Severe stomach cramps, please help!

well, I went to a surgeon today about the pains and the knot in my tummy and he basically blew me off said the knot wasnt anything and not to bother with it. mind you he only felt it for about 20 seconds if that long and he wouldnt address the pain at all. army doctors should be ................... you read between the dots. anyway I am going to go back to the real doc who did the surgery 4 years ago and get this taken care of. thanks for letting me rant......... hugs, Terri

I understand money is a problem but this could be life threatening. A friend of mine who is a wls patient was having pain which he ignored for a time. It became so severe he went to the emergency room Sunday night. He was in surgery an hour later. It seems he had a hernia (no outward sign) that had wrapped around his intestine and blocked anything from passing through the intestine. The surgeon told him he would have been dead from a busted intestine within a few hours if the surgery had not been done. On the other hand yours could be one of many things like a hernia, partially blocked intestine, ulcer, etc. Unfortunately none of us can diagnose the problem because test are needed to do that. Maybe if you went back to the ER again you'd get a different doctor who would run the test and figure out the problem. Call your surgeons office and be honest with them about the money issue up front. Ask if they would treat you and allow you to pay monthly, etc. Ask your PCP where you can go for free medical care or call the welfare department and ask them. There is care for you out there, but you are going to have to do some work to find it. Best of luck!

Most of ya'll do not know me, but read my profile! GO BACK AND INSIST ON A BED IN THE ER UNTIL THEY FIGURE OUT WHAT IT IS! PAIN IS NOT NORMAL!!! TELL THEM IT IS PROBABLY a hernia in your peterson space and they cannot detect it UNLESS they open you up! MAKE THEM GET A SPECIALIST,BE forcefull! It is your health! It could also be a bowel obstruction or like me, twisted in knots that they could not detect until I WAS OPENED UP (and almost dead)! INSIST on help NOW!!! STAY STRONG!

Hi everyone, Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you. It took me a while, but I got to the free clinic and was treated by a very rude, volenteer dr. who was about 133 years old. He felt my my stomach and said it doesn't feel like a hernia, and I basically ruled out the obstruction since everything does pass through with no problem. He said it was most likely an ulcer and has put me on protonix, and I am impressed, I haven't had any pain in over two weeks, so maybe he did know something...lol. I want to thank you all for your help, you did help push me into going back to get more help. To take it more serious than what I was starting to go through (thinking it was all in my head). It is so nice to be without pain once more, thank you! Now if only I could lose weight. I know it is what I am eatting, I "KNOW" why I'm not losing. Am thinking I need this surgery again...lol Thank you all again, Betsy

"and I basically ruled out the obstruction since everything does pass through with no problem. " Don't be so quick to rule out an obstruction. Remember that post-op we have a Y formation for our intestines (this applies to both DS and RNY, but not Lap Band). That's TWO inputs for one output. If *one* of those inputs is blocked, you can STILL have output from the OTHER one - so just because things are passing through you does NOT mean you don't have a blockage. If they give you a barium swallow test, that's only going to trace the alimentary (food) limb - it will NOT tell you if there is a blockage coming from your liver or pancreas (bilio-pancreatic limb). Pre-op, I was thought to have a stone in my bilio-pancreatic area leftover from a gall bladder operation ten years before. It's good that you haven't had pain for two weeks, and if the problem is resolved, great - but if it is NOT, then this is something to consider. --BT