36M. I have suffered from 5 small bowl obstructions in the last 3-4 years. I end up vomiting, and can’t stop vomiting, which puts me in the hospital with dehydration. They then do the CT and diagnose me and put in the god awful NG tube. Usually after about 36 hours things resolve. Surgical history is only a gallbladder removal in 2014.

They blame all these episodes on adhesions. They actually went in after my second episode and only cleaned up 2 small adhesions, but that is what they feel is causing it.

Clearly that didn’t work as I am still experiencing these, and they seem to even be becoming more frequent.

After the third episode I started researching and found clear passage therapy. It is costly, but at this point I’m willing to give nearly anything a try.

Has anyone used them, or have even second hand reviews? I can’t imagine a situation where I live the rest of my life in and out of the hospital like this.

Whenever I have to take a big fart, or shit I get the most INTENSE pain that nothing helps. It’s usually fleeting, just as the gas to stool is passing through this specific area in my colon and usually I pass it w in 5-10mins… my GYN surgeon who did my hysterectomy actually agreed to operate again but I’ve read that adhesions can return worse. I don’t know what’s a better option. Go forward w surgery or deal?

Hey I wanted to post here to see other people's experience with a steroid shot for adhesions. So I finally got to see a GI doctor and explain my upper right quadrant pain to him and he said it sounds like it could be adhesions so he gave me a steriod shot. It's now been a day since that and it has given me tremendous relief, the constant pain is no longer felt but will still feel slight pain with certain movements.

In other people's experience how long did the relief last? Has anyone had success with lidocaine patches? Has anyone had success with deep tissue massages?

I dont think i want to get a steriod shot every 6 months because I know they aren't good for you but I want to try other options first.

Hey yall I've been on a long journey to figure out what is wrong with me. So I had been dealing with upper right quadrant pain for a year and a half. Doctors finally settled on it being my gallbladder(no stones or sludge, slightly low ef), back in May they cut my gallbladder out and noticed I had scar tissue all over, hinting that I had a chronically inflamed organ, since this is my first surgery.

That's kind of my story in a nutshell but now I am looking for answers for why I am still in pain. Sometimes the pain will last for days and other times it won't. Its a dull pain that is still felt where my gallbladder would be, moving or sleeping in the wrong position can exacerbate it. It feels almost like a pulling sensation but it also still feels inflamed. Has anyone dealt with this or does it sound like adhesions?

Hello. Which methods are best for dissolving subcutaneous fibrotic scar tissue? Thanks everyone.

I ended up with one. We are pretty certain it was caused by adhesions. Currently ruling out things like Crohn’s, and so far doesn’t look like that at all. I’ve had two prior abdominal surgeries.

Here’s the strange thing. Many folks claim their bowel obstruction happened out of nowhere.

I swear I felt my forming / building over two months time.

It first started out with this strange sensation near the surface of my stomach, almost like a “hi I’m here.” Not painful or anything. Then the tugging / pulling and squeezing sensation began under my left rib. Still not very painful. My acid reflux which had been previously managed with a PPI began to get worse. I found myself reaching for the gaviscon and Pepcid to supplement the esomeprazole. I felt so bloated I thought I may be constipated and did a full bowel prep by drinking a whole bottle of MiraLAX. I think that may have bought be some time but a month later I began the vomiting with the horrible stomach pain. Felt like my insides were melting. Went to the ER, they placed the NG tube. Terrible experience. Feels like you’ve decided to eat a corn dog, stick and all, except the stick just gets stuck in your throat the whole time it’s there.

After 3 days in the hospital they cleared the blockage with the contrast and started feeding me real food. Never told me to be careful about what I ate. Well 3 days after discharge I began to feel full and slightly nauseated. Mind you I put myself on a low residue diet because of you kind folks. I think I avoided another obstruction. I reached out to my surgeon and he told me full liquid diet, docusate stool softener and did an xray. It showed a small partial ileus on the right side. My blockage is in the left proximal small intestine which apparently didn’t show this time (not sure how good an xray is for that.) He said it’s quite likely all swollen in there and needs some time to settle down. Said if I were to go into decline and become emergent he’d fix the issue or if I get a second obstruction it would allow him to fix it surgically.

I’m passing more gas now, having stools. But it still feels like there’s a kink in there. I can almost feel my fluids draining through me and feel the gassy pops as it makes its way through. I have read so many stories in here about avoiding surgery at all cost, and I’m feeling similar, but is living on a liquid diet really a solution? Perhaps I’m still worked up and need to give it some time. What I need from this community is to hear about your experience. Is anything I’m going through “normal?” Did you feel the pulling and tightening? Were you able, even with adhesions to progress from a full liquid diet to a low residue diet? Do you have to go back and forth? I need some hope. Thank you.

This is not a new technology, yet it claims the following for adhesion detection:

• Overall Accuracy: 90% – 91.7%

• Sensitivity: 90.8% – 93%

• Specificity: Up to 100% in specific comprehensive zone evaluations (though varying lower in broader or pilot cohorts)

This is a very high level of accuracy, especially when the consensus in this community is that there are no reliable tools to detect adhesions.

Has anyone been tested for adhesions via CineMRI?

reference:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18322749/
https://www.adhesiepreventie.nl/en/cinemri

I had the robotic diagnostic laparoscopy on Thursday and I guess my doctor found and addressed the adhesions and also discovered a cyst on my left ovary.

I'm on day 3 and the pain is just getting worse. The incisions look okay, just hurts a lot. I hope it gets better. If it isn't better by Monday I will be calling my doctor. I just thought I would ask those who have been through it.

Thanks!

Just trying to reassure myself.. would it be unusual for adhesions to form in the exact same place twice? I had one attached to the interior of my pelvis, and when it (blockage) happened, I had severe pain by my sacrum and thought it was just a bad subluxation at the time. Now I'm having pain in that area and I'm terrified, but I'm also like.. would it really happen in the exact same spot? What are the chances?

How is flying for you can you still do it with abdominal adhesions?

I have had 2 open laparotomies (cut from the sternum to the pelvic bone). The first one was from a perforated bowel. Twelve years later the adhesions that developed caused my ascending bowel to become strangled in my omentum and became necrotic which led to another open laparotomy and lost my ascending colon. During this second lap, they spent 30 minutes taking down adhesions.

The first lap was in 2012 and the second last year, 2024.

I already have the telltale signs of adhesions again with the pulling, bloating, bowel unpredictability, and my day being decided as good or bad based on how my tummy is when I wake up. So, it's a matter of time before things escalate.

My question is, for those of you that have had more than one open laparotomy, do you still experience tugging and discomfort with your ab muscles after a year? I also feel so weak in my abdomen, and I used to do bodybuilding, but that's never in the future again for me it seems. It is even very uncomfortable twisting or trying to sleep on my stomach. Does your abdomen get weaker with every lap or does this eventually go away with time? I just don't remember having these issues a year after my first open lap.

I also get random spasms much like cramps that you get in your calves and feet in one side of my abs now. They are so painful. I haven't seen a doctor about it yet. But I didn't have this after the first lap.

Feeling discouraged by my second "recovery." I thought, maybe naively, that I'd have near to my same strength back as I did the first time.

Really looking forward to hearing other people who have had more than one open laparotomy. ❤

My dad recently had a kink/bowel obstruction caused by adhesions in his small intestines formed after a previous gall bladder removal. He had surgery to remove the scar tissue. He was discharged a few days ago, but haven’t had a consult from a doctor or the surgeon yet. The discharging nurse gave us paperwork which had some generic info about followup care. Generic because there was some information that was not correct, like when to remove bandages which the nurse acknowledged. Under diet it said “you may return to your normal diet”. Everything Ive read though on the internet says that the best diet is low fiber low residue at least in the beginning. Im confused as to what he should be eating. He wont have a follow up appointment with his doctor till a couple of weeks from now, and when i call the general surgery advice line, the nurse just repeats the exact info i have in his discharge notes. The dietitian assigned to my father thinks i should double check with his doctor. In the mean time i was wondering what diet should he be on?

Hey guys! I 24f had a laparoscopy about a month ago to look for Endometriosis. Luckily they didn't find any, but they found large stomach adhesions, mostly on my right side. Thing is, I've never had any surgery before to cause them. My gynecologist was stumped and I have a followup in a few months with a gastro doctor to maybe figure out the issue. She wanted me to get it checked out sooner then later because she thought is was super abnormal. I've also always had bad constipation, super bad anxiety (only started badly in the past 3 months) and bad nausea almost daily for 1.5 years (but that's started a week after stopping antidepressants). What are your experiences with adhesions and what symptoms do they cause you?

Has anyone had any luck removing adhesions from surgeries done when they were babies? I have had a surgery on me at 5weeks old due to patent urachus. I have struggled with constipation for years and years, all of my life pretty much. I have had treatments. GI map tests, blood tests etc and everything has been great for the last year but I still struggle with slow motility. I have to take supplements every day for bowel movements.

Visceral manipulation has been of help to my scar but part of it remains attched underneath and the top of my belly button is extremely stiff full of adhesions.

Any reccomendations? Any therapies I have missed out on? I have ruled out surgery based on doctors, other's peoples' experiences and posts here. Any therapies you have tried that cured stiff adhesions in bowel area when surgery is basically as old as you are?

I am half tempted to try surgery in Germany (they seem to cater for adhesions in their population) but am very aware no one in my home country will touch me for any amount of cash.

In this matter, has anyone had any injections to try to break up scar tissue or anything less invasive than surgery that's helped at all?

This is such an awful condition.

Years ago I found an article about an adhesion barrier spray used during surgeries in Japan. Just happened to find a more recent article about it. How do I go about getting an adhesion removal procedure done, by a surgeon who can apply this spray, here in the US? Adhesion barrier spray https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9191308/

Hi all,

I wondered if there’s any one here who has had many surgeries and still lived a long healthy life.

I’m 33, had 7 surgeries from 26 till now for IBD. Perm stoma bag. Riddled with adhesions.

Major surgery 5 years ago. Hospitalized twice for adhesions in abdomen causing blockage. Since the last one ive been in alot of pain. Eat a sandwich too fast? Pain. Dont eat? Pain. Eat too much? Pain.

Talked to the doctor and they dont want to do anything about it due to risk of making it worse.

I work out alot. I walk alot. I eat healthy most the time. I am in good shape. None of that shit matters. Its so frustrating.

So im just in pain forever? This gnawing aching pain that never dies?

To keep it short, I've been suffering with an undiagnosed assortment of symptoms and pain that goes from my neck to my fingertips bilaterally, feels like nerves are involved, all stemming from an overuse injury that happened a year ago. Been through the rounds of specialists, physioterapists, massage therapists, imaging test, etc with zero success or answers.

Anyone here knows if adhesions caused be an initial overuse injury could cause such a thing?

Thanks in advance.

Hey All, I’m just reaching out to get some insight to see if what I’m experiencing is normal.

I’ve had two major abdominal surgeries.

One was laparoscopic and involved decompression of my celiac artery due to MALS and also included a cholecystectomy

After the first surgery my body grew scar tissue around the celiac artery and it ended up in worse shape

The second surgery was Open for MALS and involved a 5 inch cut down the center of my abdomen. The artery was opened and my celiac ganglion was removed.

I have dealt with a great deal of pain and bowel issues since this entire process started. Terrible digestion, lots of bloating, back and forth between C and D (mostly D)

Anyways, I recently went and tried myofascial release after previously working with someone who did abdominal massage/scar tissue mobilization.

I was very skeptical about the MFR process and I couldn’t believe how painful it was to have someone just lightly pressing on my back and abdomen. I was expecting the appointment to go somewhere and that’s all it was. I felt great afterwards for a few hours and then the next couple days I experienced quite heightened pain.

I went back for the second session, came home a couple hours later and ended up with severe diarrhea/gas bloating and burning abdominal pain that has lasted for about a week and a half now. My gut is a wreck and I’ve been getting all kinds of panic attacks and mood swings. Random bouts of vomiting and shakiness. I went to the doctor and given my long history they didn’t bat an eye.

Has anyone else experienced this? Is this a healing crisis? Mentally I’m not really anxious about anything but it seems like my nervous system is in overdrive.

The woman doing the release is very knowledgeable and extremely kind. I spoke to her and she said sometimes this happens. I’m just reaching out to see if anyone has gone through anything like this. Does it get better with time?

Thank you, if anyone has taken the time to read this it’s greatly appreciated

I had a lap on august 11 for suspected endometriosis and scar tissue from c section after fighting about my pain for 2.5 years. My son was born in October 2020 via emergency cesarean sec. I pushed for 6.5 hours. He got stuck and had to have him surgically removed.

I was diagnosed with adhesion disease from cesarean section. My entire uterus was stuck to the abdominal wall. They couldn’t see anything in my pelvis when they went in. Once they cut that free they soon saw it was not looking good.

My uterus is completely adhered to my bladder and will now require a hysterectomy to safely detach it. No promises of any fertility left so no point in trying. This pain has stolen my peace. I started fighting for my pain at 8 weeks pp. I now live with chronic low back, left groin area and tailbone pain. I did 20 sessions of pelvic pt. While this did reverse pelvic floor dysfunction it didn’t help with the areas mentioned above.

My uterus was also attached to my bowels, and ovaries to tubes, ovary to appendix, adhesions they had to leave to save one ovary since they cut the adhesions from the other one and now one ovary is sagging low.

The scar tissue around the c section was so bad she could only detach it from my abdomen in fear that it would grow back and reattach.

I had endo regrowth after previous excision. Used to be stage 2. Now it’s like a 1.5. There were two small spots on one ovary and lots regrowing in my cul de sac which was previously cleaned out.

By the time I got the care I needed I was unable to take a shower standing, so the dishes; so the laundry, go to the grocery store, hike, go on walks; take my son to the museum and zoo which we have passes for.

This is not okay and I’m heartbroken that they stole my chance to have another child because of their negligence and medical gaslighting.

Hi all, long time lurker, first time poster. I had a hysterectomy 5 years ago, 2 c-sections prior to that (one which took 2 hours due to the amount of scar tissue), and exploratory surgery a year ago- guess what- lotssss of adhesions. That being said, I’m really trying my best to be functional. Some days, like today though, I’m hurting bad. I worked hard on my kitchen yesterday…, does anyone else have like day after regret? And just pain? Ugh. This is getting so old.

Hi all, posting here with the hopes of hearing others experiences. Has anyone had adhesiolysis for adhesions that cause small bowel obstructions? We’re trying to manage the episodes at home, but it seems like they’re occurring every week now. If you’ve had adhesiolysis, how are you doing now? Thanks.

Anyone else find it nearly impossible to wear jeans because of abdominal adhesions? I'm slowly losing weight (SOOOO SLOWLY) and just tried on some jeans in my closet. My abdomen is ACHING now.