Dana, Welcome to the club. (Ha!) Surgeries, endo and infections can cause adhesions. No one knows why some people have problems with them and others don't. A lot of women (and men) have gone through the going to endless drs. trying to find out what is wrong. I know myself, I got told that I had Irritable Bowel, Functional pain, Depression and a pill seeker. It was so frustrating and depressing to go through it. I finally got told by a Physician's Assistant that she thought it was adhesions. I found this site and was so relieved that it wasn't in my head. God bless this site. I think I would have gone nuts for sure if I had not have found it. I actually had earlier surgeries where the doc would tell me that I had a lot of adhesions but I didn't know what they were. There are doctors mentioned on here that do specialize in adhesion removal. I believe if you are going to have surgery, then you need to go to one that knows what they are doing. It won't guarantee that you will get rid of them. They may get worse or get better. I have finally "accepted" that I may always have them. You will have good days and bad days with them. I had to quit my job because of this. I draw SSD now. I would rather work. My kids and husband have also suffered. Just do get out of bed each day. I think if we let it rule our life then we lose more. I have a granddaughter that I watch and I try to exercise. There are days that I just want to call my daughter and tell her not to bring her daughter over or I do have to miss exercise at times because of the problems and pain. I am 48 and feel 68 at times. But we all need to hang in there. It also may help to talk to a counselor or psychiatrist as a lot of people that have chronic pain do get depressed which makes the pain worse.
>----- Original Message -----
From: IAS Admin (Tracy) To: Multiple recipients of list ADHESIONS
Sent: Friday, April 04, 2008 7:48 PM
Subject: just found out I have adhesions
From: dmr1071@msn.com (dana leblanc)
Subject: just found out I have adhesions
I just found out that I have abdominal adhesions. I have been having abdominal pain for YEARS!!!! No one could tell me what was wrong. I was diagnosed with IBS after having a colonoscopy. It came back normal. So the only thing they could come up with was IBS.I have been to my OBGYM I don't know how many times for the pain and they never find anything. All the tests come back normal. After all these years the doctors start to look at you like you just want drugs. Well about 3 weeks ago I had a terrible pain in my right side and my husband had to come get me from work and take me to the doctors office. I could not even walk. The doctor said I had gastritis, again. He gave me some meds, which made me constipated. I went back to him for the pain and he checked my gallbladder, e-rays, ultrasounds and blood work. Everything came back fine. He sent me home. He did not see a reason for my pain. I went to my OBGYN to see if maybe I had a cyst or something. I did have a cyst on left ovary. I ended up in the emergency room after 2 weeks of pain. They thought that I had appendicitis, even though the all the test came back normal. The ER doctor was wonderful. I finally felt like somebody was listening to me. That somebody really believed I was in pain. He wanted to help me. He and the surgeon decided to take out my appendix the next day. When he went in to take out my appendix he found the adhesions on my colon. I had adhesions in 4 different places. The surgeon told me about when I came to that day. He told me that had they not taken out my appendix they may not have found the adhesions. He told me to come home and do research on the internet. I have to say I do not like what I have found so far. I have had this same pain on and off again for the past 11 years. I had a C-Section with my last child. It was an emergency C-Section. I had no idea that it may lead to something like this. If that is what has caused this. Since I am new to all this does anybody have any advise for me? Thanks
-- Dana