either PID or a ruptured appendix or a ruptured ovarian cyst), endo, or sometimes even a blunt-force blow to the abdomen (for example hitting a steering wheel in a car accident.) All of these things have something in common and have this same thing in common with surgery. An infection will put puss, goop, gunk into the abdomen. Surgery, endometriosis and blunt-force trauma leading to internal bleeding will put blood into the abdomen. Neither of those things belongs there; either or both of those things will cause adhesional scar tissue. The way your body works is that when it detects either infection or bleeding, then it attempts to "wall off" the infection or the bleeding in a last ditch effort to save your life. So when Gork the caveman had his appendix rupture, or much more recent, when Mary the 18th Century housewife had an ovarian cyst rupture, both of these people had exactly one chance to live in those days before surgery and ERs. If their bodies formed adhesions efficiently, then they lived. They might be in pain, but they lived. Without surgery, the people who didn't form adhesions simply died when one of these non-surgical events happened.

So if your daughter has a confirmed diagnosis of endo, that right there is enough to be responsible for adhesions. Every month those endo implants bleed, and so every month she is having as much bleeding in her belly as if she was having surgery every month! It's possible that she could have gotten an infection, too, and it's possible that she has had ovarian cysts burst as well. So having massive adhesions before any surgery is totally possible. No, it's not the most COMMON path to massive adhesions, but given that there are millions of people who have adhesions, something can be RARE and still describe what happened to tens of thousands of people.

(Now, if we could just get that same sort of one-in-a-thousand luck to apply to picking lotto tickets! ;-)

At Fri, 25 Oct 2002, kann wrote: >
>I am so confused!! After 13 years of prednisone and being told my
>daughter had Crohn's (and me not believing it), she finally had
>laproscopic surgery after she and I decided it had to be endometriosis.
>In January 2002, after 2 1/2 hrs of surgery, the surgeon came out with
>pictures of a "fused" together pelvis. It was a mess!! He called them
>'adhesions' and told us he had "freed the pelvis". After so many years
>of watching her suffering, we were so excited. Our excitement was short
>lived and soon the doc was recommending she start Lupron treatments. We
>did not agree. We sent her surgery video to another doctor for a second
>opinion. Then were surprised when he informed us she had untreated endo
>all in the pelvis. She recently had surgery again. Big gaping holes
>were lasered out and now, 5 weeks later, she is still not well. Very
>depressed. Dealing with nausea, fatigue and frankly, not much has
>changed. My biggest problem: She had never had ANY type of surgery
>prior to the first lap. The doc's say her adhesions were from a
>possible infection. Now, I wonder, which came first---adhesions or
>endo??? Also, I see healthy looking uterus's on web sites. My daughters
>uterus looked bloody, sore, etc....there are also place that look like
>torn skin inside her body. I am so frustrated!!! She has NO LIFE!!
>Anyone with any help---I would be forever grateful. She is single and
>26 years old. Thanks
>
>--
>Kann
>

--
cathy :-)

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