Endometriosis & Adhesions - was Re: Bowel adhesions again
From: Debbie (tigger6040@aol.com)
Tue Apr 26 15:58:53 2005
Hi Marla,
I understand your frustration. I am also an
endo veteran having lived with it for 20+ years.
Endometriosis in and of itself can and often does
contribute to adhesion formation, with or without
having surgery. I've found that the best possible
treatment for endometriosis and resulting adhesions
is thorough removal of Endometriosis at surgery with
a doctor that specializes in treating Endometriosis.
There are a handful of endo specialists around the
country. Eventually I traveled across country for
surgery with one of these doctors, Dr. Andrew Cook,
http://www.pelvicpain.com and http://www.drcook.com. Having
surgery with Dr. Cook, who is a Gyn/Reproductive
Endocrinologist, has been the *only* thing that has
helped. Admittedly I had to undergo hysterectomy
at 44 due to severe Adenomyosis along with endo but
I have not had endo pain in 4 years which is an all
time record for me. Before Dr. Cook I'd had
meaningless surgeries and treatments like Danazol,
Lupron and continuous bcp. Nothing helped and I
always wound up with pain returning.
I've learned that more than likely our endo doesn't
*come back* but, rather, was never thoroughly removed
in the first place. This is where surgery with an
endo specialist can make all the difference in the world.
My situation with bowel involvment is very similar
to what you described. I had severe rectal pain and
increasingly painful bowel movements with most of the
pain isolated to the lower left quadrant. A barium
enema study revealed a severely redundant recto sigmoid
colon which had become twisted and folded back on itself.
I endured many years of chronic constipation due to this
partial obstruction and when stool tried to move through
that portion of my colon the pain was excruciating. I
described the pain to my doctor as being worse than
giving birth and I wasn't kidding. At surgery it was
discovered that this redundant and distorted portion
of my recto sigmoid colon was also adhered to my left
pelvic sidewall further contributing to constriction
and my pain. That portion of my bowel was removed
during a bowel resection surgery and BSO I had in Dec.
01. After the surgery the painful bm's were gone.
I might also add that during that particular surgery
it was discovered that I had advanced endo of the
small bowel at the terminal ileum which also required
a resection.
If it weren't for Dr. Cook I've no doubt I'd still
be in pain.
I'm here if you'd like to talk more about my
experience or just have someone to talk to who's
walked in your shoes.
I wish you well with your journey to health.
--
Debbie
At Thu, 21 Apr 2005, Marla wrote:
>
>Hello everyone. I'm new to this board but thought I would check to see
>if anyone knows of doctor in the central U.S. who specializes in endo
>w/ bowel involvement. Like so many endo sufferers... I've had
>numerous laparscopies and things just keep coming back and getting
>progressively worse each surgery. The ole catch 22... live in pain or
>have more surgery, which causes more scaring...
>
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