How are you feeling these days? I have had my own complications, but fortunately nothing like that!
As a nurse, I try to educate myself about complications so I can be an advocate for others who have complications after WLS.
Hope you are doing well now.

I have had 2 internal hernias. One of them caused a complete small bowel obstruction. The pain did come on suddenly without warning, before I had the complete obstruction it was intermittant and woul last anywhere from 2-12hrs, not unbearable pain, but VERY uncomfortable. The bowel obstruction was near unbearable pain and nearly instant nausea and vomiting.
Your pain does sound like it could be pancreatic pain and if the docs found your pancreatic enzymes elevated that is probably why they are thinking that is the cause. You don't have to have a gallbladder or be a drinker to have pancreatitis...there can even be a genetic cause. A friend of mine has it and they have been unable to determine any cause for it. Hopefully, in your case a treatable cause will be found and hopefully resolved. Best of luck!

I'm 15 months post op and succesful with weight loss. I am grateful for my band but for the first 6 months, I had a gassy pain that roared around my stomach. It was hard to sleep on my stomach. I did cat scans, saw a the gastro doc, took prevacid, was prescribed mixed drinks, allergy tests, bloodwork, upper gi, colonoscopy - my insurance must hate me! Anyway, my surgeon was stumped, and I slowly started noticing it less.

Now, a year after all those tests, it came back one morning with a vengence four days ago. I called my surgeon in tears, saying, "I just can't do this to myself again, thank you for all you've done trying to figure this out, I think I just need it out."

Has ANYONE heard of anything like this? It honestly just feels like I have a giant bubble of gas right above my belly button, to the left or the right, that kinda moves. When it acts up, my tummy roars and bubbles, and this feeling began the second I woke up from surgery.

I have an appointment this week to talk about removal, and I'm heartbroken. Any ideas guys? Thank you for your kind ideas.

Just wondering if you ever found out what was causing your pain.  I noticed something today that sounds similair to what you experienced.  Up until now I've had very few problems but I have had trouble sticking to the liquid diet.

I have been out of the loop for a while, here is an update to my journey:
I have been laying low lately, mostly because I have been horizontal in a hospital bed for the better part of the end of 2009.  I spent Christmas and the New Year in the hospital, and I was on the verge of just showing up at the Mayo clinic if I couldn't get in the conventional way, which seemed a long shot.  An associate of my original RNY surgeon had posed a plan to me about 6 months ago, a surgical plan that he was convinced was going to fix me.  I have obvious trust issues at this point of any doctors, and this surgeon does not do WLS, he is a general/vascular/trauma surgeon, so that also stopped me in my tracks, and I obviously didn't want anymore surgeries.  I kept drifting in and out of the ER, as a patient instead of working, encountered a very lovely doctor TWICE who was just convinced that I was a drug seeker, or some pathetic loser, which after some research I can't take it personally because I have heard he doesn't believe in pain...hmmm, has he ever been kicked in the groin? sorry, I have wandered off my track, it just felt good to get that out.
After spending the holidays in the hospital, I decided I had to do something and take control of this, because IT had control over me, still does at the moment.  The surgeon explained to me that he was going to have to do an "open" abdominal surgery, all my others had been laparoscopic.  He needed to see 360 degrees and needed to get his hands in there to really see and feel what is going on.  Just a refresh, I had already had my RNY reversed at U of C, but in order to prevent weight gain, that surgeon made my stomach kind of like an hourglass, I had a top pouch, then a passageway, then a bottom pouch, my intestines were stapled back together on top of each other, instead of end to end. The theory: where those small intestinal connections were stapled together end to end, it made it almost impossible for normal peristalsis (intestinal movement of food) to happen because the connections were so stiff, plus he felt that I needed to go back to having a normal stomach, as normal as I can have anyway, I have lost a certain percentage of my stomach to previous surgeries, so it will never be a normal size. He also put the small intestine connections together end to end and hand sewed them with dissolveable sutures, same with the stomach, all hand sewn, no more staples inside me.
I go back to my karma issues because while thankfully I made it through this complicated surgery, and with no leaks or infections, I did however have some problems, ones that could have been avoided if staff had done their job.  The surgeon told me that the surgery was going to be very painful, so he had the anesthesiologist put an epidural in before surgery to cut some of the post-op pain for the first couple days and I would also have a PCA pump for pain.  I woke up from surgery in the most horrific pain, and kept hitting the button, asking the nurses in recovery, why am I in so much pain? They didn't know, and didn't bother to look or check the epidural.  My family and friends came to visit me those first couple days and I couldn't even lift my hands to my face or move my legs because of the pain, my feet were twitching from the pain.  The surgeon had another anesthesiologist come in and check the epidural 2 days after surgery, and he walked in the room and looked at the pump sitting next to me on the bed, and knew from just looking at it, that it wasn't working properly OMG!
They took the epidural out to find it wasn't in all the way, I told the insurance company not to pay for it :)
I was in the hospital for about 9 days, I lost a unit of blood in surgery because they nicked my spleen trying to get rid of adhesions that were covering the small intestine. They gave me blood in the OR, but even a few days later I felt so weak and was sweating, feeling like I was going to pass out, and my hemoglobin was still only 8.8 (they transfuse at 8), so they watched it until I left the hospital, and I think that is one reason why my recovery has been extra long.
I'm not sure if it worked yet, I don't want to jinx myself.  I still have nausea that is crippling at times, but my guts have been re-arranged 7 times!  There is no reference point for me, no way for any doctor to say, oh yes when people have problems or surgery like you, they feel like this...I don't know anyone else like me yet.  I know there are a lot of people suffering with very similar problems, and I know I have heard of people having their surgery reversed, but to my knowledge this is a whole different animal...if there is someone out there, let me know how things went and how you are now.
I love some of the people from my support group, but I am done going.  I had not been in a while, and I went this week, and I don't talk openly about my problems, I don't want to scare people or be a bad example, someone brought up some symptoms similar to mine, and 4-5 eyes were drawn directly to me, their faces falling in sadness and disappointment, and a couple even said my name out loud...made me feel like a freak!  I don't think that every person who has pain in their left side and persistent nausea and eating problems has what I had, but I also don't think they want to talk about it and disrupt the happy flow of SG.  People talk about those first, rough 6-8 weeks, and symptoms that usually end up being stenosis, but that comment/question just struck a chord with the people who do know about my issues, it almost felt like, uh oh, our shiny happy party is over.  I know this is my interpretation, but it really felt that way.  So, I will rely on my close friends and family, and always be there, a positive force for anyone who is struggling, praying all the time that they aren't like me.  I have somehow managed to stay positive, difficult since I lost my job/career over this illness, and in trying to obtain new employment, all anyone wants to focus on is why have you been off work so long? I feel like this is going to curse me for finding a new job, I would have better luck if I had a criminal record!
I hope that updates everyone, thanks for all of you who have checked in on me, and sorry I have been out of the loop for so long.  I have a strong family, thanks to them, not sure where I would be without them.  I'm always here for anyone who needs help.
Jules