No solutions for abdominal pain
From: Tim Bloedow (lydia@travel-net.com)
Wed May 16 01:15:50 2001
My wife has been experiencing chronic abdominal pain for over 3 months
now. She's had several open surgeries and laparoscopies due to ovarian
cysts. So, based on our research we figure it is related to adhesions.
(She has a small hernia, but surgeons say it would only cause localized
pain, not everything she is feeling.) Today she's all but given up on
her GP who has accused her of being addicted to the morphine she takes
regularly to combat the pain (MS Contin and Statex to supplement when
pain gets worse). He knows nothing about pain control and palliation.
He tried her on neurontin, and she hates the side-effects; he just
prescribed Tegretol today but after researching that on the Internet, we
aren't going to fill the prescription. She is scheduled to see the only
surgeon who so far has said he would be prepared to open her up again,
clean up any adhesions (probably fix the hernia while he's in there) and
hope for the best. Even with no guarantees, my wife is prepared to go
this route because nothing else is helping (including the 3 or 4
anaesthetic injections she's been given by a couple of other doctors).
Is this a good idea or should she explore other alternatives before
agreeing with the surgery?
Also, we are in the Ottawa, Canada area. If anybody can recommend a new
GP to use who doesn't say that adhesions don't cause pain that would be
a great help. Also recommendations regarding surgeons would be a help
too. This surgeon we are seeing is just a general surgeon and we aren't
sure how comfortable we are with him.
Thanks for any help anybody can offer.
Tim