Adhesions can be caused by any trauma to the abdomen, including pregnancies, miscarriages, any abdominal surgery, & car accidents, etc... They begin to grow within the first few weeks of trauma, about 6 months later they will begin to thicken, & more can develop. If your adhesions are still in the early stages, you can try to brake them up by doing abdominal exercises & rotating your hips. For most people who do this in the beginning stages, they have very minor or no pain at all. If its too late to brake them up, unfortunately they can cause mild to severe pain for the rest of you life. The only treatment at this point is surgery & surgery will cause them to be worse, each time you have another. It also becomes more dangerous for you, & you can end up only being able to have a surgery to save your life. 700 Americans die from adhesion related bowel obstruction each year. When they get to far, they can cause infertility & also tubal pregnancies. The problem with adhesions is that they can't be seen with any diagnostic test, so many Dr's don't believe that they are there, can cause extreme pain, & depression. I was told by my specialist that powdered latex gloves used in operations show a link with adhesion growth. Every body is different, some adhesion barriers work for some & others don't help at all. They have used all of them on me & my body fights them & develop even more adhesions & scar tissue. You won't know how your body reacts till its used on you. My Dr's monitor my adhesion growth, with how high my White Blood Cell count is. I'm currently at 13,000, when it gets to 16,000 I have to be hospitalized & placed on IV antibiotics, at 18,000 I have to have surgery (10,000 is sign of infection). Not many Dr's know about this, I'm lucky to have a team of Dr's who actually know what they're doing. My best advice to you, is to search for a Internal Specialist & a GYN or Surgeon, who understands adhesions, are caring, will do everything they can to help you. If your pain is to much to bare, & disrupting your quality of life, then you should see a Pain Management Dr who specializes in pelvic/abdominal pain (they will also help with depression), they go hand & hand.
I hope that some of this helps you, & best of luck to you.
P.S. The type of care you get, will depend on where you live & what kind of health insurance you have.
At Sun, 28 Aug 2011, Jennifer wrote:
>
>I am a 34 year old female who recently had a intestinal blockage caused by
>adhesions. I had gastric bypass in June 2010 and then in Dec 2010 I had to
>have my gallbladder removed. Both of these surgeries were done
>laperscopically. 5 weeks ago I was having severe abdominal pain along with
>nausea and told my husband to take me to the ER right away. The did a CT
>scan and found I had an intestinal blockage. They told me surgery had to
be
>done ASAP. After the surgery the surgeon said the blockage was caused by
>adhesions probably formed from previous surgery.
>
>I felt so much better after this surgery but then 2 weeks later I started
to
>have severe abdominal pain again but no nausea. I told the surgeon and he
>said its probably muscular pain and should go away within a week or so.
>Another two weeks went by and still same pain. When I went back to see him
>he said he thinks unfortunately it may be more adhesions forming from this
>surgery he just had performed. This surgery was an open incision surgery.
>My question is how long do I have to live with this pain? I now have to go
>back to work as I have been out of work for 5 weeks since my surgery but I
>am still suffering. Everytime I get up to walk or move I am in pain! I
>still cant sleep good at night. I bought an abdominal surgery support
brace
>to see if it would help but it doesnt help the pain! Does it ever get any
>better? Will this be something I have to live with for the rest of my life
>and worry about another intestinal blockage? Any advice would be greatly
>appreciated.
>
>The other issue I have read is many women seem to become unfertile with
>adhesions. I really was planning on having more kids with my husband and
>now Im worried. Is this true? It has brought me so down and depressed. I
>just feel hopeless at this point.
>
>Thank you for listening.