Hi Kay, It's me again. Have they ever done a Gastric Emptying test on you? Its where you have to eat either tuna or egg salad mixed with radioactive stuff, next food is peaches in heavy syrup, and lastly a glass of whole milk. Then they start the testing and every few minutes you have to stand in front of a screen so they can take a type of x-ray as your body digests the food. The first time I did it, my Gastro found that I have Gastroparesis. Normal peoples digestive system starts digesting as they swallow their first bites of food.
My guts did not start digesting for 4 1/2 hours after I ate. It is not as bad anymore, but I still have it. My digestion starts about 1/2 hour -45 minutes after eating. When it gets really bad I have to take Reglan 1/2 hour before meals, and then also have a nausea medicine to take. The first eppisode/attack that I had, I swelled up to about 6 months pregnant, was in a lot of abdominal pain on top of the adhesions, threw up, extremely nauseous. They thought it was my gallbladder and put me on the BRAT diet for about 2 weeks.
The next time I went through the same symptoms, and was also extremely tired. I literally slept the whole weekend. I would eat a piece of dry toast, or cup of applesauce, rice, and bananas. I also drank a lot of water. I ended up going on a low fat, fat free diet. It has been really getting bad again. I will eat something and within 10 min. I am really sick. This has been going on for about 5 days now. My gallbladder was removed, sometimes I wonder if I am having problems with my Pancrease. I need to put myself back on the BRAT diet and see how I feel after a few days,and also take the meds.
I also have IBS, and besides wanting to redecorate my bathroom every few months, I have horrible cramping, then the vicious cycle, the more you go the more your bowels rip and tear, and the more adhesion pain you deal with. I stay away from fiber. Good luck and feel better. Cheryl. Your 3 year old sounds absolutely adorable. :)
> Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:19:50 -0500
> From: tracy.joslin@adhesions.org
> To: adhesions@mail.obgyn.net
> Subject: Abdominal adhesions and swelling
>
> Sender: lilcloverfairy@aol.com (Kay)
> Subject: Re: Abdominal adhesions and swelling
>
> Hello!
>
> Thank you for your reply and information!
>
> The pain in my ribs is due to the massive swelling. i too look around 6
> months preggy with the swelling and it's all located in my upper
> abdomin/under ribs. I've lost around 30 pounds and even my loosest
> pants are a bit snug on the waist. It helps one to feel so attractive,
> let me tell you. LOL In any case, I've had this happen on and off since
> about 5 years ago, following my Gall Bladder removal. We had thought
> that with the great pain I was having, that there might be a stray stone
> in a bile duct, and voila! Nada. Years went on without another "attack"
> and all was well. Around Jan or Feb of last year, I was dealing with
> some pretty stressful situations, I get this horrible pain in the center
> of my chest and then the swelling and band of pain around my entire
> chest area for a couple days, then it subsided to just major pain for a
> few weeks. Within that time, I was stubborn to call my dr. seeing how
> we couldn't find anything with the last procedure, and I refused to
> call. then I caved. Once I called, he was out of town on vacation for
> another week, and then I was able to see him about a week AFTER his
> return. I held tight and finally saw him. He ordered tests upon tests,
> had to get to the bottom of it all. Nothing showed in my blood work,
> CTscan, U/S or MRI. Here we are in 2009, and I noticed a coincidence of
> pain with stress. The pain would last for weeks, nearly 1 month then
> stops as if nothing had ever happened. Right now, I'm on the tail end
> of an episode with having more blood work done to rule out anything
> going on with my liver or pancreas, and my 2nd CTscan. All of which,
> again, had shown nothing but pure 100% health. Desperate for pain
> management and with him hearing that everything that I've taken on my
> own hasn't worked, he sent me home with, Lyrica. Like everything else,
> it helped for about the first day, for 15 minutes. I forgot to mention,
> after my testing last week, he had called me with the results, and said,
> "You have mild IBS(have known this for years and no serious probs with
> it) and Adhesions. Once I did my research, it all clicked in my head.
> He then prescribed a high fiber diet, no dairy of any sort, and no
> carrots or apples. I followed his diet plan for a few days, the pain
> remained, and gradually got worse.
>
> So sorry for that horrible "paragraph" ^^ haha
>
> So, here I am, trying to get to the bottom of things and desperate for
> answers. I have a 3 year old son that understands pretty well that
> mommy is sicky in her tummy, and it just kills me to be so attached to
> the couch and not being able to pick him up. He's the sweetes
> though,... he gives mommy "magical kisses" on my tummy and tells me to
> feel better. :) If I lift anything with any sort of weight, I'm thrown
> into an episode.
>
> Also, I've come close to vomitting, though I show no bundling or
> anything wrong with my intestines. Before I realized that I should be
> eating very small portions at a turtle's pace, I would find myself
> eating a regular portioned meal, then all of a sudden, finding myself
> feeling food slowly come up into my throat, and being full for the rest
> of the day. Get constipated, then finally having a movement that would
> then turn into yuck. So, right now, I'm happy with apple sauce and
> graham crackers with water. Lots and lots of water. Anyway...
>
> I see my dr on Monday, the 17th, at 11:30. I'm axious to see what he
> says. I have my trust in him, he's excellent at what he does. I just
> happen to be the patient that gives him a run for his money, and tests
> everything he has learned. I have a feeling that the next step might be
> to go in to see the severity of adhesions, if indeed that is what it is.
> I also know that it's a double edged sword going in like that as that's
> what got me here.
>
> Again, Thank you.
>
> -Kay
>
> At Wed, 12 Aug 2009, IAS Admin wrote:
> >
> >From: adhesions@adhesions.org [mailto:adhesions@adhesions.org] On Behalf
Of
> >HERB F DIXON
> >Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2009 9:06 PM
> >To: adhesions-request@adhesions.org
> >Subject: Re: Abdominal adhesions and swelling
> >
> >How long have you been dealing with swelling? Exactly where is the
> swelling?
> >I have Gastroparesis, I swell up and at times I look about 6 months
> >pregnant. The last time it was really BAD, I tried the new Blueberry
> squares
> >cereal. Within 1/2 hour I was so huge! Couldn't button, or zip my pants
> >closed, my shirt was sucked in and stuck like glue, very attractive! The
> >only place I had to go was to see my hair stylist for a haircut. I just
> tied
> >a sweatshirt above my belly and went. She could not believe what she saw.
> >Then on top of it nausea, and the pain of my skin being stretched out. I
> >read an article about adhesions in the paper, the doctor said that " when
a
> >band of adhesions wraps around the intestine, it can obstruct the passage
> of
> >undigested food. The part of the intestine laying before the obstruction
> >becomes distended with fluid and partially digested food. That's the
cause
> >of crampy abdominal pain and vomiting." I thought that part was pretty
> >interesting, but he goes on to talk about "obstructions make bowel
> movements
> >and gas passage impossible. The intestine can become so distended that
its
> >blood supply is cut off and it can rupture. Prior surgery is the chief
> cause
> >of adhesions, but.. not the only cause. Infections within the abdominal
> >cavity can also cause them and so can abdominal radiation." This doctor
> that
> >wrote all of this is
> > Dr. Donohue, Orlando, Fl. 32853-6475. He also said that the "abdominal
> >organs ( including the large and small intestine ) don't like being
pushed
> >around. No matter how careful the surgeon is when he/she enters the
> abdomen,
> >its inevitable that moving structures, to expose the trouble spot gives
> rise
> >to deposits of sticky protein called Fibrin. Fibrin, in turn, invites the
> >laying down of collagen, another protein, the stuff of which scars are
> >made. Strands of collagen form thick bands that bind adjacent organs, or
> >encircle the intestines. Those scar like bands are adhesions". Now that I
> >have given you a lesson in adhesions LOL!! I don't know what causes the
> pain