If you are considering surgery... with Bev's comments......corrected!!

From: Helen Dynda (olddad66@runestone.net)
Sun Jan 28 16:12:47 2001


If you suffer from adhesions, should you have surgery? This is a question that you, as an adhesion-sufferer, will be contemplating when your chronic pain becomes so unbearable that you know that you need to seek help of some kind.

~ ~ ~ ~ []]] If you are considering surgery, the following list provides you with information to seriously to think about before ever agreeing to surgery. Most surgeons will not perform surgery on patients who have adhesions because:

a.) This kind of surgery is too risky for the patient -- too many things can go wrong -- like nicking or perforating the intestines and/or inadvertantly causing harm to other abdominal/pelvic organs.

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b.) Surgery for removal of adhesions ( adhesiolysis ) is a very time-consuming task for the surgeon. I have seenthe video of a patient whose surgery took 10 hours!

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c.) Surgery for adhesions is a very difficult task for the surgeon -- which requires many hours of advanced training and experience before a surgeon has developed the meticulous skills necessary in order to perform anadhesiolysis procedure.

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d.) Currently, there are NO adhesion barriers that are 100% effective. For this reason many of the best surgeonshave elected to NOT use adhesion barriers.

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e.) With repeated surgeries it is very possible that new adhesions (de nova) will develop and previous adhesions will reform -- which will only increase the chronic pain a person already experiences.

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f.) It is difficult -- if not impossible -- for the surgeon to perform another laparoscopic surgery for a person. who has had many prior surgeries.

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g.) Only a surgeon, who performs adhesiolysis procedures on a regular basis, is able to develop the skills and experience necessary to help their patient become as adhesion-free as possible. Even these adhesion specialists cannot guarantee that their patients will be adhesion-free following surgery!!

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h.) If a mechanic can fix a car, it is easy to think that a surgeon should be able to do "fix" his/her patient...which, of course is not that simple. It is well a well known fact that each person's body is in charge of the healing that happens after a surgical procedure...and each person's body heals differently!!

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From: Beverly J. Doucette (bnb@cybrzn.com)

I made several copies of the above information; and I will distribute them at our next "Adhesion Support Group " meeting! You bring up some very good points...and we know how desperate adhesion sufferers are. I was too! But one MUST be aware of all the implications before agreeing to surgery.

If you still feel that you are going to better off by having an adhesiolysis -- and you have weighed all of the implications -- then you will know what the future MAY hold for you...and you have NOT gone into that surgery without prior knowledge.

Keep Helen's list for future reference. Look it over; and make sure that surgery is what you really want. Elective surgery is YOUR choice, emergency surgery IS NOT. Surgery of any kind must be dealt with responsibly and with respect to the knowledge that you are an adhesion-former...

To date there are NOT any known cures...NONE! To date the ONLY way to diagnose adhesions is a diagnostic laparoscopy, which is an invasive surgical procedure. There are NO OTHER diagnostic tests that can actually diagnose adhesions effectively...NONE! That statement is a fact!

Be carefull. Be smart. Be aware. Become your own best Dr.! Learn as much as you can about adhesions!!


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