Frustrated with surgeon

As in my post below, I've had abdominal pain and gas/bloating after eating with nausea since the end of January.  I've been scoped, had a CT scan with contrast and now an Upper GI with small bowel follow through. All have been negative and the surgeon says there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with me. I feel like they're throwing their hands up. They suggested the next step would be for me to "eat 3 small meals a day and maybe go back to soft foods for a while".  The pain doesn't happen every day. It doesn't happen after specific foods. I thought it was another ulcer (i've already had 2 post-op and had to have a revision due to an ulcer that wouldn't heal) but since I've been on a PPI ([Prilosec and Protonix) since the pain started  (over 3 months) with no change, the doctor said it's impossible. Even if it was in the remnant stomach, the anti-acid PPI drugs would have fixed it by now.  I KNOW something's wrong. Pain is not normal. But if there are no tests that will show why I'm having this pain I don't know what else to do. I thought maybe it's adhesions/scar tissue or even a hernia, but again, they're not showing. ARGH, I'm so very frustated and I'm not sure what my next step is. I'm going to see my Primary Dr on Thursday. She's a pitbull and won't give up on trying to fix this.

 I understand how you are feeling!  I went through the same thing.  I had my surgeon tell me that my pain couldn't have been from surgery and that adhesions don't cause pain.  So I had my obgyn go in to look for endometriosis.  He couldn't even get in because of all the scar tissue and adhesions!  You know your body better the best, if something doesn't feel right then keep complaining.  Don't take no for an answer.  I finally switched surgeons and she went in and cut out all the adhesions and fixed a hernia while she was in there.

Wishing you luck!

Stephanie E

Not all ulcers are healed with PPI's. If it is caused by the bacteria HPyloir, then it needs a combination of antibiotics and PPI's.  Unfortunately it is tough to diagnose an ulcer in the remnant stomach.  There is a new scope out there called a double balloon endoscopy that can go up through the intestines and into the remnant stomach but not all surgeons or Gastro doctors do it.  You might want to check out local gastro doctors or find a teaching hospital not far from you to find someone that does it.

As far as adhesions, they don't show on any test - hernia's usually do but it is possible to have twisted intestines due to the adhesions.  The only way to find this out is by going in and having exploratory surgery.  I had this problem back in May of 2009.  I also thought I had an ulcer in the remnant but once the surgeon fixed the adhesions and untwisted the intestines, the pain was immediately gone - even in the recovery room.

Keep pushing your surgeon or find  a new one.

Thanks. I've been tested twice for H. Pylori and was negative. I'm going to a teaching hospital, U of Florida - Shands. They want to do a small bowel enteroscopy, which is similar to the double balloon enteroscopy as far as I can tell. Unfortunately I have to wait until July 11th for the damned test. The doctor wants to rule everything out before he takes me into surgery for adhesions which i understand, but I really really want to feel better.

My internal hernia did not show on 4 cat scans, xrays, an MRI or ultrasounds.  Exploratory surgery was the only thing that worked...found and fixed it.  Was told when the hernia is very large, as mine was, it may not show on the tests. (?)

The pain is gone and now I am just dealing with gas and bloating...which seems to moderate if I go gluten free (takes a few days to start helping)

Good luck and I hope they find what is wrong.