Thursday Thirteen

A little information about adhesions, which is what doctors say has caused me to become disabled by pain.

1. Abdominal adhesions are bands of fibrous tissue (aka scar tissue) that can form between abdominal tissues and organs. Abdominal adhesions cause tissues and organs in the abdominal cavity to stick together.

2. Adhesions may be filmy or coarse, thick or thin. They may be small enough to join individual muscle cells, deep within a structure. Or they may grow so large that they stretch down the torso from neck to waist, bending a person forward so s/he literally cannot stand erect.

3. Abdominal surgery is the most frequent cause of abdominal adhesions. Of patients who undergo abdominal surgery, 93 percent develop abdominal adhesions.

4. Other causes of abdominal adhesions include inflammation of an organ such as cholecystitis or appendicitis, peritonitis, foreign objects left inside the abdomen at the time of surgery, bleeding into the peritoneal cavity, or inflammatory conditions such as pelvic inflammatory disease.

5. Good doctors take steps during surgery to try and minimize the formation of adhesions. Some of these may include: shortening surgical time, keeping the tissues moist, gentle handling of any tissues or organs, and using starch –free and latex-free gloves. Several surgical products have also been developed to try to help prevent adhesions from forming during surgery. Film-like sheets are sometimes used between organs or body surfaces after large, open surgical procedures.

6. In most cases, abdominal adhesions do not cause symptoms. When symptoms are present, chronic abdominal pain is the most common.

7. In areas where adhesions impose on pain-sensitive structures, they can cause constant or recurring pain. They may also pull into structures distant from the original tissue trauma, causing distant dysfunction or referred pain – pain experienced in a part of the body other than the source of pain. Adhesions are often the cause of the unexplained or complex pain patterns in many chronic pain patients.

8. At the sites of where abdominal adhesions occur, the intestine can twist on itself, and the twisting may obstruct the normal movement of its contents (particularly in the small intestine).

9. A complete intestinal obstruction is life threatening and requires immediate medical attention and often surgery.

10. Abdominal adhesions cannot be detected by tests or seen through imaging techniques such as x rays or ultrasound. However, abdominal x rays, a lower gastrointestinal (GI) series, and computerized tomography (CT) scans can diagnose intestinal obstructions.

11. In western medicine, surgery is the only way to treat abdominal adhesions that cause pain, intestinal obstruction, or fertility problems.

12. Surgery to treat pain from abdominal adhesions generally fails because the surgery causes more adhesions.

13. Physical therapy has helped some people who have adhesions, but it is a time consuming, painful, and costly process.


Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 391st time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.