Hi Everyone,
I am brand new to the site and I have to say that it is great to have some support. I'm 29...okay 30 in two weeks :-(...but I just found out I have adhesions last year. I am a graduate student studying psychology. From this experience I have learned what it is like to not be taken seriously, made to feel like you're over-reacting, and to be dismissed as someone whose pain is "in her head." I started questioning myself and whether it really was in my head. I talked to my colleagues, I talked to my family, my friends, anyone who would listen. No one knew about adhesions. I think some still think I'm crazy! One thing I take with me from this experience is what it may be like for my future clients who have not been taken seriously by previous therapists. I am going to listen!
For months before I was diagnosed, I had suffered from a mysterious and very uncomfortable pain in my right side and it took weeks and weeks of testing and different docs. before they did a laproscopic procedure. The results from that showed "extreme dense adhesions in the abdominal, bowel, and pelvic regions," (that's what the medical record stated). They found cysts, fluid, and that my liver was attached to my abdominal wall by the adhesions.
Although I was glad they found something, as I was starting to think I was crazy, my docs provided sooooo little information about it. My gyno, who did the procedure, basically said I was worried about nothing, that the adhesions were not serious, and there was nothing that could be done. She then asked if I wanted to have kids. I said I didn't know, as I was recently divorced, and still in school. She said "well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it." I have no idea what that means! As a result of the surgery, she did NOTHING. In the past I have been diagnosed with irritable bowel syndrome, GERD, and anxiety.
Recently, I have found myself back at the docs with very bad pelvic pain. It hurts to have intercourse, hurts to urinate, and bowel movements are very painful. The first person I went to said I had kidney stones. Not true. The second said I was "irritated and inflamed" but she thought it was some sort of infection. I took two different antibiotics. I still have pelvic pain on the lower right side. I have decided to switch doctors and try someone new. When I got my medical records to take to the new doc, I read them it was filled with sooooo much information I was never told! I was so upset I just started crying. This started me researching adhesions and I came across this site. I had NO IDEA that adhesions can cause pelvic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, and a host of other problems! NO ONE told me!!! I simply find it hard to believe that so many people, including doctors, have so little information about adhesions. That's why I am so thankful for this site and email lists such as this one. From my education in psychology, I know how incredibly important a support system is!
Well, I've said my spiel. Since I have soooo little information, please feel free to direct me to any good websites, treatment ideas, things to tell my new doctor, etc. I am certainly open to any help. I am more than willing to share any information I have, as well.
Hope everyone continues to hang in there!
Rebecca Oshkosh, WI