Re: Let's talk about symptoms!

From: jetstamp (jetstamp@yahoo.com)
Fri Feb 20 18:19:52 2009


At Fri, 20 Feb 2009, Katie wrote: >
>I did ALOT of reading of the archives over the last week and people
>often talk about their symptoms. I have issues besides these damned
>adhesions but I can usually tell what they are related to; it's the ones
>caused by the adhesions that scare the bejesus out of me!
>
>I have trouble eating, I eat very small amounts of food because my
>stomach begins to feel very tight and the food feels stuck and then when
>it does pass down, I begin to get very bloated. Most of the time I can
>hear lots of noise and gurgling. I also have pinching, pulling and
>tugging sensations when I move around. I sometimes get nauseous but not
>enough to vomit ... yet.
>
>When I sit for more than 20 minutes I feel like everything is being
>pushed up into my chest or under my ribs. When I stand for more than 20
>minutes I feel like everything is being pulled downward. I also have a
>softball size "bubble" right under my navel in the pelvic area and you
>can see it when I lift my shirt. It is not bloating, there is something
>there. Is it my intestines being bound together??? I have no idea. It
>moves around slightly when I lean back left or right and is painful to
>the touch.
>
>The latest thing that has really hit me hard is for the last week I have
>had this awful bladder sensation and the urge to urinate. But here's
>the catch ... it only happens when I am laying down. I feel like
>someone is pulling on my bladder and like there is a hand inside of my
>vagina. It's very painful! During the night I get up to pee as many as
>14 times and I am exhausted during the day! With this issue also came
>the worst low-back pain I have ever had. I had a urine test done
>yesterday by my PCP and it came back normal so it's not a UTI or bladder
>infection so he sent me for a lower lumbar MRI today and I am awaiting
>the results.
>
>I do not have heartburn, GERD or loose stools. If anything, I get
>constipated very easily and often have to push my right pelvic area with
>my hand in order to have a bowel movement.
>
>I had an ultrasound of my uterus last September and the GYN said I do
>NOT have fibroids. I had a pelvic exam 2 weeks ago and he doesn't know
>what the "bubble" is but he said again, he didn't feel any fibroids.
>
>Can anyone out there relate to any of this? And even if you can't what
>are some of the symptoms you guys are having that you know is
>adhesion-related?
>
>Thanks,
>Katie

When my symptoms kicked in 2 weeks after my injury at age 25, I went from having struggled with constipation since around age 11-12 to strictly diarrhea. Violent diarrhea! It felt like my body was literally trying to abort my insides and the spasms never quit so I never knew when to get off of the biff! I had constant achy, sore and throbbing pelvic floor spasms and also extreme soreness from the pelvic floor up along each side of the abdomen- maybe ligament pain- which alternated between excruciating soreness and a sharp, 'stinging' pain. As I've mentioned, my injury was never diagnosed but I suspect some type of prolapse or hernia.I also developed a rectocele at the same time although it was not diagnosed for 20 plus years.

I also had almost constant loud gurgling coming from lower right quadrant where the injury happened. It felt like fluid was trying to make its way through a tight area. The gurgling would be so loud that even when I was in the basement my folks could hear it upstairs! It's not as frequent now as it used to be, but it does still happen.

I noticed extreme tightness pretty much all the way from the pelvis up through the lung area. I feel my breathing has been somewhat labored. I also find myself not breathing as much as I should- I like to think of it as the daytime equivalent of sleep apnea!

I also developed urinary urgency and some leaking, but at the same time not putting out very much when I do go, certainly not in proper proportion to the amount of fluid I take in. Maybe this explains the weight gain despite the diarrhea all those years and less food intake due to GI symptoms but no doctor thinks I have edema, but I disagree. Have tried water pills and other herbal supplements with no impact.

I also get full very quickly when eating. I have some reflux at times, usually the worst time is when I'm brushing my teeth- that is usually the only time I actually 'vomit' a little bit for some reason.

The main point I try to bring up with physicians is that ever since this started I no longer feel the signal to evacuate or any other type of pain in my belly- where it did for the first 25 years of my life. The pain is strictly pelvic and maybe vaginal. My upper and lower abdomen for the most part are tight and numb, although after taking the systemic enzymes and lycopene the past few months I occasionally have been getting some brief sore sensations in abdomen- not sure if it is actually due to the enzymes- but maybe having any kind of sensation in those areas is a good thing?

Currently, my GI symptoms are somewhat mixed, don't have the constant diarrhea anymore, but still have narrow stools often but not all of the time. Also have incomplete evacuation. Was diagnosed with pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) and tried physical therapy (PT) which did nothing. Normally, PFD is thought to be caused by improper, sometimes unconscious tensioning or holding of pelvic floor muscles, and PT, using biofeedback and other things can correct and retrain things, but just like my diagnosis of IBS, I feel that my so-called PFD is due to adhesions and that PT just won't cut it in my case. As one of the PTS told me, my pelvic floor isn't going through the proper motions- like it's frozen- maybe what they call 'frozen pelvis' but of course no doctor will ever consider that. (I was scheduled to do a two-week course of biofeedback for PFD at Mayo, which I was willing to try even though I didn't think it would help. However, my insurance won't cover anything coded as biofeedback and it would have cost me between $7,000.00- $8,000.00 out-of-pocket for the therapy alone so I couldn't do it)

I can relate to the sensations you get after sitting- as well as standing- the pushing and pulling. I know that I have a 'bearing-down' sensation that does not go away when in bed- which is supposed to happen with a prolapse but I figure if stuff is tethered down then that would explain why going to bed doesn't lessen the feeling.

That's all I can think of at the moment anyway.


Enter keywords:
Returns per screen: Require all keywords: