Ventral incisional hernia ... small intestine loop

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

My catscan results state I have a " Small ventral incisional hernia containing

nonobstructed loop of small bowel " . The reports goes on and on about how I have

no other problems, everything is unremarkable. My right kidney is still missing

and they were able to tell I am still post hysterectomy. My one kidney has no

hydronephrosis, nor do I have problems with my lung bases and bony structure for

lytic or blastic lesions.

Everything EXCEPT what I asked them to look for. My Ehlers-Danlos diagnosis is

missing from the report.

IMHO, finally! The are saying I got SOMETHING! So, my GI problems could be due

to the hernia. It would explain the lump that comes and goes deep under my soft

abdominal skin. Yet, my doctors office called me this morning to schedule me to

see the doctor <<next month>>.

I had to go in to the office to demand the above record as in their opinion they

could not see what the SMALL hernia was doing to me. As it turns out, they

forgot I was EDS. And when I told them they treated me like I was speaking

another language. When I mentioned my autonomic dysfunction, they do not have

that in my record.

Question: Would not this long standing hernia cause me pain? I feel I am being

discriminated again for not having the ability to feel pain. No being able to

feel pain IS NOT the same as having no pain ... especially where that pain is

converted into autonomic dysfunction and/or autonomic dysreflexia.

After a argument with a nurse and two other clerks they scheduled me to see a

" womans's " doctor to discuss prolapse. This will be this Friday. Knowing I have

EDS and the single doctor knowing it is turning out to NOT be much help.

Caro.

[Guest guest]

Hi caro

I was dxed with an 'alpha loop' in about 85; never heard another word about

it. This was prior to eds dx.

On 12/31/03 2:44 AM, " ceda " <ceda > wrote:

> From: CDillardda@...

> Subject: Ventral incisional hernia ... small intestine loop

[Guest guest]

Hi Caro,

You won't find that anythign in a CT report would lead the clear path to

EDS, sp thsi is why it wasn't mentioned in the report. It would be rather

unusual for a radiologist to include EDS in his report unless it was

significant to his findings. So if you had an aneurysm for example, he

might have said something like 'there is a 3 cm aneurysm in the left iliac

artery that was diagnosed previously and is inoperable due to the patients

ehlers danlos syndrome', but the truth is, the radiologist who interprets

the films isn't there to make a diagnosis of anythign nor can he bring in

extraneous information other then what he sees on the film in front of him.

His is not to plan treatment or suggest possible reasons for anythign

unusual other then to point out a path on the film of how the situation came

to pass.

Your results are actually normal, considering the surgery you describe you

had. Ventral hernias are defects in the abdominal wall that have existed

since birth. Incisional hernias are defects that appear at the site of a

prior surgical incision. You describe a loop of bowel that is

non-obstructed in the hernia, thsi is a normal occurence, as when an organ

is removed, the bowel naturally fills in the area, simpyl because it can.

If it were obstructed, this would be significant and would require urgent

attention.

What to do? Well, perhaps nothing - it depends upon the size. Since thsi

is a new diagnosis, there is nothing to compare it to, so they are likely to

wait and observe this for change. If it grows, they may choose to operate

to close the gap. If the bowel becomes obstructed, they will have to

operate to close the gap. But if it remains the same and there are no

changes, then they are likely to leave it alone. The procedure for closing

the gap is to use a gore-tex mesh, and this hasn't proven to be very

successful in people with EDS because our fragile tissues in many cases,

allow for the mesh to rip from the sides of EDS tissues that it is sewn to.

This is nto the general rule, just somethign that many others with EDS have

experieinced.

Would this cause pain? Well, if the bowel loop were obstructed, yes. The

larger the herniation and prescence of bowel, the larger the problem, so the

fact that yorus is small is good news!

Hang in there.

Jill

[Guest guest]

I have a friend who had a hernia, and he said it caused him no pain at all.

My dad's, on the other hand, was very painful.

Ventral incisional hernia ... small intestine loop

Hi all,

My catscan results state I have a " Small ventral incisional hernia containing

nonobstructed loop of small bowel " . The reports goes on and on about how I have

no other problems, everything is unremarkable. My right kidney is still missing

and they were able to tell I am still post hysterectomy. My one kidney has no

hydronephrosis, nor do I have problems with my lung bases and bony structure for

lytic or blastic lesions.

Everything EXCEPT what I asked them to look for. My Ehlers-Danlos diagnosis is

missing from the report.

IMHO, finally! The are saying I got SOMETHING! So, my GI problems could be due

to the hernia. It would explain the lump that comes and goes deep under my soft

abdominal skin. Yet, my doctors office called me this morning to schedule me to

see the doctor <<next month>>.

I had to go in to the office to demand the above record as in their opinion

they could not see what the SMALL hernia was doing to me. As it turns out, they

forgot I was EDS. And when I told them they treated me like I was speaking

another language. When I mentioned my autonomic dysfunction, they do not have

that in my record.

Question: Would not this long standing hernia cause me pain? I feel I am being

discriminated again for not having the ability to feel pain. No being able to

feel pain IS NOT the same as having no pain ... especially where that pain is

converted into autonomic dysfunction and/or autonomic dysreflexia.

After a argument with a nurse and two other clerks they scheduled me to see a

" womans's " doctor to discuss prolapse. This will be this Friday. Knowing I have

EDS and the single doctor knowing it is turning out to NOT be much help.

Caro.

To learn more about EDS, visit our website: http://www.ceda.ca

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