Dear Joan,
Funny you should mention Botox injection. In fact, there is a proposed idea for injecting adhesions with Botox or something like it. It's been published and registered with the World Intellectual Property Organization. See for yourself. Go to http://www.wipo.int and enter 'adhesions' in the search box. The second deals with botulinum toxin injection. There are 80 or 90 other proposed methods of adhesion prevention. Perhaps there's a Nobel Prize Winner waiting in the stack. I don't know.
There are people thinking and experimenting. However, we never hear about them. Strange isn't it? The process should be more transparent than it is, considering how many people are afflicted with adhesions. Sometimes I'm cynical about this opaqueness. Other times, I think, "maybe I should just trust that better minds than mine are working on the problem" and be satisfied with that.
I'd feel much better if I knew the name of an Adhesion Czar who was on top of all this. Is that the Surgeon-General? Is there someone who is clipping and compliling these articles, and holding the NIH accountable? I'd like to meet him or her. I'd like to be invited to a convention where I can see people talking about the problem. I want to know that we are being represented. I want to know that this person has good access to all the research. Instead, I've read at least 2 articles with authors who say that adhesion-related disorders are under-represented in medicine. (I might have a citation if you want to read one.) And I know for a fact that many surgeons do not know all the options available to them for adhesion prevention. That scares me more than my symptoms. It's very disturbing. I'd like it if doctors were more accountable.
I'm dealing with my fear, but it's a work in process. I'm not always successful in preventing it from showing, as I'm doing right now. Sometimes, I cry in frustration. But crying does no good. Writing letters is the best thing I know to do. That and new patient education here on the forum. Information is the key to success.
Yours,
-- Mark in Seattle