It's like starting at the beginning, being thrown into a new world. I have always courted great health. There is so much that I never knew, that by becoming ill I now know. I have found out that the stomach does not like to be touched!
The complications, diet restrictions, reduced physicality, treatments...I knew nothing of this world before. I didn’t know anybody in this world and if I had stumbled across some stories like mine it would have been so helpful so please share my story freely.
In hospital, with excessive vomiting and debilitating pain, the surgical team found out that one cause was internal scarring called adhesions. Intestinal adhesions are bands of fibrous tissue in the abdominal cavity that can form after abdominal or pelvic surgery. This happened to me due to an operation I’d had 3 years previously, due to troublesome fibroids. At that time, my monthly period was lasting around 3 weeks and soaking through my clothing in a matter of minutes. As a Training Consultant, travelling the length and breadth of the country on public transport, delivering training to large corporate groups, this became a highly embarrassing, out of control problem. The idea was that removing the troublesome fibroids would prevent me from excessive blood loss, prevent me from becoming anaemic and even allow me to have a last shot of conceiving a child with my co-parent partner. Sadly, the co-parenting plan couldn’t come to life, but the internal scarring did, growing sneakily inside me until it blocked my small intestine without my knowing.
Adhesions & Warning Symptoms
Did I have any warning symptoms? Between November and December 2018 I had lost my appetite and lost half a stone. I put this down to insane amounts of workplace stress, working ridiculously long hours from 8:30 am till 8:30 pm and being totally run down physically. On top of this, I was achieving a long-time dream and purchased my own shared-ownership home. Stress levels were at an all-time high. Small amounts of food would fill me up. My interest in eating had severely waned but due to my circumstances, I thought nothing of it. I didn't know then, that I was showing some classic signs of a blocked intestine. Who knew? Not me! Not having bowel movements is another sign of being obstructed. To be honest, I was so over-worked and over-stressed I can’t even recall what was happening in that department. In general, my body was fried, my immune system was depleted and that’s all I can remember. Please see more symptoms of SBO here
So, in the wake of a total small bowel obstruction, the surgeons needed to operate, quickly! They cut out the collapsed intestine and joined the 2 healthy parts of intestine together. This is called a resection of the small bowel. Sounds logical and straight forward. But now we’re back to the start.
The stomach doesn't like to be touched!
Some people are more prone to adhesions than others. Chances are that if you’ve had an operation to remove an adhesion, that operation will then cause you more adhesions. Eventually, the medics will operate again to remove those adhesions. More adhesions will then form from that operation…I trust that you get the picture. A vicious circle ensues. A lifetime of multiple stomach operations, chronic pain and long spells in hospital begins.
After a multitude of operations, many adhesion sufferers end up with colostomy bags. My sister’s colleague had 18 stomach operations over the years. Now she has had a stoma and must use a colostomy bag! This is not a rare story. In fact, in this new world, I’m finding out that it’s a horribly common story. There was such a woman in my ward in the hospital. She was having her colostomy fitted. I didn’t understand the correlation at the time. In modern medicine, they will cut away at the stomach until they can’t cut away at it any more. This can eventually result in a stoma to bypass the bowel, hence the need for a colostomy bag.
Evidence-Based Alternative Treatment!
But Hey!! This isn’t the only way!
There is an evidence-based alternative treatment. A non-intrusive way to remove adhesions and to end the Small Bowel Obstructions. The alternative treatment is a form of manual therapy technique called the Wurn Technique. By applying specialised pressure, this technique that locates adhesions and disbands the scar tissue like an elastic band. They do not pull at the adhesions, they do not grip at them, they do not use any kind of force. This treatment is provided by an organisation called Clear Passage. It is a one-time treatment with 30 years of proven scientific data. Treatment takes 20 hours split up across one week. They then teach the patient upkeep and maintenance techniques so that the patient should never have to experience that hell on earth called Small Bowel Obstruction ever again.
How Much Is Life Worth? The only thing is that this treatment costs £4000! I was staggered by this price, but coming through this year of torchure I had to stop and ask myself, “How much is life worth?" I spent 5 weeks in a hospital in vomiting agony beyond my worst nightmares. My family, my friends and I were nothing short of terrified. I had to live with a stinky, hideously uncomfortable tube down my nose and down the back of my throat throughout that time. I was nil by mouth and I couldn’t eat for 7 weeks. I could barely sleep all that time. I lost 2.5 stone and my body went into starvation and a PICC line was inserted over my heart to provide my body with nutrients needed to keep me alive.
Not wanting to go through this ever again, I decided to get a researcher to help me find alternative proven nonintrusive treatments for this condition. With 30 years of research and evidence-based data, the results came back again to Clear Passage. This treatment is covered by many health insurers in the USA and there have been voices calling for it to be made available on the NHS, thereby cutting their adhesion surgical costs by millions of pounds. So far, despite scientific research and evidence-based data, this calling has not been heard.
Since my operation in February 2019, I have not been able to run my beloved choir properly.
Recovery has been slow. Another fact I didn't know about small bowel obstructions! I have not yet been able to return to work. My whole focus now? Getting my va-va-voom back!
Here we go!
Thanks for reading and thanks for sharing.
