Serious complication- marginal ulcer

Last week, I had my first blood tests since  my surgery on Dec 23. Everything was fine except for tests related to kidney function. Creatinine was 341 (normal for me is 64). The clinic asked me to go to emergency immediately. After ct scan etc, my kidneys were failing due to severe dehydration. Very frightening. I had no pain, no obvious indications that I was this ill other than an extreme thirst I couldn't keep up with. Thank god for the blood test! I was admitted to hospital for 5 days on fluids. They did endoscopy, found I had a large marginal ulcer that was already healing. On meds for 6 weeks, hopefully this will cure it.

Most worrying was that I though the discomfort I was having was normal healing. I was so focused on vitamins, protein, the scale etc.

Drinking water still makes me feel ill but I have to force myself to have the 2 litres/day or kidneys will be stop functioning again.

Has anyone else experienced marginal ulcer after surgery and what was your outcome?

Thanks for reading :)

I was told I had one 3 months out. I'm still not sure that is what it was. BUT I had to be on carafate and protonix for about 3 months and I still to this day am on protonix.

then I started having pain on my right side that led to GB removal sept 2016.

Still having mystery pain sometimes - endo and mri came back fine- not sure but with meds not having issues

No experiences, but I hope you get to feeling better soon 

Yikes!  Glad they caught it!  Good luck!

Thank you for sharing your story. I have been slacking on my water intake and this has opened my eyes to the importance of H20. I think for me it is frustrating sipping and I just haven't taken the time to drink enough fluids. I think without reading your message I could easily be dehydrated on my next labs.

Again, thank you for sharing. 

Good morning!

I am so sorry to hear that things have gone a bit sideways. 

My friend had her RNY 2 weeks after me.  I am (6) weeks out.

She has been riddled with complications.  She developed a very large blood clot and they had to go back in that night and remove it.  It extended her D/C to 6 days in hospital.

She struggled getting her water in. Ended up back in Emergency and then readmitted.  She also was diagnosed with a marginal ulcer... Hers developed along the suture line of her pouch. They believe the internal bleeding and subsequent ulcer are connected.

She is home now and doing well. She is on meds to heal the ulcer and will be so for some time.

I am sorry that you are both experiencing this.

There are better days ahead!

Keep in touch.  

Sending you lots of positive vibes and healing!

Sandra.  

Mahalo.  

Thanks Sandra

I don't see how there is a connection between the ulcer and dehydration? I've never heard of a correlation. But not drinking enough and dehydration can cause major problems of their own.

I had an ulcer at over 3 years from surgery. It wasn't at the anastomoses, so there is no certainty it was related to WLS. And I have never smoked, drank, or used NSAIDS. Many people get ulcers who have never had WLS, so it could have been just one of those things.

Mine was pretty bad. It felt like heartburn for a couple of weeks -- which I've never had -- and then started showing up as blood in the stool. I lost 6 or 7 units by the time I got to the ER.

They did a scope, found the ulcer, and stopped the bleeding with their cauterizing tool. I got a double unit of red cells, and was pretty weak for a month or so from the blood loss. But other than that, I was on a PPI and carafate for a while, and it healed just fine. If I start to feel that kind of heartburn again, I'll know what it might be, and get it checked out sooner.

The ulcer was causing me to not want to drink as much as I needed to as it was making me pretty nauseous. This was a marginal ulcer(along the staple line). I haven't had any nsaids, alcohol, etc and haven't smoked in years.  I believe I had it since surgery or shortly thereafter as I thought the discomfort was part of the healing process. Again, so glad I had those blood tests. I am on PPI and Sucralfate and that already seems to be helping.

I'm glad to hear that your ulcer healed. I have been reading that some ulcers never heal??? and I was getting nervous.