Blockage - Probably need surgery for adhesions - gut twisting

I've had eight abdominal surgery so I have a lot of scarring at one point I almost died I had one hour from death and the surgeon saved me. I had a terrible blockage. Since then I've suffered multiple blockages. I've always comes through with about a week of liquids and after liquid they gave me soft foods and then I continued.  I saw an osteopath who put me on a gluten-free diet and that seems to help keep me from blocking I also take super enzymes that help break down the food and chlorophyll also helps break down Foods.

Voice recorded

Thank you so much for the supportive answer, Maddie. I've got so many other medical problems and just didn't need this right now. I just don't want my kids to grow up without a father like I did. It seems to be a generational cycle in my family, a curse. I'd be willing to go on a liquid diet for the rest of my life if it meant I got to be there for my kids. 

I was on a liguid diet for a few weeks before I had my adhesions removed. It’s been 6 years and doing great! Good luck and hop on that plane. 

ALLYKAT, sorry for the slow reply. I unfortunately didn't make it far. I got totally blocked up and couldn't keep water down so ended up having the surgery in Tacoma. From what the surgeon told me, the cutting couldn't be avoided due to the intestine being herniated within a mass of adhesions where a blood supply was blocking her access. 

Re: Adhesion prevention comments I made earlier, it appears there is evidence that NSAID use before and after surgery helps lessen their formation. So might using Resveratrol per the hypothetical research but there is no hard data on any prevention outside of surgical techniques. 

Most of my small intestine was stuck up against my abdominal muscles from the J-pouch operation(s) 14 years back so the surgeon did manage to free up my guts in quite a few locations. I guess that means that maybe my surgery from the past had some sloppy work? IDK. I'm just thankful to be alive at this point. 

Adhesions don’t seem to have anything to do with sloppy work, as best as can be figured. Some people are prone to form them, and they seem pretty random. 

 A set of my adhesions came from my intestine adhering to the abdominal wall at the site of ostomy closure. I developed more along the way from gall bladder surgery and who knows what else. My surgeons are top in the world here at NY so not from sloppy work. 🤦🏻‍♀️I’m glad your ok. Actually adhesion removal is the first surgery the Drs learn. It’s pretty cut and dry, lol. I had about 25 removed at the time. 

@Allykat, was your surgery an open or lapro? You'd think they might use adhesion barriers these days when you look at 10+ year old patients and their adhesion patterns. It's going to be a cost/risk factor situation and lower costs usually win out. 

@Scott, sloppy work wasn't a fair description but surgical standards have improved since my j-pouch was done such as less open time (faster surgery and wound closure). Take a look at this:

https://www.fda.gov/newsevents...ements/ucm491466.htm

Glove type/material & tools play a part in adhesion formation on top of your natural tendency to form them. 

Doctors & surgeons are often so preoccupied with their primary function that they aren't always up to date on tools/methods to prevent future problems. Changes can be very slow despite clear evidence. 

Mine was lapro. All my surgeries were lapro. I had 2 c sections lapro, in 81 and 83 and never had issues till ostomy closure and gall bladder 2001 and about 2007? My Drs do not use barriers as they told me they do not work. I’m sure my surgeons are on top of all the latest. They travel the world teaching others and do lots of research. I was also told I might at some point need a redo but so far that has not happened. Some people form scar tissue more than others unfortunately. Mine I was told were very small. I had so many ab surgeries that it just caught up. I hope you heal fast and try not to think about it. 

I had adhesions about 4-5 years after my surgeries. I had a somewhat severe case because my colon perforated. My impression is that anytime anything/anyone touches your insides you can develop scarring. The more invasive your surgery the more scarring you can get but its not really preventable (besides trying not to move things around). My adhesions caused really bad stabbing pains and pulling but never a full on blockage that required intervention. I did a laparoscopic adhesion removal surgery and it went really well. It was actually done by an OB. I haven't had issues with adhesions since and it was 100% worth it. I stayed in the hospital overnight and had pain for 3-4 days afterwards (mostly because they pump you full of gas and it takes a while to get rid of all of it). When I had my c-section, the OB commented that I had surprisingly little scarring left so the laparoscopic adhesion surgery definitely didn't cause a lot more adhesions to develop. I would 100% recommend getting adhesion removal surgery. Its nothing like the pouch surgeries and its likely you will feel SO MUCH better within 1-2 weeks. I learned that I could stand up straight without pain!!!!

I was doing ok prior to the blockage and subsequent Adhesion removal. The surgeon corrected the problem by cutting out the trapped loop of intestine and she removed somewhere around 50% of the adhesions throughout my abdominal cavity. 

I'm wondering if I should do an elective surgery and have the rest cut. Do I need a good reason to do that? I'm still not quite sure I feel with half of the adhesions being cut out. 

I’d be suspicious of any surgeon that would operate on adhesions without a good reason. 

Sounds like solid reasoning, Scott. When a surgeon removes adhesions to free up a blockage, do they typically do the bare minimum? I'm trying to get a feel for what's what. The surgeon who free'd up my blockage went ahead and lysed all of the adhesions sticking my intestine to my abdominal wall. So there must have been some logic to doing that despite that not being directly related to the location of the blockage. She told me she did about 50% of my adhesions. 

Hey, I'm a good 6 days post op, now, I think. I'm still feeling a bit of nausea and weakness. Blood stats in the hospital showed low Potassium after being on an IV drip with no water orally for 7 days. I supplemented potassium and extra salt today. Anything else I should be looking to boost? I'm still feeling bloat off/on and acid reflux which I suppose might be expected. 

It took a good 3 weeks before I started feeling better so hang in there. My surgeon took out all my adhesions. She must have had a reason to only take out half of yours. I would discuss this with her post op. But as long as your doing ok I doubt any good surgeon would go in and electively take the rest out. Agree with Scott. I was in pretty bad shape for months before my surgeon agreed to do removal. 

I could be way wrong, but I thought any time you have surgery, there is a risk of developing more adhesions. So I agree with everyone who said that no one would electively remove adhesions just because they are there. Good luck-wishing you a speedy recovery!!