I have had some pain feeling as pulling stretching between the middle
of my penis to the right hip. This pain comes from time to time and is
relieved if I can empty my bladder or pass some gases or have a bowel movement
and this is not always possible. My urologist says it is not caused by
the urogenital system, the surgeon who operated on my hernia says it
is not a hernia and I had a colonoscopy 2 months ago which showed no
abnormalities. Does anybody have any suggestion what this can be or
how to explore this further?

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Request for Question Clarification by tutuzdad-ga on 29 Sep 2003 20:11 PDT

Has your doctor ruled out adhesions? This is when tissues abnormally
fuse together following a procedure. Would you like more information
about this condition as an answer?

regards;
tutuzdad-ga

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Clarification of Question by vaac-ga on 30 Sep 2003 13:56 PDT

Yes, I would like more information on adhesion

Dear vaac-ga;

Thank you for allowing me an opportunity to answer your interesting
question.

Read this very infromative article and the related links. It often
refers to problems associated with women but I assure you this is not
a gender specific anomaly exclusively. Many men, and even children,
can and do suffer from adhesions following surgical procedures of all
types and it is commonly listed as one of the most frequent risks of
surgery.

INTERNATIONAL ADHESIONS SOCIETY
http://www.adhesions.org/ptguide.htm

Another article focused more on problems encountered by men can be
found here:

IAS MEN'S SECTION
http://www.adhesions.org/men.htm


Adhesions are basically bands of fibrous tissue or internal scars that
forms between two tissues of the body during the healing process that
often inhibits or interferes with a person’s ability to stretch freely
or properly in a way the body was naturally designed to move. In some
severe cases the adhesion can attach to the bowel or other passages to
cause a strangulation or obstruction, which in turn results in acute
pain in the area of the occlusion. If you have an invasive procedure,
like a hernia correction for example, it is possible that some tissues
might have grafted together improperly or attached themselves via scar
tissue to other surrounding tissues. This is known as a postoperative
adhesion. Adhesions can be diagnosed using a procedure called
“diagnostic laparoscopy”, wherein a tiny camera is inserted into the
abdominal area and a visual inspection is made to determine if
adhesions exist. If the condition warrants, a similar procedure called
an “adhesiolysis” can be done to correct it.

Other sources of interest concerning the topic of adhesions can be
found here:

WHAT ARE ADHESIONS?
http://www.adhesions.org.uk/adhesions.html

ADHESIOLYSIS (SURGICAL REMOVAL OF ADHESIONS)
http://www.urogynecologychannel.com/lap_proc8a_old.shtml

To be fair, I should mention though that some studies suggest that
time rather than surgery is the best healer of adhesions:

SURGERY FOR ADHESIONS NOT JUSTIFIED
Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist 
http://www.healthandage.org/Home/gid1=3688

Of course, nothing we can say here in any way suggests that this is
your problem and one would never accept information they receive
anonymously via the interest as a diagnosis or medical advice. I
recommend you see your physician armed with this new information and
make inquiries about the likelihood of adhesions as a possible cause
of your unusual abdominal pain.


I hope you find that my research exceeds your expectations. If you
have any questions about my research please post a clarification
request prior to rating the answer. Feel free to use my search
strategy (below) to find additional data if you need to. Otherwise I
welcome your rating and your final comments and I look forward to
working with you again in the near future. Thank you for bringing your
question to us.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga



INFORMATION SOURCES

Defined above

SEARCH STRATEGY


SEARCH ENGINE USED:

Google ://www.google.com


SEARCH TERMS USED:

ADHESIONS

WHAT ARE ADHESIONS

WHAT CAUSES ADHESIONS

ADHESIOLYSIS

DIAGNOSTIC LAPAROSCOPY

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Request for Answer Clarification by vaac-ga on 02 Oct 2003 10:50 PDT

Your research indeed exceeds my expectations and you certainly deserve
a 5-star excellent rating. but since you say that if I have any
questions about your research to post a clarification request PRIOR to
rating the answer I would like to find out how I or my doctors can get
in touch with you PRIOR to rating. If that is impossible I will rate
the question anyway as soon as I hear from you.

---

Clarification of Answer by tutuzdad-ga on 02 Oct 2003 11:37 PDT

I wish I could help you there but unfortunately the policy of our
forum requires us to remain anonymous to customers and the customers
anonymous to us. This is why both you and I use usernames instead of
our real identities. Even if it would add to the credibility of my
research I would be prohibited from providing contact information or
obtaining contact information from you outside of this forum.

Good research contains links which serve to confirm the validity of
the information. You can see from my links that the information I
offer is valid and I assure you that your physician will recognize the
term "adhesions" when you bring the subject up. If it is helpful,
print off the pages I offered you and take those to your doctor. If
he/she graduated from a reputable medical school I promise you that
he/she will know what you are talking about almost immediately.

Regards;
tutuzdad-ga

adhesions, as commonly referred to, don't occur with hernia surgery;
adhesions generally refer to scar tissue within the abdominal cavity,
and hernia surgery usually is not done within the abdominal cavity.
It's certainly possible, however, to have scar tissue within the
hernia operation that could cause sensations you describe. If that's
what it is, it may improve over time (you didn't say how long ago your
surgery was, but it could take a year or more to stabilize.) It's
possible to have entrapment of a nerve within the scar, as well. This
can be treated variously by injecting the area with a steroid
solution, or in some cases by operating to free the nerve. Assuming
you had a hernia repaired in this area, I'd consider nerve entrapment
a possible explanation. Of the possible treatments, reoperation is a
last resort.