By GRETA CUYLERUnion Leader Correspondent Monday, Dec. 24, 2007
EPSOM – Christine Damon has always been in pain.
As a teenager, she sought medical treatment for abdominal pain, back pain and vomiting.
Doctors dismissed it as a "woman problem" and didn't take her seriously until a doctor finally diagnosed her with endrometriosis, a chronic disease in which the tissue lining the uterus begins growing in other parts of the body.
In her early 20s, Damon underwent her first surgery to remove the tissue.
She's now 44 and has had 14 surgeries because the adhesions keep growing back.
Damon suffers from Adhesion Related Disorder, in which internal scars -- caused by trauma - bind organs and tissues not normally connected.
Ninety to 100 percent of surgery patients develop adhesions, said David Wiseman, who conducts research on ARD.
"Probably most everyone gets them because it's an inevitable part of healing," he said. "The question is will that cause another problem or when will it cause a problem."
Damon has lost her ovaries, uterus, gallbladder and part of her appendix to the disorder. She can't keep her food down. She's down to about 90 pounds, said her best friend, Lorraine Keach.
"There's nothing left; they can't do anything for me," Damon said. "No more surgeries, just pain medication."
Damon's story is typical, said Dr. Jay Redan, a board-certified general surgeon at Florida Hospital- Celebration Health, who specializes in minimally invasive surgery and has been doing ARD surgeries for a decade.
The typical ARD patient is in her 30s or 40s and has undergone an open hysterectomy. Ninety percent of people who have an open hysterectomy develop adhesions. A few years later, the patient develops bowel problems and a doctor diagnoses irritable bowel system. When the patient has trouble urinating, a doctor prescribes medication. The patient complains of pain and a doctor prescribes more drugs. The patient goes to a psychiatrist who prescribes anti-depressants. The patient's pain gets worse, she probably lose her job due to the escalating pain and days lost from work. Then the patient may develop a bowel obstruction.
Damon now puts all her energy into a 40-hour-a-week job to pay rent and bills, but says she doesn't have the energy to do much else. She goes to bed directly after dinner and rests all weekend to make it through another work week
Now she's waiting for the adhesions to latch onto yet another organ.
Redan treats ARD through laparoscopic surgery because open surgery often causes more adhesions. Without a diagnostic test for adhesions, it's not simple to get insurance to approve surgery, and the only way to diagnose them is through a laparoscopy or open abdominal exploration.
"(Insurance companies) make patients go through other tests," Redan said. "Then they say, 'There's nothing wrong, all the tests are negative, why do you want to have surgery?'"
According to Redan, there's no guarantee surgery will fix adhesions because patients often have multiple problems stemming from the initial disease. However, his method has about a 75 percent success rate for making a patients adhesions asymptomatic, he said.
Damon has trouble finding doctors who are willing to treat her, although she has been to Redan and also doctors in New York and Pennsylvania. Some doctors don't accept insurance, leaving her to pick up the tab.
Damon's friend Keach is working to raise ARD awareness. Keach's efforts resulted in a September 2006 proclamation from Gov. John Lynch recognizing September 2006 as a month of awareness for ARD.
"God bless her, she's done things I don't have the energy to do. She's more than a friend, she's my sister," Damon said.
The two women became friends in 2001 while working at the Hooksett Police Department.
"I can't tell you all the things I've seen," Keach said. "Somehow, she keeps going on. But some days she really wants to give up. I've seen those days."
http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=For+woman+with+adhesion+disorder%2C+only+pain+ahead&articleId=b97a5ed1-e547-4d8e-9575-833261a424fb
Bless you Chrissy.
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