Recurrent abdominal pain- adhesions?

[cmcn]

In 2005 I had an exploratory laparotomy, TAH/BSO with excision of two large (14 cm each) ovarian cystadenomas.  About 20 years prior I had excision of a unilateral 5 cm serous cystadenoma.  Other surgical history includes laparoscopic cholecystectomy.  

I'm having a recurrent problem with intermittent left/mid upper abdominal pain.  The cycle seems to be approximately 10-14 days in duration, and then disappears for lengths of time varying between a couple of weeks to several months.  When it occurs, the pain quickly increases in severity over the course of a few days, reaching a peak and remaining severe for several days, then slowly decreases over several days, all the while of which it feels like there's a large fat snake turning about in my left abdomen.  There is a large amount of GI noise.  I do have two incisional hernias, a large one (about the size of the palm of my hand) in the right lower quadrant, and a smaller one on the right upper quadrant.  These do not appear to be incarcerated.  

Because of the peristaltic character of the pain, I'm suspicious of adhesions causing intermittent partial small bowel obstruction.  My question is that if this is the case, how serious a problem is it and how concerned should I be about obtaining/achieving a surgical correction?  Also, is there a nonsurgical treatment that I could be initiating at home, say at the onset of the pain?  I have no health insurance and seeking treatment could easily turn out to be financially devastating.  On the other hand, when the pain is at its worst, it is what I can only describe as "mortal pain" and leads to anxiety attacks (because of a definite feeling of impending death, especially when pain radiates into the chest).  Since this cycle has continued many times over the past year, I do not anticipate it correcting itself.  I'm just recovering from the latest siege and already dreading the next one.  

[Jaybay]

I think you're probably on the right track.  I've dealt with adhesions for over 10 years, and it's not fun.  The worst ones formed after my TAH and I had to have a 2-foot+ bowel resection.  The sad thing about adhesions is that they don't show up on any tests, so you talk to a doctor, they run their tests and tell you that you're just a nut bar and go see a shrink.  

Another awful thing about adhesions is that it takes more surgery to treat them.  More surgery can cause more adhesions to form, so you may end up in a vicious circle and worse off than where you started.  It's a really personal decision about how much pain and nausea you can stand before looking into treatment.  If you end up with a full bowel obstruction, however, emergency surgery is necessary and that's all there is to it.

In the meantime, you can try to manage the symptoms by following a low-residue diet.  I live primary on liquids myself.  Meat is the worst, followed by high-fiber foods.  That doesn't leave much to work with, but at least I can keep down what I do manage to eat.  Forget about eating the 3 squares your mom always told you to eat.  You'll do better slowly grazing on tiny amounts throughout the day instead of sitting down to a normal meal.

[cmcn]

Adhesions are basically scar tissue that forms inside your body as a result of surgery.  This tissue causes tissue bridges between parts that otherwise would not be attached to each other.  

[Gospelgirl]

I have almost the identical problems as you with the exception of the
hernias and GI issues. The pain is on the right side, but all  of the other symptoms are exactly the same. I had a hysterectomy and a laparascopic cholecystectomy in Nov. 2007(same operation, different surgeons). I went to both doctors and had an ultrasound and blood tests, but nothing unusual was found. The doctor's assistant told me that she had the same problems and her doctor said it was from adhesions.What are these? I am afraid I may have to live with this for the rest of my life. I am taking oxycodone  (Percocet) and Ibuprofen for the pain. Any advice out there?