TERRIBLE back pain

Hello~

I am almost 3 years out of gastric bypass surgery.   I am 17 weeks pregnant with my first child.  I do have a question for anyone that can help me.  When I was doing my reserach on having surgery I read somewhere that when you do get pregnant after surgery you get terrible stomach because of scar tissue.  Now that I am in that boat I am having terrible and I mean terrible back pain.  I had it about 3 weeks and and again on Christmas Day It was so bad that I was on a bed just rolling around and crying.  My family called my OB and he said that there was nothing wrong with the baby it is all the Momma!!! He said that this could be scar tissue because of surgery and that everything with the baby is moving around and growing and because of the scar tissue it is causing pain.  He is surprised that it is not my stomach that is hurting abd my back but it could just be the way the pain in radiating.  I took some Tylenol and put a heating pad on for a little while and about 25 minutes later I was back to my normal self. Has anyone has this pain???         

I too am almost 3 years out and I am 19 weeks pregnant. I've had horrible back issues all along. I see a chiropractor weekly and that is a god-send! She told me that my hips, pelvis and ribs are spreading and this is causing the pain. After an adjustment I feel good as new. This isn't caused by my RNY but just something that can happen. Neither my OB or my surgeon ever mentioned additional pain because of scar tissue (I had lap RNY, my gallbladder removed lap, and my appendix removed open). Stretching also helps.

Hope that you feel better soon!

Liz

Do you still have your gall bladder? My gall pain during my first pregnancy was in my back and very painful. It would come and go like that. Just a thought. If you don't have your gall bladder still, then try the chiropractor like Liz said. I also find prenatal yoga helps with my really bad back pain that resulted from a car accident. Just a few thoughts. Hopefully you will find the relief you need!

Carrie

I have never heard of the RNY causing bad back pain when you are pg because of the scar tissue.   A lot of doctors will blame the RNY because they don't know what the other reasons could be I think and that would be an easy explanation to blame RNY.  JMO

I had horrible lower back pain with my other 2 pg's (pre op) but that was in the end of the pg and because my ligaments were relaxing to prepare for labor (and I was so big, at least 80-120 lbs overweight with both of those pg's).  

I had some braxton hicks contractions in my stomach and back that were painful and lasted for a few minutes when I was about 7 months along with my first, maybe that's what could be causing you some pain.  I have heard you can have BH in your stomach and your back and it can sometimes be painful, but mostly really uncomfortable (like you have to breathe through them and they only last a few minutes).  I used Ben Gay cream or a heating pad to help ease the back pain and that's about all you can do when you are pregnant to ease that pain.  Hopefully you can find things to help ease the pain.  It could also be sciatic nerve pain, I've heard that being terribly painful for some pg women.

Was this pain in your lower back or your midback?  Did you feel bloated, nauseated, etc with it?  It could be gallbladder attacks, an internal hernia, an ulcer, any number of things.  Don't let them just tell you it is scar tissue though.  I had an internal hernia during my first pregnancy that no one would treat.  It could have been very dangerous.  I had surgery to correct it once it was finally diagnosed properly and I've had zero pain of that type this pregnancy.  Maybe call your surgeon to get his/her advice.

for the last 6 months I have been going through something similar.  I get pain that shoots thru my pouch and straight out my back.  it happens every 2-3 weeks and lasts approx 4 hrs each time.    I've gone to the wls dr, my primary dr and the ER and nobody knows what it is.  Now I'm going to a gastro-intestinal dr and they are testing me for gall stones even though my gall bladder is already removed.  These pains started before my pregnancy so I'm still not sure what is going on.   I've had a cat scan and nothing is showing on there. 

I hope you have better luck with finding the cause of your pain issues....

Many times hernias and bowel obstructions don't show on cat scans.  I think that's why they are missed so many times in pregnancy.  The doctors don't want to risk exploratory surgery, which is understandable but many times it is the only way to find them.

I am 3.5 years out from surgery and I am 20 weeks pregnant. I have back pains off and on but I can manage with Tylenol and a heating pad. The doctor hasn't mentioned scar tissue to me but I always mention my pain when it is severe. I hope things go better for you in the future with the back pain

Thanks for everyone's adivce. I got to see my OB soon.  I am also going to speak to my surgeon and ask him what he thinks it could be.  The only reason why I am so not worried about the pain is that I can help it a bit with Tylenol and a heating pad and also that the OB said that the baby is fine. That is a big worry off me!!