Bowel Adhesions--- surgery or partial colectomy?

[lilly909]

I have been suffering for three years now with abdominal pain and constipation.  I have been to the Mayo Clinic without any real answers to the pain.  Today I had a lengthy visit with my Gastroenterologist and he told me that my bowel was surrounded by adhesions and that I would need a partial colectomy.  When I cannot move my bowels for more than 3 days, I get a nagging pain in the epigastric area.  This pain will move across the entire large colon in the mideipistrium if I do not take MiraLax or a medication that reduces the stool to a liquid.  I asked my gastroenterologist why they cannot take a look through laproscopy and remove the adhesions where I actually feel the pulling and tugging pain.  He said the surgeons will not just do a lap because the adhesions will return.  I have suffered for so long and have lost over 30 pounds in four months because I am afraid to eat and basically live on clear liquids to prevent me from taking the MiraLax.  When I take this medication, my abdomen swells and within 12 hours I produce liquid bowel movements but for two days following this, I am totally sick and in very severe abdominal distress and pain and have to live on clear liquids for 2-3 days.  As soon as I begin eating solid foods and the stool will not pass, the nagging pain begins again and the process is repeated.  I am worn out from the pain and not eating healthy.  I did go to the Mayo Clinic and after they performed a colonoscopy, my bowels returned to being perfectly normal for one week and then back to the same old course of laxatives and pain.  I would like to see the surgeon do a laproscopy and remove the adhesions that seem to be tugging and pulling to give me some relief so I can build up my strength in case the adhesions do return and I have to have surgery.  Is this an unreasonable request for my surgeon?  I am prepared that if the lysis of adhesions does not help the constipation or the pain, then I would have no choice but to have a partial or total hemicolectomy but I also need the strength to enter this surgery and right now I do not feel that surgery of such a serious nature would be healthy in my weakened state.  So my question is will the removing of adhesions help temporarily or do you feel it is best to go and have the colon removed now?

[CalGal]

Lilly, try the Barral Institute website to do some reading. And then call them and talk to someone there who may be able to give you some names of people in your area. Stress that you want someone with a LOT of expertise. I'd love to be able to give you some references, but I don't know of anyone in that area of the country. But if you run into a problem get back to me and I'll see if I can track someone down.

[lilly909]

Thank you for your post and I would love to try this but in this area and me being in the medical field, I have never heard of this.  What would their medical title be or what type of doctor is it?  It totally makes sense to me and I have been gently kneeding my abdomen trying to do this myself but I would love to find someone who can. We are limited to help here but if you know of someplace in the southeast, I would be willing to travel.

Thanks again---this is the most positive message I have received.

[CalGal]

Lilly, you might want to try an alternative that has worked for some people. It's a modality called visceral manipulation and there are a number of very well trained people who practice it. Portions of it are designed to work with people who have adhesions to gently stretch them to relieve the tension they place on the organs. For many people it can bring a lot of relief. It's not a fast procedure because collagenous/elastin tissue doesn't like to be jerked around, so it has to be done slowly and carefully. Try checking into it and see if you can find a well-trained practioner in your area.

[Morecambe]

Hi - in case you decide to undergo a colectomy, maybe my own experiences of this operation will assist you in reaching a decision.  Nearly five years ago I underwent a total colectomy for torrential diverticular bleeding and shared my experiences with another Medhelp patient on:-

http://www,medhelp.org/posts/show/523166

good luck
Morecambe