Pain in abdomen, chest area....

I had my surgery in Jan of 2007.  I have been doing great until about 2 months ago.  I woke up one night in excruciating pain and was rushed to the er.  I have been to a urologist, gastroenterologist, PCP, gynecologist,  and the good ole er docs. I jsut went to see my bariatric surgeon on friday.  I had an earlier appt but i had to cancel due to hte pain and not having anyone being able to drive me up there... hubby could not get off of work...... anyways my surgeon thinks it maybe gall bladder... although nothing is showing on the ultra sound...... no stones that is.... as far as the tech told me yesterday morning... although they need to have it read..... he also thinks that i may have a hernia....  It really sucks that noone has diagnosed me.  I feel liek the only one *****ally cares is my surgeon and believe me i am so grateful for that!!! I feel like i cant function because of the pain and then i really cant function because i am taking pain meds!  Its a lose lose situation.  Has anyone had these issues that i am going through... i dont know if its surgery related... i mean i  have felt great since surgery and have done well with the weight loss.  I feel like im mystery diagnosis.. LOL..... Sorry this is kinda long im just so frustrated and i needed to vent.  If anyone has gone through this please.... can u respond.... i am so lost and any advice or if you have gone or going through something similar would be of great help... thank you again.. .Christine

I had the same pain about a month ago.  It was in the center of my chest, just below my breast bone.  Each time I ate something in 15 minutes or so I thought I would die!  I went to see my surgeon and he ordered a scope to see the condition of my stomach.  I did the scope and my stomach was perfect.  That same day I had an ultrasound and my gall bladder was FULL of stones, so they set me up to have it taken out.  When my surgeon got in there to remove my gall bladder he found  that my intestines were twisted and I had a hernia.  He fixed all of that and removed my gall bladder too.  He said the pain I was having was probably from the hernia instead of the gal bladder.   I had my weight loss surgery Nov. of 06 and I have lost 97 pounds.  From what I read on this board, having a hernia or gall bladder either one is pretty common.  It was luck in that my gall bladder was bad and they operated on me right away.  They didn't even know about the hernia until they got in there.  From what I have read, it is hard to diagnose a hernia.  I wish you well and I know and understand the pain you are in.  I will pray for you and I hope you feel better soon! Amy

OMG!!! I am sooo happy to have found this post.  I have been having the exact problems as you.  I had my surgery in March of 05.  I had to have my gall bladder removed in April of this year.  I was in severe pain, my gall bladder was only working at 34%.  But I was also having pain exactly where you are, and I told the surgeon then, but he did not do anything about this problem, just the gall bladder.  Now, the pain is getting so intense, it feels like I am having a heart attack, and I am getting nausea.  Is the operation for  the hernia, an out patient surgery.  How long were you in hospital, if not.  How are you feeling now.  thanks alot

The surgery was outpatient.  They did it that morning and late that afternoon, I went home.  I had also started having shortness of breath.  I was starting to think it was anixiety because I told the nurses about it and they said it wasn't physical...likely a mental thing.  Of course none of us knew that I had the hernia etc.  Now after everything has been fixed my breathing is fine again.  I am feeling just fine.  I have had no more problems.  Elizabeth, this could be dangerous, please make sure you go to your doctor and get this checked out immediately. 

Christine, I'm sorry that you are hurting.  This must be very frustrating and upsetful for you. I wanted to let you know that you are not alone.  I have had 3 partial bowel obstructions caused by adhesions and 1 full bowel obstruction (where it kinked over).  In my first, I also had an internal hernia and this is what was likely to be causing me the greatest pain.  I also had a large mass of adhesions on the side that I was hurting (mostly upper right quadrant) but that area began hurting only recently even though the mass was quite large!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think it's highly important to keep your doctor's appointment so tthat this can be addressed with a physical exam as well as thoroughout symptoms and medical history! Good luck and let us know what happens!

Thank you so much for your replies.  I dont feel so alone now.  I have to call my surgeon this morning and will discuss whether or not he will be admitting me..... I am still in pain... but the meds he called into my pharmacy this weekend is taking the edge off of it.  Unfortunately i do have to go to work this morning.... so i am hoping it wont be too bad to get through the next 2 hours... i work a split shift.  Thank you again for replying....it is really appreciated...Christine

How are you doing? What has transpired for you? Any answers? I hope you're well!

 I am having similar problems.  I started having trouble several months ago it would come and go, then it got more frequent.  My stomach is disended (sp) I have pain above my belly button and below my breast bone.  I can't stand an underwire bra and I have always had to wear underwire. Very gassy and crampy.  I had a few black stools several weeks ago (sorry for  being so graphic)    I am exhausted, depressed and have been craving ice!  My mouth is full of sores and I have to rinse with a lidocaine type mouthwash in order to eat anything. I was hospitalized 2 weeks ago because they finally did a cbc on me and my hemoglobin was 5 (a critical level)  I went in originally complaining of shortness of breath and coughing.   They gave me 2 units of blood and discharged my with a level of 7.2.  They had me do a fecal occult test and it came back positive.  So now I have an appt Friday am with a gastro - doc to discuss and prepare to have an endoscope and colonoscopy ( I am hoping they can do it next week)  Doc  said I needed it right away - that was 2 weeks ago and I am just now getting an appt to talk about what we are gonna do! Have any of you any ideas - I am starting to freak out!  I wish I knew what is causing the anemia. Patience has never been my virtue!!!!!!!!!!!! Denise  -  Lap RNY 1-27-05  weight loss 126 lbs.

I am having the same problem. I am 1 year out and have lost 120 pounds and could not be happier. I had my gallbladder removed in April and that is when the extreme pain started.I have been hospitalized twice since. When the pain comes I head to ER they do blood work finding my liver enzyems up. I have had every test I can. MRCP (twice), ct scan, x-rays, billary scan. All results have been negative. I have seen a GI specialist and he can't find anything. Please be careful when they say you are going to get a endoscope, my doctor won't do one on me due to the bypass. We have  different routing now and a bowel perferation can happen if the scope is too long and the person doing it is not experienced.  We are not going that route. I now have 3 doctors working on my case, They all think the liver is the problem. Either left over gallstones, sphincter of oddie or my bile ducts are not  working correctly at times. The pain comes only when I have been alseep for 3 hours or so. It is happening more frequently now and I can't continue to take pain meds. So the plan right now is to do an open surgery to find out what is wrong, but then he can't ever guarantee whatever he does will work since what is going on can't be picked up on any tests. I am frustraed and ready for surgery. The pain is so extreme in my breastbone area I feel like I am going to pass out. So everyone you are not alone. Good luck to all of you.

Endoscopies are done quite often after gastric bypass and are safe.  They are used to check for ulcers, staple line disruptions, fistulas, strictures, etc. It is the ERCP that cannot be done after WLS which involves going further down past the pouch looking for stones in the bile ducts and such so they tend to do the MRCP instead.  (Been there, done that). I'm having surgery next Wednesday for pain.  Most likely suspect is an internal hernia (flopping around of intestines into open areas.)

Good luck to all!

Kathy