I must confess that until a few weeks ago, I had never heard of abdominal adhesions. However one evening my wife began to suffer severe abdominal pains. I tried desperately to get a doctor to visit, but was refused and just given advice to give her paracetamol and gaviscon. After a couple of hours, I decided to call an ambulance. The paramedics gave her morphine for the pain and whisked her off to the local hospital where she was given a CT scan which indicated a restriction of blood supply to the bowels. A gastro consultant was called to review the scans and recommended immediate surgery. within an hour she was in the operating theatre undergoing a laparotomy, which revealed adhesions were the cause of the problem. it seems that these adhesions can wrap themselves around the intestines and eventually cut off blood supplies. Fortunately my wife was treated in time, but was warned that she may have needed to have her bowel removed and in a worst case scenario, it could have been fatal. I have spoken to many people about this and surprisingly no one has ever heard of adhesions!
Hi,
This can be a reoccuring situation for those who have had previous abdominal surgery.
The scar tissue can act like a sort of velcro and attach to other parts of the bowel. This can form a temporary loop which effectively closes off the bowel.
The pain can be extreme and come in waves due to the continued bowel muscle movements. Once suffered always remembered due to it’s severity .
A conservative approach is strong pain relief and waiting for it to untangle its self and the bowel to return to normal working. Usually a few days in hospital as an emergency.
This has been my personal experience with about 6 major bouts over the last 50 years. After an original Bayonet wound, in 1969 (Army service) , the first time it occurred it was misdiagnosed as appendicitis in 1971 (Army service) so had surgery.
No problems until 1987 then 3 bouts in 3 years. The final one did not settle down for over 24 hours so it was decided to do another bowel resection. More surgery and greater risk of further adhesions.
Another 17 year trouble free period there were repeats in 2008 and 2012 with conservative management. It’s totally unpredictable.
I don’t think there is much you can do in prevention terms although high fibre diets are not thought helpful. My only advice is as soon as there is any signs of reoccurrence (she will know) go straight to A&E to get the appropriate level of pain relief and management.