Avoid lifting anything that would make you strain. This may include heavy grocery bags and milk containers, a heavy briefcase or backpack, cat litter or dog food bags, a vacuum cleaner, or a child. Ask your doctor when you can drive again. You will probably need to take a few days or weeks off from work. It depends on the type of work you do and how you feel. You may shower 24 to 48 hours after surgery, if your doctor says it is okay. Pat the cut incision dry. Do not take a bath for the first 2 weeks, or until your doctor tells you it is okay.
Ask your doctor when it is okay for you to have sex. You may not have much appetite after the surgery. But try to eat a healthy diet. Your doctor will tell you about any foods you should not eat. Eat a low-fibre diet for several weeks after surgery. Eat many small meals throughout the day. Add high-fibre foods a little at a time. Eat yogurt. It puts good bacteria into your colon and may help prevent diarrhea. You may need to take vitamins that contain sodium and potassium.
Your doctor will tell you whether you should take any supplements. Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. Choose water and other caffeine-free clear liquids until you feel better. If you have kidney, heart, or liver disease and have to limit fluids, talk with your doctor before you increase the amount of fluids you drink. Your doctor will tell you if and when you can restart your medicines.
You will also get instructions about taking any new medicines. For women, scar tissue can also lead to fertility problems. Adhesions can prevent fertilized eggs from reaching the uterus, and they increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy. Scars on the inside after surgery are known as abdominal adhesions.
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Related Articles. Hips Hurting? Hard-to-Treat Epilepsy? Adhesions Download printable version. Overview 2. Causes 3. Symptoms 4. Treatment 5. This factsheet is about adhesions Adhesions are areas of scar tissue that can cause organs or tissues in the abdomen to stick together. Causes of adhesions Scar tissue is part of any healing process, so adhesions develop in almost all patients who undergoing surgery to the abdomen.
What are the usual symptoms of adhesions? How are adhesions diagnosed? These may include: MRI scan of the small bowel: this involves drinking a liquid that highlights the shape of the bowel and may indicate presence of adhesions by highlighting abnormal dilatation enlargement or kinking of a region of the small bowel. CT scan: this may be carried out as these can sometimes show evidence of adhesions although it is important to note that they can also miss the presence of adhesions, so this is usually carried out as an addition to the MRI scan.
Laparoscopic surgery: the only way to be sure of the presence of adhesions is for the surgeon to look inside the abdomen and see if there are adhesions and exactly where they are located. However, it is important to be aware that any surgery will increase the risk of further adhesions forming, so surgery is not a cure. How can Adhesions affect you? A complete obstruction is where the development of adhesions can cause the bowel to become narrowed and, as a result, food and stools cannot move freely through the gut.
In this case it is likely the patient will be admitted to hospital. In very severe cases, the bowel becomes completely blocked and the patients may not be able to pass stools or wind and will be in constant severe pain with vomiting, which sometimes contains gut content such as faeces. This is an emergency and medical attention must be sought immediately.
Chronic pain: This is rare, but it can cause major upset, frustration and feelings of hopelessness among many patients. If your doctor suspects adhesions are causing your reproductive issues, they may recommend surgery to remove them. If you have abdominal adhesions, you may also experience the following symptoms along with your pain:.
Open adhesiolysis is an alternative to laparoscopic adhesiolysis. During open adhesiolysis, a single incision is made through the midline of your body so your doctor can remove the adhesions from your abdomen. Abdominal adhesions can form from any type of trauma to your abdomen.
Adhesions caused by surgery are more likely to cause symptoms than other types of adhesions. Before the procedure, your doctor will likely perform a physical exam. They may also order a blood or urine test and request imaging to help rule out conditions with similar symptoms.
Prepare for your surgery by arranging a drive home from the hospital following your procedure. You may also need to stop taking certain medications.
Your surgeon will make a small incision in your abdomen and use a laparoscope to locate the adhesion. The laparoscope will project images onto a screen so your surgeon can find and cut out the adhesions. In total, the surgery will take between 1 and 3 hours. Pelvic adhesions can be a source of chronic pelvic pain. Surgery usually causes them, but they can also develop from an infection or endometriosis.
Hysteroscopic adhesiolysis is a surgery that removes adhesions from inside the uterus. Adhesions can cause pain and complications with pregnancy. Having adhesions in the uterus is also called Asherman syndrome.
After spinal surgery, fat found between the outer layer of the spinal cord and vertebrae can be replaced with adhesions made of tough fibrotic tissue that can irritate your nerves.
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