Stomach pains. Help
It has been over 10 years since I've had Surgery (Ryn). Everyday I have discomfort/pain in the upper middle stomach area,.. It lasts for 5-30minutes, but then everything goes back to normal. At first, it was happening once every other week or so, no rhyme or reason to it. It most often happens in the middle of the night,(lately) when the pain wakes me up, I would have to shift or move around to relieve the discomfort.. since I first post this, I have had a endoscopic procedure And a sonogram. Everything is great no hernia no ulcers my pouch is okay, no gall bladder problems. No livers issues. .no other issues . Recently it hurts sometimes when I eat. I was given omeprazole. It does not seem to help. I am not gassy. What else can this be?
Please do some research on internal hernia. This is a very difficult to diagnose issue, where your intestine goes through the artificial space created when your pouch was connected to the end of your esophagus. I have been having pain in my upper left chest, upper abdomen, that radiates around to my back. At its worst, it is diffuse, across my entire abdomen. It wakes me up in the middle of the night. It has been increasing in frequency and intensity, along with nausea, vomiting and just generally feeling like crap. I have had multiple CT scans, MRCP, upper EGD (looking for an ulcer, which i had before) and a (completely useless) colonoscopy. The CTs and colonoscopy all just showed constipation, for which I was prescribed linzess. Nothing has helped. Friday, I saw a new bariatric surgeon (the one who did my surgery basically blew me off last year). This new doc sent me right over to the hospital to do a series of xrays with barium. He found out that my entire small intestine is now on the left side of my body, which explains all of my symptoms. I am scheduled for a diagnostic laparoscopy on July 18. He said this condition is missed on about 75% of CT scans, and unless it is being read by a radiologist or surgeon specifically looking for it, it will almost always be misdiagnosed. This condition is also called a Petersen's hernia. Google the condition, and see if the symptoms line up with what you are experiencing. Most of the articles are geared more toward healthcare professionals, but there is a lot of good information. Good luck.
Please do some research on internal hernia. This is a very difficult to diagnose issue, where your intestine goes through the artificial space created when your pouch was connected to the end of your esophagus. I have been having pain in my upper left chest, upper abdomen, that radiates around to my back. At its worst, it is diffuse, across my entire abdomen. It wakes me up in the middle of the night. It has been increasing in frequency and intensity, along with nausea, vomiting and just generally feeling like crap. I have had multiple CT scans, MRCP, upper EGD (looking for an ulcer, which i had before) and a (completely useless) colonoscopy. The CTs and colonoscopy all just showed constipation, for which I was prescribed linzess. Nothing has helped. Friday, I saw a new bariatric surgeon (the one who did my surgery basically blew me off last year). This new doc sent me right over to the hospital to do a series of xrays with barium. He found out that my entire small intestine is now on the left side of my body, which explains all of my symptoms. I am scheduled for a diagnostic laparoscopy on July 18. He said this condition is missed on about 75% of CT scans, and unless it is being read by a radiologist or surgeon specifically looking for it, it will almost always be misdiagnosed. This condition is also called a Petersen's hernia. Google the condition, and see if the symptoms line up with what you are experiencing. Most of the articles are geared more toward healthcare professionals, but there is a lot of good information. Good luck.
Excellent post.
6'3" tall, male.
Highest weight was 475. RNY on 08/21/12. Current weight: 198.
M1 -24; M2 -21; M3 -19; M4 -21; M5 -13; M6 -21; M7 -10; M8 -16; M9 -10; M10 -8; M11 -6; M12 -5.
on 7/3/17 6:24 pm
I believe there are some vets with experience with Petersen's Hernia.
Hopefully, one will be round to give some of their experience.
Here's a link that may be of help, as well: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3481246/
"What you eat in private, you wear in public." --- Kat
Back in 2002 when I had my first WLS there was a lot of discussion about Peterson's hernia. You don't hear a lot about it anymore but it was a big risk for those of us who had our surgery laparoscopically.
I guess the instruments would leave holes in the mesentery and as we would lose weight the intestines would float around and get caught in the holes. Because they would sometimes go in and out it was very hard to diagnose. But we were always told to be aware of any severe pain, especially if we had our surgeries laparoscopically.
From what I understand in later years as they learned more about the risk surgeons began to sew up the holes and the risk lessened, which is great, but it means that some who had their surgery much earlier didn't know about the risk. It is something to be aware of.
I also have had pain, sometimes severe, in my abdomen for years, never explained. I've been hospitalized a few times with suspected bowel obstructions but my surgeon always told me to stay alert and contact his office in the future.
For some happy reason I haven't suffered from this pain for several years, since my last hospital visit, but I am always aware of the risk and to let medical personnel know about my history.
WLS 10/28/2002 Revision 7/23/2010
High Weight (2002) 240 Revision Weight (2010) 220 Current Weight 115.
That were my symptoms when I was app 8 months post op... Peterson space hernia. I had ct-scans (few) and none show anything abnormal. But I had experienced surgeon *****cognized possible internal hernia with twisted intestine. When I was in pain after every solid meal - he did exploratory lap surgery that confirmed that. They fix my hernia. But it opened again in less than one month (, symptoms returned) ... But I was stubborn so I waited 8 months to have a second surgery. At that time the hernia was really big - but still not detectable during ct scan. My second surgery to repair the damage was 4 hours. But this time - the repair fixed the hernia. At least for the last 7 years.
Hala. RNY 5/14/2008; Happy At Goal =HAG
"I can eat or do anything I want to - as long as I am willing to deal with the consequences"
"Failure is not falling down, It is not getting up once you fell... So pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again...."