Almost 2 yrs post op and Stomach pain like charlie horse

I am almost 2 yrs out and the past 2 months I have been having rt side pain near an incision site that can best be described as almost like a charlie horse but in my stomach. It is like a horrific muscle spasm, that you can see the ropey knot that forms and I have to press down and massage it out. It can happen if I bend over or twist the wrong way..but it can also happen if I can sitting completely still.

It is incredibly painful..but if I am able to bend the opposite way I can get the spasm to stop but the residual pain in the area lasts for days afterward and radiates in my entire rt quadrant and wraps around towards my rt kidney.

I have had every test under the sun run..CT, 3 ultra sounds, and a HIDA scan.

It is NOT the following: my gallbladder, a kidney stone, anything GYN related, or a hernia at an incision site.

My surgeon has chalked the whole thing up to adhesion's and has told me to go see a pain management doctor for trigger point injections, which I will do but I wanted to at least ask here and see if anyone else is dealing with this sort of issue.

I hesitated to post this because I dont want to scare anyone from getting the VSG as I don't think this is VSG related per say..but more the result or complication that could happen from any lap. abdominal surgery.

I have upped my magnesium and potassium..in hopes that this may help.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as this issue has really stared to impact my quality of life. These "attacks" are happening at least once a week and the residual pain last for days afterward.

Hopefully someone on here will have some magic answer I havent been able to come up with.

Oh gosh, Elizabeth, that sounds awful!  I'm so sorry to hear this!  I wonder if a chiropractor, or perhaps even better, a massage therapist could help.

I have been having esophogeal spasms, and at first I thought it was a heart attack, but I don't believe it is anything like you are describing.  And they run in my family, so I don't think it is VSG-related either.

Please take good care, and let us know how you get on.

--Dorothy

 I have been to the Chiro..he is my 80 yo BFF lol..and he is a non manipulative chiro..which means he doesn't crack so it is sort of a combination of chiro and massage...and so far it hasn't helped.

From what I have been able to find online it seems to be a general abdominal issue..my husband has it happen like 1x a YEAR since his gallbladder 9 yrs ago and even the CNP at my surgeons office told me her husband suffers as well from a hernia operation 6 yrs ago! So I really don't think it is VSG related but I am hoping someone on here may have experienced the same thing and have some sort of solution. 

Thank you for the kind words and I will keep you posted.

has your appendix been ruled out?--although it does sound muscular in origin.

 I have had labs pulled twice..once by my PCP and once at the ER, both times they were fine. So appendix was ruled out..as I have  shown no sign of infection.

I have been drinking Gatorade like crazy, eating bananas, as well as supplementing with the magnesium and potassium in pill form.

I have not had an endoscopy or a coloscopy done yet but Im not sure I see the point as it also doesnt seem to be digestion related.

Are you getting enough sodium? Seriously, the 2 main causes of muscle cramping like that are low sodium and low potassium. You upped your potassium, but what about sodium?

It's very easy to have low sodium on a high protein low-ish carb (maybe not that low in maintenance), diet.

You might try adding a Smar****er a day to your diet and/or salting your meat. You can also drink a cup of warm broth 1 or 2 times a day.

I've had muscle cramps like that before and it was almost always lack of sodium or potassium.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. Please talk to your doctor before trying anything.

What you are describing is exactly what I experienced after my revision, around 8 months out, and while I had gallbladder surgery, my surgeon went in and removed hoards of scar tissue and adhesions.

I refused pain management. I figured if he was in there, he could take all that crap out. I had immediate resolution of all my pain symptoms except for where my port was initially positioned. Unfortunately, I'll apparently always have pain in that area. It's random for me, not excruciating any longer since he removed a lot of the old adhesions. I'm not surgery is  your "fix" but it's what resolved my issues, or that's what should be done. I hope it doesn't come off that way. I had a 6-8 week recovery because of all the adhesions he removed. I had complications with my revision, a leak repair, total of 4 drains placed (2 separate occasions) so I had a lot going on in my abdomen for the first 3 months of my recovery from my revision. I had adhesions on my liver, along my abdominal wall and down to my colon.

Yeah, that adhesion thing is pretty terrible. I have had a couple of friends who had to have adhesions removed. One of my brothers had some removed to restore motion to a joint, during a repair he needed any way.

Seems like this can happen to anyone, any where, and "they" can't predict who will have the problem.

Hope you don't have this any more.

 I just had this nice thoughtful responce typed out that took me like an hour to get done between "MOMMY's" and my a-hole 9yo..opps I mean darling daughter hopped on here and erased it all!!!

My surgeon told me that he could go in an remove the adhesions but it could just make them worse and at this point go try trigger point injections with pain management.

I have seen so many drs. about this, PCP, Gastro, GYNO, Urologist, my surgeon, my chiro..the ER..and no one seems able or willing to offer any real help.

I could deal with some pain..but getting "stuck" in a bent over position that requires my husbands help to get out of...i would do anything to FIX this!


I am sorry for all that you went through..but maybe it was so others could be helped from your experience.

I literally woke up from GB and adhesion removal, and felt immediately better. I had the gas pain, but I had zero issues getting in and out of vehicle by myself or twisting upon returning home.

My surgeon did place me on a "no lifting" or heavy working out my core/ab area for 6-8 weeks to prevent more adhesions from forming. I listened and behaved and have never had those sharp shooting pains again. The pain in and around my port scar area is just there, I can "bump" that area "just right" and it shoots a pain, but it's quick and doesn't last but a few seconds. I have pictures of all the adhesions he removed saved on here.

If you don't get ickied out too much, I can share them with you. The ones around my liver were giving me the most trouble. Well, those and the ones attached to my abdominal wall because those would pull the most.

I hope pain management gives you relief. I'm a very "cut to heal" type person. Just meaning if surgery can "fix" it, give me the papers to sign, knock me out, and fix me up.