http://www.laplatamedicalsociety.com/hintarticles/hintabdomadhes.html When small scars result from nature healing the nicks and scrapes of our skin, we rarely complain about the resulting scar tissue. However this same healing process inside the abdomen, following an operation, can result in adhesions (internal scars) which can have troublesome side effects.
Many people know about or have experienced "adhesions in the belly" but what are they? Why do they occur? What kinds of troubles do they cause?
Adhesions are essentially scar formations within the abdomen and are nature's way of controlling infections, foreign bodies or intestinal injuries. Mother Nature had been at this job for hundreds of thousands of years before physicians came on the scene, and it was only those cave men (and cave women) who were able to form adhesions who survived and passed this natural ability on to their children.
Adhesions develop following any operation in the abdomen. Surgeries, such as those on the appendix, stomach, intestine or uterus, will produce adhesions as the body heals inside. Surgeons try to be very gentle with the inside organs as well as washing the blood, bile and other materials from the cavity, yet adhesions still form.
Other than surgery there are assorted causes of adhesion formation. Some adhesions, such as those formed by perforated ulcers, appendicitis and infections in women's fallopian tubes, can be reduced through early recognition and treatment.
If adhesions are a natural healing process, why worry about them? Abdominal adhesions are like banjo strings stretching between the intestines or from the front of the abdomen to the back. The intestine can wrap itself around the adhesion blocking that portion of the bowel and preventing the food from passing through. This condition is called "intestinal obstruction." The obstructed portion of bowel will become larger and larger until a perforation or rupture of the bowel occurs with resultant infection, shock and death.
What are the symptoms of intestinal obstruction? The patient will experience nausea, then abdominal pain, and finally vomiting. The vomiting may occur in waves, being quiet for a while and then recurring like a storm. Everyone has experienced intestinal flu with these identical symptoms, but that does not indicate intestinal obstruction. However, if you have had abdominal surgery and the intense cramping and vomiting persists for more than an hour, then it is possible that an intestinal obstruction has developed. You should see your physician immediately.
Nature has been marvelous in protecting the human body with its healing processes but, perhaps the next time the body is designed, a little more time could be spent on preventing intestinal adhesions.