Adhesions

[granny0]

Hello there.
This thread is question for anyone a few years post hysterectomy.

I had a complete abdominal hyst. about 2 1/2 yrs ago. Took overies and all.
After my hyst. I was on another board a lot an heard warnings from people that you really need to follow doctors orders and rest for 6 - 8 weeks. Well, not me. I was busy around the house, garden and returned to work in less than 3 weeks. I even went to the beach at 4 weeks and took an unexpected roll in a wave.

My problem - I had heard about adhesions back then but did not pay any attention to them. Now, I'm pretty sure I have them. About 3 weeks ago, I started a UTI. I tried ignoring it the first week (drank lots of water, cranberry juice and used Uristat) then went to dr the 2nd week. Had a UTI, was given bactrim which I managed to take 4 days and could not tolerate the nausea. Dr switched me over to Cipro (1 pill a day for 3 days). After the course of anti-biotics, I felt worse than ever. I have constant bladder pain, bad lower back pain and bloated stomach along with various points shooting throughout my lower abdomen. Went to the ER Tuesday, urine was clean, so they did a CAT scan which showed nothing. ER Doc thought it may be intestinal and suggested seeing a gastro person. I had a colonoskopy 3 yrs ago and it was fine, no bowel problems. Saw my PCP today, urine is still clean. Her and I both thinks it's possible the problem is adhesions. Problem is there is no way of telling that without laproscopic surgery. Soo... I'm giving it few weeks to go away before I start making all sorts of dr appts.

Sorry to be long winded. My question: ANYONE OUT THERE THAT HAS ADHESIONS FROM YOUR HYSTERECTOMY? If so, I'd love to hear from you. I'm really upset over this 3 weeks of misery and fear that it is not going to "just go away" on it's own in a few weeks. My husband & I are supposed to leave for a one week trip to Southern Florida on March 1st. Don't know what the situation will be by then.

Any help or advise would be much appreciated. Thanks for taking time to read long post.

JB

[IhaveENDO]

Hi JB,

I haven't had my hysterectomy yet, but I can comment on adhesions. I have plenty from endometriosis and when I had my lap the doctor warned me to take it very easy so I didn't create more. Well, I have two small kids and it wasn't easy trying to take a week to myself. Somehow I'm getting 6 to recover from my hysterectomy. Not sure how. lol

So, with any abdominal surgery you can get adhesions. And the ONLY way to get rid of them is laparoscopy. They go in and cut them out. Voila! But most of the time, you just grow more. And adhesions can form and begin giving us trouble within hours of surgery. Yet we may not know it for days, months, or years. It just depends on what organs they bind to. If you have pain in certain spot, all the time, you may have an adhesion binding that organ to the abdominal wall. Good luck.

[granny0]

Hey Endo, thanks so much for your reply. Have you had the laparoscopy done for your endo/adhesions? If so, how long would one be out of work? I don't know how much longer I can stand this constant bladder/groin/lower back and stomach pain. I wouldn't have time to have it done before our trip to Florida, March 1st - 8th and then would hate to come back to (very busy) work from vacation only to turn around and have a surgery.
I can tell you about they hysterectomy. Mine was total abdominal w/ovaries removed. It was the best thing I ever did. My periods had become very heavy and I was having them every 3 weeks. I had some uterine fibroids. It was my choice to have the procedure. I was 44 at the time and peri-menopausal anyway. I never had to go on hormone replacement and have suffered very little, if any, menopause symptoms. The first few days in the hospital were pretty rough as was the first week home. After that, it was a pretty easy recovery although I didn't have small children to care for. I would have taken off of work longer than I did but could not afford to go on the 60% disability pay (which health ins/taxes/ect come out of). I had mine scheduled in June and it was the first time in 20 yrs I had off longer than a week at a time. I enjoyed my time off and should have taken it more easy than I did if all my activity has caused adhesions. Well, I can't turn back the clock, but can warn others about the dangers of doing too much too soon.
I hope all goes well with your surgery and hope you will have help with your little ones for at least the first 2 weeks.
Best wishes,
JB

[Shshi]

Hi,

I had a TAH in 2002. Did well afterwards, no problems, no pain, everything was just fine until 2005 when I started having a lot of pelvic pain. One night, I went to the ER in extreme pain, where I was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst, which was thought to be causing the pain.

Fast forward to August of last year, when an ultrasound showed a complex, solid tumor on my left ovary and functional cysts on my right ovary. My doctor suggested removing "what was left" of my ovaries (his words), so I was scheduled for laparoscopic surgery on December 19, 2007. However, once the procedure started, my doctor found "extremely severe adhesions" (according to the operative report) which had everything such a mess inside that I ended up having to have an open procedure through my old hysterectomy scar. My doctor said that everything was stuck together inside - my ovaries and tubes were stuck to my pelvic wall, each other, and to my colon. My doctor finally got everything cleaned up in there.

Since my surgery, the symptoms I was having from the cysts are gone, but recently I've started having pelvic pain again, sometimes very severe. I'm seriously wondering if it's caused by more adhesions.

From what I've researched, adhesions are an unavoidable effect of abdominal/pelvic surgeries. Nothing you did during your recovery could have caused them, and there was nothing you could have done to prevent them. (Though you certainly should give yourself time to heal and recover after surgery and not overdo it too soon.)

I hope you get some answers and some relief to your pain, especially in time for your Florida trip. Let us know how you're doing.

Hugs,

Lisa

[granny0]

Hi Lisa,
Boy that sounds like a rough road. I'm glad I had my ovaries taken at the time, I just figured they'd be one less thing to get cancer in. Does your lower ab. pain ever feel like bladder pain? That is what is most uncomfortable. It feels like I have a constant bladder infection although I know I don't. I have this vision of my bladder and bowels stuck together
I don't eat much and last night ate at a buffet, which of course means a big pig out. I noticed that shortly after I ate, the pain (bladder, lower ab, groin and back) got much worse.
My PCP said I'd need to see a gastro dr before any gyn would look for adhesions surgically. Was it like that for you? Also, do you plan on doing anything about the new pains or going to wait them out and hope they go away, like I'm doing now? I know I'll never get anything resolved before Florida but I can lay on a beach in pain a lot easier than sitting at my desk for 8 hours. Just hoping I won't have to
Thanks for your reply and I hope you feel better soon also,
Best wishes,
JB