what do we know about adhesions?

fluffypoodle · Post by **fluffypoodle** » Tue Apr 16, 2013 3:53 pm

I had a diagnostic laparoscopy today to identify the cause of pain. Since my wonder gastro declared it to be the gyn doctors issue we were looking for endometriosis. Didnt find it but he did tell my husband that my colon looked angry red and swollen and was adhered to the abdominal wall. He released it

I don't know the details yet I haven't spoken to him myself but apparently he also told husb thaat I have colitis. At least I am consistent.

Anyway any thoughts?

Edited to add: wait, he SAW colitis? I mean, I isn't MC only visible via a microscope? He told my husband and showed pictures, and what he claims he saw was swelling and redness of a prt of the color, he said it looked round and puffy in that section. He said it was not the part with the adhesion, either. And that the doc said it was colitis. Maybe he just meant it as simply inflammation? That's what colitis means, yes?

My husband is a CPA, and I am a lawyer, so it's like blind leading the blind here. Our collective medical training is pretty much none......

TXBrenda · Post by **TXBrenda** » Tue Apr 16, 2013 7:52 pm

They can be painful at times. A few years ago I was in a lot of abdominal pain. My PC did order a CAT scan. Basically the report said I had scar tissue from previous surgery, an ovarian cyst (too small to treat), and diverticulosis all in the same area. I guess that area was inflamed, hence the pain. The doctor gave me RX for antibiotics & pain pills. I used a heating pad and a rice bag (heated in the microwave at work) to ease the pain. Before I retired, this happened to me twice. Both times I was in so much pain I could barely walk. The second time I went to doc with a fever of about 102. I also had a small wound on my abdomen that had red streaks radiating from it. Of course the stress from that jog didn't help things. uggghhhhh!!

Post by **tex** » Tue Apr 16, 2013 9:06 pm

If he used laparoscopy then he should have been looking at the outside of the colon (not the inside, where a colonoscope is used). GI docs don't normally see the outside of the colon, so when doing a colonoscopy, they wouldn't know how the outside of the colon appears, anyway. I've always assumed that the outside of the colon is inflamed when MC is present, because the outside surface is where the nerves are located. There are no nerves in or on the mucosa (the inner surface lining). Many of us have intense pain along with our reactions, and that pain has to be generated at the outer surface of the intestines (because that's where all the nerves are located).

Adhesions seem to be somewhat commonly associated with MC, and as Brenda mentioned, surgery promotes the formation of adhesions. I've had abdominal surgery twice, slightly over 4 years apart, and when they opened me up the second time, they found that my guts were growing together in many places. It took hours to separate them, and to repair the tears that resulted from trying to separate them.

Yes, colitis means intestinal inflammation.

Tex

Gabes-Apg · Post by **Gabes-Apg** » Tue Apr 16, 2013 11:35 pm

3 x gut surgery before age 25, I have adhesions - the bowel is actually adhered to my left ovary
at the last surgery in 1995, the surgeon said my bowel was quite damaged adhesion wise, equivalent to a 65 old woman after lots of children and a hard life. not long after this i started natural therapy support to help heal the gut.

they can be painful, I will say that the intensity and incidence of pain has reduced greatly since following the MC lifestyle plan!

mzh · Post by **mzh** » Wed Apr 17, 2013 6:55 am

Wow, this answers a long-unanswered question for me. I needed to have an ovary removed - too many cysts - and was told it had adhered to my intestine. This was three years *before* the MC started. I always wondered why the adhesions occurred.....