An unusual treatment - maybe will help someone else too!

From: Katie (melody57105@yahoo.com)
Sun Jun 3 14:26:12 2007


I have been managing my pain from adhesions fairly well for the past 5 years. The search for adequate pain relief started 10 years ago after my surgeon at Mayo said he couldn't do anything more for me and no surgeon in my home town would touch me. I found a general practitioner who isn't afraid to explore treatment methods (lucky me!) and we went about finding a way to manage my symptoms.

A brief history - 13 abdominal surgeries in 15 years. Original surgery was a colectomy due to ulcerative colitis, revisions to that, hysterectomy, gall bladder, and numerous attempts to clean up the adhesions. I am prone to partial obstructions and before we found this regimen, I spent way too many nights in the ER and the doctor's office trying to get rid of pain instead of finding a way to manage/prevent it.

We found that a major contributing factor is hydration. I don't know how it factors in, but it does. I go to an outpatient infusion center every 7-10 days for a liter or two of plain old IV fluids. It takes a little over an hour so it doesn't impact my schedule much. I also take oral pain meds daily. It took a lot of experimentation to find the right drug and dosage. But now, the combination of meds and fluids has held me for 5 years and counting! The key is to stay AHEAD of the pain. Playing catch-up is a losing game. I know I'll never be pain free, but with this regimen I've been able to lead a fairly normal life.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has tried this.


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