Anyone had experience of adhesions?

[Fittata]

I was diagnosed a month ago with adhesions in my lower right abdomen. Well, I say diagnosed, they can only really be diagnosed with surgery but my GP is pretty sure this is the cause of my abdominal pain. He's referred me to a surgeon but as my pain is manageable I don't really want surgery unless its really necessary.

Just wondering if anyone else has gone through this? The thing I find strange is that the pain is worse on walking and standing for long periods of time, and gets better with rest (although it still comes and goes randomly). And that it gets worse with certain movements e.g twisting but the pain is delayed, so if I do some twists from the waist there is no pain but then maybe 10 to 15 seconds later I get the pain. Does that sound typical for mild adhesion pain?

The only things I can find online are talking about severe pain and twisted bowels etc, hardly anything on mild pain.

Also, any suggestions on whether I can to do anything to help eg self massage, exercise, stretches etc?

Would really appreciate hearing other people's experiences.

Bump

Yes following a car accident i have adhesions and scarring lower right abdomen. I self referred for laser treatment privately and it did help..

Can I ask what symptoms you had? My problem is that there's no way to know for sure without surgery, so am trying to build up a picture of whether my pain/experience is typical of adhesions.

sorry to jump on just wondering if anyone can help. I am getting cramps in early pregnancy. I have extensive adhesions and my bowel is stuck to my stomach wall. Ive been to hospital but doctor was dismissive and said I cant take anything for pain. Im really terrified that the pain will get worse as I get bigger and also will the pregnancy obstruct the bowel?

I had a hysterectomy 20 years old that have left me with internal adhesions. I can feel them pulling and can really hurt if I move suddenly.
The pain is bearable and surgery may not necessarily help or even create just different ones , so I am stuck with it.

I was in hospital in October with a complete bowel blockage caused by scar tissue. I'd had major bowel surgery 6 years ago and needed a temporary stoma and it was the join that caused the build up of scar tissue.
I was in for 10 days and it was a pretty miserable time esp as no visiting allowed. Had a ng tube put down my nose to try and prevent more surgery but it didn't work so needed the surgery anyway.
My surgeon advised me to be on a low fibre diet- no fresh fruit or salad allowed. Google it as it may help you. Also less food and more fluid, so I try and have a soft diet as much as I can.
Not much you can do yourself to prevent it I'm afraid, I'm just trying my best to stay out of hospital for as long as I can xx

@ellie17 who in the hospital did you see? Do you have a consultant or did you go to A&E?

Also for me the pain is off the scale, so bad that you can't even breathe properly. The pain is in my front and back and comes in waves a bit like contractions. I couldn't stop being sick either. So basically the worst pain imaginable

Ellie
You are in a better position than I was with DS, because at least in your case they know you have adhesions.
I had a full bowel obstruction at 6 months. They didn't know what was wrong. I was in so much pain and was vomiting constantly. I was on the ward for 3 weeks before they noticed I was going downhill fast and had to operate.
I came round from surgery in HDU - luckily still pregnant.
But the trauma of the surgery caused me to go into labour at 28 weeks and DS was in Neonatal for 2 months.

Make sure they take it seriously. Please. I wish I'd known what was wrong with me. I felt they were dismissive of me (I was discharged twice. The second time, I was told 'some women just get a lot of pain in pregnancy. Try acupuncture.') then a nurse said 'it's strange this pain of yours. It seems to come a go.' in a way that implied I was putting it on (truth was, they gave me pethadine and the pain went for a bit... then came back. Not really rocket science). It was only when my white count went through the roof that they took some action. It would have saved a lot of damage, pain and trauma if they had taken it seriously earlier. My treatment was to reactive and things like giving my baby steroids for his lungs happened too late.

Hi all thank you so much. im sorry to hear all you have been through too. sounds horribe. Its exactly what im scared of. they are aware of adhesions but have sort of fobbed me off abit I was also told some women get pain get pain in pregnancy. But I feel like surely pain is signalling something not right especially when it is continous. They did the usual tests for things like gall bladder etc and all clear. I asked two doctors what is the chance of this pain getting worse or the bowel being obstructed. They said dont worry about it and I asked if adhesion pain will get worse and they said it shouldnt do but i was advised not take anything for it. I just wish they would talk to me honestly about what the actual liklihood is of bowel obstruction.

I was also told its fine because you have lots of bowel even if one part is stuck! im sure that makes no sense as you only need a little to be blocked to be in trouble

Well quite!
The surgeon who saw me afterwards told me it was like a deflated balloon that was stretched so tightly that no air could get through.

You are right. It doesn't matter how much bowel you have. It it's blocked, it's blocked!

I can't vouch for this personally (had one session and then covid hit) but visceral osteopathy and mayan abdominal massage are reported to work.

yes exactly what i thought maudespellbody. just wish they would be clear on if its safe with the pregnancy as im wondering how adhesions will affect baby and also me. selfishly im worried for myself too as a bit of a wimp with pain. aw thanks AbitOfASHITSHOW Ill ask about that.