Adhesions and TENS units
From: Joanne Jansen (jjhugger01@earthlink.net)
Mon Jan 8 15:49:39 2007
Hi,
I've suffered from adhesions, too, and wanted to share my experience with
you personally so you could post whatever is relevant and helpful, but
nothing that would be discouraging or unhelpful.
I see that you've recommended TENS units to some people on the Adhesions
message board and wanted to give you a precautionary word on it. I wore one
for eight months (and yes, it was such a relief!!), but then I developed an
allergy to the adhesive that attaches the pads. There are no hypoallergenic
pads. For a week I applied a thin layer of Flonase on my abdomen and let it
dry before applying the pads, but it didn't work long. You may want to
consider this and discuss with your doctor/allergist if there is any way to
prevent or slow the development of allergies if you are prone to allergies
to other things. An allergy to this adhesive could also mean a sensitivity
to bandage adhesives.
I had a wonderful surgeon who diagnosed adhesions after speaking with him
for just ten minutes. He did the surgery the next day (January 24, 2006).
When the pain returned after five months, he suggested that we try an
antispasmodic to decrease the movement of my small intestine since the
adhesion had attached my small intestine to my abdominal wall. This has
lessened my pain drastically and thus delayed further surgery. He is very
compassionate and knowledgable about adhesions; he explained to me that mine
was probably caused by a previous abdominal surgery which resulted in
softball-sized swelling and significant bruising. Of the dozens of doctors
I had seen, he was the only one who recognized that bleeding and
inflammation encourages adhesion formation. Thus, his goal was to lyse the
adhesion while causing minimal bleeding and inflammation. If you think it
would help others, his name is Dr. Mickey Anderson in Bardstown, Kentucky;
his phone number is (502) 348-5588.
Good luck to you, and please feel free to email me if you want.
--
Joanne Jansen
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