Re: adhesions, burning pain, and SOD

[Guest guest]

Fliss,

what type of tests would reveal adhesions? My GI/Hepatologist simply says I

have 'fluid shifting' in my abdomen. My normal weight was about 170 lbs before

this fluid thing got so bad. I think I weighed around 170 lbs at my daughter,

Nikki's, wedding on May 29th. I've had problems with the bloating for some

time, but it didn't become so horrible until after Nikki's wedding, thank

goodness. My dress was a very simple, but elegant, floor length straight skirt

with a sleeveless top and a long sleeve jacket. It was the style that it had to

fit perfectly and a bulging tummy would have ruined the look.

My weight has gone as high as 201.5 lbs with this horrible 'fluid shifting'.

My weight was 186 on Friday, Oct. 15th and I was feeling so much better.

Saturday was sort of an in-between day. Not as good as Friday, but still not

bad. Sunday was also okay, but not great. However, Sunday evening, Oct. 17th,

I was hit with a bad attack that just seemed to come from nowhere. When I

weighed Sunday evening as I'm trying to throw things together for the hospital,

my weight was up to 197 lbs - an 11 lb weight gain in about 52 hours! The

doctor on call for my pcp was kind enough to do a 'direct admit' and spared me

from going through the ER. They gave me IV lasix 60 mg three times a day the

first 4 days I was in the hospital, then gave me my normal oral lasix 80 mg on

the last day. When I got home from the hospital on Thursday afternoon, my

weight was down to 185 - 12 lb loss in 5 days! My belly was still much bigger

than what normal used to be before the bloating got so bad, but it was

definitely an improvement and I felt we were moving in the right direction. I

actually felt good Thursday and the first part of Friday. However, Friday

afternoon the bloating and fluid retention returned. My weight was back up to

189 lbs - 4 lbs in less than 24 hours. I called my internal med doc (my pcp) on

Friday afternoon to let them know that the fluid retention was getting worse

again. He told me to take my normal 80 mg lasix in the morning and take 40 mg

lasix at 2 p.m. That's helped some, but not a lot. I haven't weighed today

because I'm just kind of fed up with the whole thing!

My pcp and I discussed me going to a surgeon just to see if they think surgery

could help me. My pcp talked about sending me to the hepatobiliary surgeon at

UAB that was so incredibly pompous when I saw him in November 2002. I think my

pcp forgot that I'd already been to that surgeon. I was still not totally with

it when we talked since it was while I was in the hospital. I didn't feel like

reminding my pcp that I'd already seen the surgeon he was talking about at UAB

and had no desire to see him again. While some teaching hospitals are

wonderful, I was not impressed with UAB. My sister-in-law has a very dear

friend who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer quite suddenly over the summer.

She had a whipple done by a hepatobiliary surgeon at a private hospital in

Birmingham, same town UAB is in and 100 miles south of me. I am going to make

an appt with this surgeon and see if he thinks he can help me. I think I may

potentially have several different things going on in my abdomen. First, the

doctors think I have SOD and that's what has ended up causing chronic

pancreatitis as well as the recurring episodes of acute pancreatitis and the

daily right upper quadrant abdominal pain and nausea. They can't do the

manometry test on me via ERCP because of the gastric bypass. However, they can

go in surgically and do the manometry to confirm the SOD and then they can

correct things surgically. Also, I think I might have some adhesions, not

necessarily in the biliary area, but just somewhere in my belly. I think it's

also possible that I have more hernias or that the hernia repair I had in Dec 02

has failed.

Does anyone know what type of surgery might help if my problem actually is SOD?

I did have two ERCPs with sphincterotomies back in 2000. They didn't seem to

help, but maybe they did. I had lots of attacks from Jan 00 to Feb 01. By Mar

01, things improved so much that I actually turned down my disability

retirement, which had just been approved. I didn't have any pancreatitis

related ER or hospital admissions from about Jan 01 to Jul 02. If I could have

some sort of surgery to improve the SOD and even just reduce my pain and

episodes of recurring panc flares, it would be a miracle.

Also, one of the problems I've got going on in my belly right now is that I am

having this really bad burning pain in my lower left abdomen. It's mostly only

when I try to have a bowel movement or even when I urinate. The tiniest amount

of straining causes this awful burning pain right in the area of my hysterectomy

scar (surgery Mar 93). I've also had my left ovary and a large cyst removed

(Feb 01) in this same area. Both the ovary and cyst were adhered to my

intestines and my GYN literally had to 'peel' the ovary and cyst away from the

intestines. This is also where I had the large incisional hernia as well as the

small inguinal hernia. Those were repaired in Dec 02. With so many surgeries

in about the same area of my lower left abdomen, I'm sure adhesions would be a

very likely possibility. This burning and pain in this area has been going on

since around July but in the last few days it has gotten much worse and now

happens with just the tiniest about of straining of my abdominal muscles. Hate

to be so graphic, but since yesterday, it has gotten to the point that it is

impossible for me to do even the tiniest bit of straining. Because of that,

I've not had a BM since Friday evening. I'm going to call my pcp again on

Monday and see what he thinks we should do about this.

Anyway, please tell Sue she is in my prayers for a speedy recovery and that I

look forward to hearing more of her story. Also, if she tells you what tests

revealed the adhesions, I'd like to know. I've had a ct scan of the abdomen and

pelvis since this burning pain started. The ct scan didn't show anything out of

the ordinary. I also had an abdominal ultrasound while I was in the hospital

last week. it was also normal. Of course, the ultrasound didn't go anywhere

near the lower left abdomen, where I'm currently having the worst burning pain.

Since around July, I have had several areas in my upper and lower abdomen that

have burning pain as well as pain that feels like maybe someone punched me in

the gut or I have a bad bruise. At one point, the entire area around my

umbilical cord felt like someone had given me a good gut punch and it also

burned. Right now, most of the painful areas are better except the one in my

lower left abdomen.

Has anyone ever had symptoms like this? The area in my lower left abdomen

almost feels like maybe something inside of me is being pulled or twisted

anytime I strain the tiniest bit - even the minimal straining required to begin

urinating.

Sometimes I feel like I've got so many things going on that I need the doctor to

give me some answers for that it is downright embarrassing!

thanks to all for just listening to me whine!

W

alabama

[Guest guest]

Hi ; I'm glad your finally out of the hopsital. Edema nd fluid

rentetion are not easily controlled at first and may take time and

preserverance on your part and you pcp to give it a chance to work.

It will certainly take more then a week to see the therapuetic

affect of Laxis. Did the docs tell you about potassium while taking

this drug? Are you drinking enough water?

There are no real test for adhesions, the decision to cut is usually

based on symptoms. Lysis of adhesions can be laparoscopically and

some hernias (small) can be done that way as well. You had asked

what surgery is used to treat sod; well from my experience that

surgery should be the transduodenal sphinteroplasty. It has a great

deal of success for pts who's main source of discomfort is sphincter

of oddi dysfuntion and spasm. I had it done myself 1 year ago

tomorrow actually. Unfortuneatly it was too late for me as the

damage had already spread well beyond the duct.

I hope you feel better soon,

Chrissy

> Fliss,

> what type of tests would reveal adhesions? My GI/Hepatologist

simply says I have 'fluid shifting' in my abdomen. My normal weight

was about 170 lbs before this fluid thing got so bad. I think I

weighed around 170 lbs at my daughter, Nikki's, wedding on May

29th. I've had problems with the bloating for some time, but it

didn't become so horrible until after Nikki's wedding, thank

goodness. My dress was a very simple, but elegant, floor length

straight skirt with a sleeveless top and a <a

href= " http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=1 & k=long%20sleeve "

onmouseover= " window.status='long sleeve'; return true; "

onmouseout= " window.status=''; return true; " >long sleeve</a> jacket.

It was the style that it had to fit perfectly and a bulging tummy

would have ruined the look.

>

> My weight has gone as high as 201.5 lbs with this horrible 'fluid

shifting'. My weight was 186 on Friday, Oct. 15th and I was feeling

so much better. Saturday was sort of an in-between day. Not as

good as Friday, but still not bad. Sunday was also okay, but not

great. However, Sunday evening, Oct. 17th, I was hit with a bad

attack that just seemed to come from nowhere. When I weighed Sunday

evening as I'm trying to throw things together for the hospital, my

weight was up to 197 lbs - an 11 lb <a

href= " http://www.serverlogic3.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=1 & k=weight%20gain "

onmouseover= " window.status='weight gain'; return true; "

onmouseout= " window.status=''; return true; " >weight gain</a> in about

52 hours! The doctor on call for my pcp was kind enough to do

a 'direct admit' and spared me from going through the ER. They gave

me IV lasix 60 mg three times a day the first 4 days I was in the

hospital, then gave me my normal oral lasix 80 mg on the last day.

When I got home from the hospital on Thursday afternoon, my weight

was down to 185 - 12 lb loss in 5 days! My belly was still much

bigger than what normal used to be before the bloating got so bad,

but it was definitely an improvement and I felt we were moving in

the right direction. I actually felt good Thursday and the first

part of Friday. However, Friday afternoon the bloating and fluid

retention returned. My weight was back up to 189 lbs - 4 lbs in

less than 24 hours. I called my internal med doc (my pcp) on Friday

afternoon to let them know that the fluid retention was getting

worse again. He told me to take my normal 80 mg lasix in the

morning and take 40 mg lasix at 2 p.m. That's helped some, but not

a lot. I haven't weighed today because I'm just kind of fed up with

the whole thing!

>

> My pcp and I discussed me going to a surgeon just to see if they

think surgery could help me. My pcp talked about sending me to the

hepatobiliary surgeon at UAB that was so incredibly pompous when I

saw him in November 2002. I think my pcp forgot that I'd already

been to that surgeon. I was still not totally with it when we

talked since it was while I was in the hospital. I didn't feel like

reminding my pcp that I'd already seen the surgeon he was talking

about at UAB and had no desire to see him again. While some

teaching hospitals are wonderful, I was not impressed with UAB. My

sister-in-law has a very dear friend who was diagnosed with

pancreatic cancer quite suddenly over the summer. She had a whipple

done by a hepatobiliary surgeon at a private hospital in Birmingham,

same town UAB is in and 100 miles south of me. I am going to make

an appt with this surgeon and see if he thinks he can help me. I

think I may potentially have several different things going on in my

abdomen. First, the doctors think I have SOD and that's what has

ended up causing chronic pancreatitis as well as the recurring

episodes of acute pancreatitis and the daily right upper quadrant

abdominal pain and nausea. They can't do the manometry test on me

via ERCP because of the gastric bypass. However, they can go in

surgically and do the manometry to confirm the SOD and then they can

correct things surgically. Also, I think I might have some

adhesions, not necessarily in the biliary area, but just somewhere

in my belly. I think it's also possible that I have more hernias or

that the hernia repair I had in Dec 02 has failed.

>

> Does anyone know what type of surgery might help if my problem

actually is SOD? I did have two ERCPs with sphincterotomies back in

2000. They didn't seem to help, but maybe they did. I had lots of

attacks from Jan 00 to Feb 01. By Mar 01, things improved so much

that I actually turned down my disability retirement, which had just

been approved. I didn't have any pancreatitis related ER or

hospital admissions from about Jan 01 to Jul 02. If I could have

some sort of surgery to improve the SOD and even just reduce my pain

and episodes of recurring panc flares, it would be a miracle.

>

> Also, one of the problems I've got going on in my belly right now

is that I am having this really bad burning pain in my lower left

abdomen. It's mostly only when I try to have a bowel movement or

even when I urinate. The tiniest amount of straining causes this

awful burning pain right in the area of my hysterectomy scar

(surgery Mar 93). I've also had my left ovary and a large cyst

removed (Feb 01) in this same area. Both the ovary and cyst were

adhered to my intestines and my GYN literally had to 'peel' the

ovary and cyst away from the intestines. This is also where I had

the large incisional hernia as well as the small inguinal hernia.

Those were repaired in Dec 02. With so many surgeries in about the

same area of my lower left abdomen, I'm sure adhesions would be a

very likely possibility. This burning and pain in this area has

been going on since around July but in the last few days it has

gotten much worse and now happens with just the tiniest about of

straining of my abdominal muscles. Hate to be so graphic, but since

yesterday, it has gotten to the point that it is impossible for me

to do even the tiniest bit of straining. Because of that, I've not

had a BM since Friday evening. I'm going to call my pcp again on

Monday and see what he thinks we should do about this.

>

> Anyway, please tell Sue she is in my prayers for a speedy recovery

and that I look forward to hearing more of her story. Also, if she

tells you what tests revealed the adhesions, I'd like to know. I've

had a ct scan of the abdomen and pelvis since this burning pain

started. The ct scan didn't show anything out of the ordinary. I

also had an abdominal ultrasound while I was in the hospital last

week. it was also normal. Of course, the ultrasound didn't go

anywhere near the lower left abdomen, where I'm currently having the

worst burning pain. Since around July, I have had several areas in

my upper and lower abdomen that have burning pain as well as pain

that feels like maybe someone punched me in the gut or I have a bad

bruise. At one point, the entire area around my umbilical cord felt

like someone had given me a good gut punch and it also burned.

Right now, most of the painful areas are better except the one in my

lower left abdomen.

>

> Has anyone ever had symptoms like this? The area in my lower left

abdomen almost feels like maybe something inside of me is being

pulled or twisted anytime I strain the tiniest bit - even the

minimal straining required to begin urinating.

>

> Sometimes I feel like I've got so many things going on that I need

the doctor to give me some answers for that it is downright

embarrassing!

>

> thanks to all for just listening to me whine!

>

> W

> alabama

>

>