I have been reading this wonderfulforum for a few months wondering if adhesions could be my problem or I should say nightmare...I would like to preface this by saying I had a wonderful OBGYN who performed a tubal on me 3 years ago and after the surgery he asked me had I been experiencing terrible stomach pains. I advised him I had not. Well, he went on to inform me I had adhesions everywhere from my previous c-section and that he cleaned them out! Since that time, my wonderful Dr. passed away and I have wondered aimlessly from Dr. to Dr. trying to find out what is wrong with my stomach/intestines/bowel problems.
I have had colonscopy, small bowel xray, ct scan, ultra sound, xrays and all the test came out negative for any diseases. I have been seeing a GI Dr. the last 2 months and I had a feeling I was on my way to a diagnosis of "irritable bowel syndrome" and I was not going to be left in misery with IBS being my problem when I knew something was terribly wrong with my stomach/intestines.
These are/were (fingers crossed) my symptoms: weight loss, loss of appetite, severely lethargic, food wasn't being digested properly, bowel problems with them become less and less frequent. Felt a "pulling" sensation in right lower quadrant of stomach starting last summer and the pulling progressed to where I literally felt like my stomach/gut was being slowly squeezed off - a tightening around entire stomach area. My stomach/intestines made loud bubbling noises all day long and I eventually lost my sense of taste and smell.
I slowly became bed ridden (42 yrs young:) with my daughter having to drop out of college to take care of me. The strain and stress this suffering has caused has taken a toll on my precious daughter and God bless her for standing by me through all of it.
Fast forward to a week ago, out of desperation I dialed my Dr's number (who had passed) I know, sounds crazy, but suffering can have that affect on you..Well, come to find out a new Dr. had taken over his practice and had my chart from 3 years ago concerning the tubal and adhesions. I immediately sceduled an appointment and the Dr. actually listened to me regarding this pulling/symptoms and scheduled a laproscopy for the following week. One good thing which came out of the GI visits and small bowel xray is when they xrayed the end of my intestines where the cecum/ileum is located I doubled over and knew at that moment exactly where the pulling was coming from. Of course I called the GI Dr. the very next day and told the nurse about the location of the problem and yet again nobody listened to me.
Well, needless to say the new obgyn found horrible adhesions from the middle of my stomach over and up to my appendix area. He took pictures and they are unbelievable. The surgery nurse even commented how she couldn't believe all of the adhesions which covered my right side of my stomach. My Dr. immediately after surgery went out into the waiting room and asked my mother if my appendix had been removed and she told him no. He is baffled at how the adhesions formed over in this area. I will meet with him next week to discuss this further and am now confused myself at how the adhesions formed in that area where I have had no prevous surgeries?? The Dr. did find a small hernia which I know how this was caused - by straining soooo hard to have a bowel movement!! I am curious if adhesions can form around a hernia?
Have any of you had this experience wherein your adhesions formed somewhere other than where your previous surgeries were located? I apologize for this being so long, but I made a promise to myself if/when I ever found out what was destroying my life, I would try to give back to others who are suffering from adhesions by sharing my saga. You are not alone and never ever give up..Also, try and find a Dr. who will "listen" to you..I am left wondering how many poor women are left with a diagnosis of IBS when in reality they have adhesions...
I pray this has cured my condition and my fingers are crossed xxx
I would love to hear from those who have experienced the same symptoms and how you eventually found help. My heart goes out to all and your family who suffer from this horrible condition<3
-- Chriztene