1. < Digestive Health

Abdominal adhesion

Posted by nooral @nooral, Jun 23, 2023

Hello,
I am 39 years old female with a history of malrotation, bowel obstruction and adhesion. I had open surgery twice. I am suffering from chronic abdominal pain, diarrhea after each meal, and bloating. The only thing which relieved my symptoms is to fast or be on fluid diet and not to do any physical activity. I have been doing this for almost two years and half. I know it is adhesion as all my tests are normal. Does anyone have suggestions? Anyone has similar issue? I know that sooner or later I will need a surgery as it is getting worse but the doctors do not want to do any more surgery till I have bowel obstruction again. My symptoms are getting worse. No improvement at all. I am afraid that if the adhesion has not been resolved now it will cause lots of complications later such as ganagrene and it will be very difficult for me to recover completely.

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marciakeren | @marciakeren | Jun 28, 2023
In reply to @susanh824 "Hi there, I have never heard of anyone having gangrene from adhesions. Is that something your..." + (show)
@susanh824

Hi there,
I have never heard of anyone having gangrene from adhesions. Is that something your doctor mentioned to you? I also have many adhesions from multiple abdominal surgeries. A few years ago, I had a seven hour surgery to clear them as best as the could. The surgeon was W. Scott Melvin at The Ohio State University. He did a great job! Naturally, more adhesions grew after that surgery, but they don’t bother me like they used to. Also, my gastroenterologist recently told me that the university has massage therapists who specialize in adhesions. Hope you find some relief soon!

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Hi Susanh... great to hear that the surgery worked for you. I too am thinking about it.. was your surgery laparoscopic ? 7 hours sounds challenging... but worth the results, it seems.

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1 reply
nooral | @nooral | Jun 28, 2023

@ marciakeren
Thank you so much. I understand every word you wrote. I could feel the pain and yes I am looking for a laproscopic adhesiolysis. I do not want am open surgery any more. So I will try my best to find a surgeon who will accept to do it laproscopically for me.
Thank you. Wish you all the best.

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nooral | @nooral | Jun 28, 2023
In reply to @marciakeren "Sorry to hear of your problem... and I am so, so sympathetic as I have suffered..." + (show)
@marciakeren

Sorry to hear of your problem... and I am so, so sympathetic as I have suffered from partial small bowel obstructions for 30+ years as a result of 6+ abdominal surgeries (myomectomy, surgeries to repair tubal damages from 2 ectopic pregnancies, hysterectomy and more!! what fun). I have been hospitalized twice and have had to have an NG tube... ick.

The partial obstructions have always righted themselves, but I have about 4+ incidents a year. I eat a low fiber diet, use a heating pad on my abdomen every night, and have modified many other eating habits. I tried massage therapy, with no positive results.

Finally I saw a surgeon whose expertise is minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery - he is at Hopkins in DC. I am also consulting with a surgeon with the same expertise in NYC at Weill Cornell. The DC surgeon answered all my questions and thought he might be able to excise some of the adhesions and prevent regrowth. The bottom line from the DC surgeon was: "If I get in and see it is too challenging to fix laparoscopically, I will not do anything at all. No open surgery would help. My hope is that I will do what I can to obtain fewer and less severe issues." He does this type of surgery (laparoscopic, same-day surgery) every 3-4 months... and left it up to me to decide what to do next.

I am waiting to talk to the Weill Cornell NYC Dr, as that would be more strategically easy to organize... I am thinking that that could be a good solution for me. I am not sure if it is right for you, but it might be something to consider...

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Do you have the contact number for Hopkins or Weill cornell please? I am going to be in US till the end of July I do not have enough time. Thank you

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1 reply
marciakeren | @marciakeren | Jun 28, 2023
In reply to @nooral "Do you have the contact number for Hopkins or Weill cornell please? I am going to..." + (show)
@nooral

Do you have the contact number for Hopkins or Weill cornell please? I am going to be in US till the end of July I do not have enough time. Thank you

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To reach Doctor Martin Paul at Johns Hopkins, I first went to the Hopkins website (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/) and did the preliminary paperwork to arrange an appointment. I received an email from the Medical Concierge who asked for my medical records to be sent to her and then she summitted them to the Gastroenterology department for review. Once the department reviewed my file, she took care of arranging the appointment, checking my insurance, etc. She also acted as the intermediary between the Dr and me as I arranged the appointment.

What the office did tell me is that they are booking surgeries two months out.. so you may want to keep this in mind since you are only here till the end of July. Insurance, too, is something they will ask about...

I am not ready to share the Cornell Weil information yet, as I have not yet spoken to the doctor to see if he is the right person... when I find that out I will be glad to share the info with you.

Hope this helps...
Marcia

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susanh824 | @susanh824 | Jun 28, 2023
In reply to @marciakeren "Hi Susanh... great to hear that the surgery worked for you. I too am thinking about..." + (show)
@marciakeren

Hi Susanh... great to hear that the surgery worked for you. I too am thinking about it.. was your surgery laparoscopic ? 7 hours sounds challenging... but worth the results, it seems.

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No, my surgery was open. The incision went from my breast bone to my belly button. I needed a total of seven pints of blood during and after the surgery.

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1 reply
marciakeren | @marciakeren | Jun 28, 2023
In reply to @susanh824 "No, my surgery was open. The incision went from my breast bone to my belly button...." + (show)
@susanh824

No, my surgery was open. The incision went from my breast bone to my belly button. I needed a total of seven pints of blood during and after the surgery.

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Yikes... that is a lot... of everything. I am glad to hear that you are doing well.

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docm | @docmeehan | Jun 28, 2023
In reply to @johnbishop "Hello @nooral, I would like to add my welcome to Connect along with @heathertink1970 and others...." + (show)
@johnbishop

Hello @nooral, I would like to add my welcome to Connect along with @heathertink1970 and others. There is another discussion on the topic that you might find helpful here:
--- Chronic abdominal pain from extensive abdominal adhesions: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/chronic-abdominal-pain-from-extensive-abdominal-adhesions/.

You mentioned that your doctors don't want to do any more surgery until you have a bowel obstruction again. I'm a Mayo patient but haven't had an abdominal adhesion. I had a concern last year when I needed a bi-lateral inguinal hernia surgery and my first consult with a surgeon who wanted to do 2 surgeries with a recovery period in between but I was concerned with bowel issues and 2 recoveries and wanted it all done at once. I was fortunate in that Mayo has some great surgeons and when I expressed my concerns, they found a surgeon that agreed with me on doing them both at once.

Are you able to discuss your concerns on waiting until you have an obstruction with them?

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Hello @johnbishop , This discussion is of interest to me since I have an abdomen full of adhesions, have had a partial small bowel obstruction and have had a laparoscopic adhesion lysis all in the last 10 months. I have persistent abdominal and back pain but have been managing fairly well with a low fiber diet with a small dose of Miralax daily but my doctors have been trying to get me to increase my soluble fiber intake. Every time I start to add a little more fiber to my diet I develop persistent diarrhea so I resort to a liquid diet until it stops. I am hesitant to add Meta Mucil to help control the diarrhea because I know that it could cause another blockage.

I would like to know how other people who are cursed with a situation such as mine deal with it
?

I need all the help I can get! Thank you so much for any advice you can give me.

docm

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1 reply
Mentor
John, Volunteer Mentor | @johnbishop | Jun 28, 2023
In reply to @docmeehan "Hello @johnbishop , This discussion is of interest to me since I have an abdomen full..." + (show)
@docmeehan

Hello @johnbishop , This discussion is of interest to me since I have an abdomen full of adhesions, have had a partial small bowel obstruction and have had a laparoscopic adhesion lysis all in the last 10 months. I have persistent abdominal and back pain but have been managing fairly well with a low fiber diet with a small dose of Miralax daily but my doctors have been trying to get me to increase my soluble fiber intake. Every time I start to add a little more fiber to my diet I develop persistent diarrhea so I resort to a liquid diet until it stops. I am hesitant to add Meta Mucil to help control the diarrhea because I know that it could cause another blockage.

I would like to know how other people who are cursed with a situation such as mine deal with it
?

I need all the help I can get! Thank you so much for any advice you can give me.

docm

Jump to this post

I don't have any adhesions but have had a running battle with constipation over the years. After my bilateral inguinal hernia surgery I've been living with Miralax daily and trying to switch over to more fiber. I did find a organic soluble fiber (Heather's Tummy Fiber for IBS) that I like but it is a little more difficult to mix with cold or hot water or beverages. It is also supposed to help with diarrhea or constipation but you have to start it at a lower dose and work your way up until your diarrhea or constipation is resolved. Here's the link to their website but you can also get it on Amazon - https://www.heatherstummycare.com/p/suplmts_acacia-can/tummy-fiber-acacia-senegal-can/. It has fixed my constipation but I still haven't quite found the balance. Now I'm doing 2 tsps twice a day and it's keeping me unplugged 🙂

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nooral | @nooral | Jun 28, 2023

Also can anyone with adhesion tell me if they can exercise or not? What kind of exercises they can do please?
Thank you

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llcc8800 | @llcc8800 | Jun 29, 2023

I just met with a surgeon to see about laparoscopic adhesions removal (I’ve had multiple abdominal and pelvic surgeries and I just had a total hysterectomy last year with hours of adhesion removal). I’m in more pain now and the surgeon I met with said that the risks far outweigh the benefits, with the chance of developing a fistula very high and the chance of having bowel cut accidentally (I had my bowel injured during a past surgery). He also said that even if they remove the adhesions, they will reform.
It seems very bleak

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