Terrible sore throat and chest pain

I am 16 years post op have done well weight wise however this pain I have been self medicating w Tylenol big time is so hard to deal with have had for past few years. At first thought it was cardiac related, then reflux, strep throat and even throat or lung cancer all do to endless pain. Have had every single test including acid balance all negative or normal. Yesterday bariatric APRN says" this pain is most likely due to delayed or slowed espaghgus motility after eating or drinking" she said very common w bariatric patients post op. She described it as "foods getting stuck" any one out there suffering w pain from this?? It is very difficult to live with! Other than this I am healthy

Have you had an upper GI test done? That will show how things move through your esophagus and stomach after drinking or eating.

I have been on this board since 2003 and never heard of this happening.

Yeah, that's rare and terrible to hear. Hope she gets well soon.

If I don't chew well enough, or swallow something by accident (i.e. a hard candy) or try to take a large pill, I may have a pain that is really bad, because something is stuck in my stoma.

I also dealt with pain after eating when I had ulcer or really irritated pouch or stoma. Or when I had hernia. Or when my GB failed and it had to be removed.

Beside that I can deal with pain if I eat that "one bite too many", or food I ate is too hot, or ... when eat some foods that cause a really severe IBS symptoms. MY IBS gets triggered by some foods. i.e. white bread, or bread in general, or rice - that can form a ball and I almost can tell where that is in my digestive system. Some food - that can cause me to have excessive gas (high fiber grain, cabbage, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, pears, etc.) my body no longer can properly digest and I may be in pain almost from the moment i ate that. Sugar alcohols - in some fruits os SF foods, even SF gums - that can hurt me really bad.

Solution - avoid them. Bread, pasta, grains - if i really want to maintain my weight, I can do that the best when I avoid things like that anyway. Beans - the gas, not only can be painful but also smells horrible, and even I can't stand the stench of that. Even before the RNY I rarely ate beans. My body had issues digesting them. Even when I took special digestive enzymes.

If your throat is sore - that may indicate acid - GERD. Unfortunately I was dealing with that. At one time the burning was so bad ad EGD showed severe irritation, that my doc decided to put me on a strong Rx PPi Dexilant. No other OTC or even Rx strong PPI worked. The dexilant, together with zantac, and change of diet (avoiding some foods that cause reaction) really worked. After a month I was able to start sleeping in my bed again.

I am not slowly tapering it off. Initially I was on 60 x 2 per day, then on 60 x day,. Now I am on 30 mg 1 to 2 times a day. I hope I can taper it down to none by the end of this year, or beginning of next year.

But - I had to change my diet. I identified what foods caused bigger flare ups (dairy, grains, coffee, etc) and I limited them or eliminated them. I am not down to 1 weak cup of coffee per day. And the coffee I use is cold brewed organic coffee. I drink black or green tea for the rest of the day. Any acidic drinks also had to go. Drinks with a lot of artificial sweeteners (diet soda) had to go. I am OK with that. I was never soda drinker anyway.

Maybe you need a second opinion? Pain - burning - it is not OK.

BTW: I am close to 60 now, and I no longer need to prove to myself or anyone else I can handle anything. Right now - I don't want major pain or discomfort. And I make sure I get help, to at least find out why I am in pain and what do I need to do to stop being in pain.

I had symptoms like this when I had the lap band and it had slipped. Nothing like that since the bypass, however.

I did have to have an esophageal manometry pre bypass. It did show slowed motility in some areas of my esophagus, (from the crap band) but OK to proceed with surgery.

I experienced this with Lapband due to Vagus nerve damage. It affected my esophagus and diaphragm, yet none of the diagnostic tests really showed anything. Is the pain mostly in your left shoulder area, spreading into the middle of your chest?

If food moves too slowly through your esophagus, it puts pressure on your diaphragm and can cause the nerves to react. That pain is pretty intense. I'm so sorry you're experiencing it.

Thanks Nic the I have had all the tests and the only Med that helps some believe it or not is Tylenol pain reliever!!

Tylenol is such a miracle sometimes. I'm glad you have that to work for you, at least. I found that a heating pad or ho****er bottle near the top part of my abdomen (where the diaphragm is) helped sometimes. Or sitting in a hot bath. But maybe your situation is different from what I had. It might be worth a shot, though.

I sure hope you feel better.

Thanks Nic have a great fourth!?