How to Identify Abdominal Adhesion

Abdominal adhesions are mostly brought about by surgeries in the abdomen. Normally after surgery, strands of scar tissues are formed on the area as part the healing process. But in the case of patients with abdominal adhesions, fibrous bands are formed not only within the incised area, but also on the surfaces that are beyond the incision. They will either stick to the walls around the abdomen or abnormally unite two organs that are normally separated. In worse cases, abdominal adhesions stretch from the front to the back of the abdomen. This causes a part of it to be girded around the intestine, which blocks the passage of food, and also causes a complete or partial blockage of the bowel (intestinal obstruction). Recovery of this case is dependent upon the severity of the obstruction. A partial block may heal by itself within 24 hours; but for a complete block, immediate surgery is needed. This is so because complete adhesions wrap around the intestine (strangulated bowel), and cuts off its normal circulation, causing it to fail and eventually die. So instantaneous surgery is needed to save the patient's life. It takes several months or even years for adhesions to cause intestinal blockage after surgery. But don’t take any chances, once any of the symptoms below are observed. Contact the doctor right away.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Symptoms to Help Identify Abdominal Adhesions

1. Notice if you encounter periodic cramping pain in the area of the abdomen. The pain may last from seconds to several minutes and becomes more intense with intestinal activity (food digestion). Pain becomes severe and appears more often in serious cases.
2. Observe if you feel nauseated and want to throw up most of the time. This may last for more than an hour. Vomiting occurs with intervals of being mild for a short while and then comes back vigorously (wherein throwing up is done more forcefully).
3. Look and see if your abdomen is puffed up or swollen and if the abdominal area is tender to touch and then gradually becomes bloated. When severity progresses, the abdomen grows bigger and appears more distended.
4. Try to observe your bowel movement. Constipation is one of the main signs of intestinal obstruction. In this case, stools appear dry and hard and it requires a more considerable effort for you to expel it than normal. Defecation may come to a halt on severe cases.
5. Hearing a sharp ringing sound of bowels over your stomach along with an increase gas and stools of liquid consistency are symptoms of this condition. This is an indication of an increase gas and diarrhea. If the condition worsens, the ringing sound in the stomach disappears.
6. Check your temperature to see if you have a fever. It can either be a low grade or a high grade one, depending on the severity of your condition.
7. Notice if you have dry skin along with a dry mouth and throat. These are visible symptoms that indicates dehydration.
8. Increased feelings of thirst with infrequent urination occur which is due to an imbalanced system secondary to the condition.
9. Feel your heart beat and constantly monitor your blood pressure. Increased heart rate with low blood pressure usually appears in individuals with complete intestinal obstruction.

Tips & Warnings

• If you or your loved one recently underwent abdominal surgery, and the symptoms mentioned above are present, report it to the doctor right away. Early management is a good way to prevent the case from becoming worse.