I was diagnosed with adhesions after I had a hysterectomy in 2003. Never had any trouble with them before that, even though I had had a pror laparoscopic appendectomy. Apparently, it's the open surgery I don't tolerate well. When my gyn went back in 6 months later, she couldn't even "identify a plain" the adhesions were so dense and vascular. With the help of the discussions on this board, I made the decision not to have any more surgery unless there was no possible way to avoid it. Most times that's doable, but then there are times like this when I go several days without having a bowel movement in addition to feeling more pulling and pain that I need a little extra boost. Then, my mind goes haywire about what's going on in my body and if this is going to be "the big one" (as Fred Sanford used to say for those of you who are old enough to remember that :))that lands me in the hospital with a SBO. Anyway, in an effort to help me get my mind on the right track again I have a series of questions that I'd love to get some feedback on for discussion purposes, if that's okay:
1. Who's been diagnosed with dense, vascular adhesions?
2. What, exactly, does that mean? Does it mean there's a lot of them and that they're thick with a blood supply to them? In your opinion, do you feel that the surgical treatment of them is different and are they more likely to recur?
3. What are the things you do to help yourself - - aside from pain medication, since that's a given as well as a very individualized decision between you and your physician.
4. Finally,one of my frustrations is that even pulling up adhesion information on the web, I find that much of the "most recent" material is very dated - - like 2003 and even further back. How do I stay as in the loop as possible? How do I participate in helping to better equip people about understanding this condition? Thanks - - actually, please respond to my e-mail rather than on the board if you can. I don't want to clutter up the Adhesion website. Thanks!!
-- Anita