You encouraged me to pursue all avenues of diagnosis and I did. (Very grateful for your encouragement to pursue that)I wanted to label it an adhesion problem, get a surgeon to go in/stop the current pain, and then move on. Well...1999 I was given a diagnosis of Fibromayalgia in addition to my adhesion problem. Treatment for that squelched many of the symptoms that had plagued me for years. Then in 2000 I started to feel a variety of symptoms that included pain but did not feel like the adhesion variety. Anyone who suffers that pain knows that it is very specific and you are not likely to mistake it for a tummy ache or a tooth ache! Flu hit in December 2000 and I never recovered from it. January 2001 my primary dr. decided to run a Hepatitis panel and discovered my problem: Hepatitis C. During my adhesion lysis, total hysterectomy, gallbladder surgeries I was given blood transfusions that probably exposed me to the virus. The blood was not properly screened until 1992.
I am returning to this board to see if there have been any improvements in the adhesion lysis technique as I will have to have a biopsy of my liver. The last surgery revealed that my adhesions had wound around my bowel and had "secured" themselves to my spleen and liver. Although they were removed in 1987 I am fearful of the progress they might have made since that time. Although my vow at the time of the last surgery was: "NO more surgery...I would rather die!, the condition of my liver may cause me to rethink that position.
My prayers are with each of you...I can empathize with your pain. Helen...my biggest thanks go to you for your encouragement to me. It is a dangerous thing to self-diagnose, just because we have had this pain so many times. I was basically demanding for them to listen to MY diagnosis and DO something for me. If I had not followed through I could have put myself in more danger than I am right now. Listening to my dr., putting up with testing that made no sense to me, being pro-active in my healthcare decisions and accepting the fact that I may have OTHER health problems besides adhesions...may just have saved my life.
-- Warm Regard, Merri Ellen