Left Sided Pain

Hi all.  This is my first post on this board.  I am looking to see if anyone has had a similar problem and what the outcome was.   I am 6 years post-op from a duodenal switch/RNY.  I had an open procedure not a lap.  My doctor removed 60 % of my stomach, so I do not have a pouch or anything like that, just a smaller stomach and a shorter channel.   I have had 4 surgeries since the gastric bypass.  The last two being the most recent, were to try and correct my current problem.  In December of 2006, I started having this left sided abdominal pain.  The pain radiated into my lower back (on the left side).  Sometimes the pain radiates into my entire lower back, but for the most part it remains on the left side just like the abdominal pain.  The pain increas GREATLY after I eat or drink anything.  So my husband takes me to the hospital at the onset of my pain because it's that bad.  They admit me over night to get my pain under control and the next day they send me on my way telling me nothing is wrong.  So I call my gastric bypass surgeon.  He immediately admits me to the hospital and runs some tests.  My test show nothing.  So he tells me the only way he will be able to see anything is if he opens me up.  After the surgery he tells me he found a few small adhesions, but really that should not have been causing my pain.  He says that he hopes it takes care of it.  Well it didn't. The pain returned, and again I go through all the testing (CT scans, X-Rays, upper GI, colonoscopy, ultrasound....) Again, nothing on any of the tests.  So my surgeon opens me up again at the beginning of February.  This time he resects a portion of the small bowel that was flattened out.  My surgeon was still at a loss for where my pain was coming from.  Again, he told me that he hoped this fixed the problem.  Well it didn't.  My pain returned.   So this time my general physician sends me to the pain clinic.  (This was a few days ago) The doctor at the clinic tells me that maybe it's been a back problem all along and he is ordering an MRI.  My general physician is telling me that maybe it's a floating rib problem or a spleen problem.  I am getting every diagnosis under the sun, yet no one has fixed my problem.  I have not had the MRI yet so I will wait to see what that shows.  However, the doctor at the clinic said that a back problem would not explain why my pain increases after I eat or drink anything.  The whole thing is just so tiring already.   I hate taking pain meds because they don't work.  I just want someone to tell me what's wrong.   Has anyone had a similar problem?  I am grasping at straws here.  Some days the pain is so bad that all I can do is cry.  The doctors are starting to think I am nuts because the tests are not showing anything.  I know I am not crazy.  I know this pain is real and it's coming from somewhere.   Sorry this was so long. 

I could have writtent this my self.  Even down to the them opening me up to see if they could find the problem.  Still Nothing the pain is only on my left side around my lower rib cage upper hip area. Please keep us (ME) informed if you get a diagnosis.

I could have written this too, I have had this problem prior to surgery and had a CT scan before my rny .  When I had surgery I asked my surgeon to poke around the left side to "see" if he could see any abnormalities...nothing.  I equate it sometimes to when I was pregnant and it feels like the baby stretching and hitting my ribcage(always left side) sometimes it is a knife sharp pain that fills constant,,sometimes it is a dull ache...is it a bowel obstruction,,dead part of the intestine,,,so far my bm's are good...I have noticed it will disappear as long as I take prilosec on a daily basis...but took prevacid for a year after surgery....it drives me nuts also but not quite taking prescription meds as of yet....hopefully we will all find out what the deal is

Well, I am 3 yrs plus out from an RNY. Last year in april my pain started just as you said...from left side to my back on both sides...horriable pain. I figured it was my kidneys ..went to my PCP had all the tests...mine too were neg. showed nothing wrong. I still get the pain usually at night when I eat ...maybe just a bite when it starts. I have found if I go RIGHT AWAY , when the pain starts loosen all clothes..in fact I take anything on my belly off, unzip jeans ect. and lay on my side with knees up under my chin.......amazeingly it lets up and goes away. In about 5 min I am pain free and I can get up again. But if I wait...the pain is horriable and I have to take tylonal and lay down. I havent had surgery  to find out whats wrong..but if i can keep it under control with laying down. I feel thats my best bet for now. Keep me posted in what you find. I hope this helps you out. Cha

I get those pains also, but mine coincide with ovulation and PMS.  Have you consulted an OB/GYN? Good Luck! Jennifer

January 30th this year, I too started getting lower back pain mostly to the right kidney area.  I first thought that it was  the chair I used.  It didn't get any better, so I went to my PC in the middle of February  and told her I thought I had Kidney stones and she sent me to get a CT  w/o barium and it showed no stones but it did show something on my pancrease and maybe my ovary.  She ordered a Cat Scan with contrast  to distinquish more organ clarification.  In the meantime the pain persist  more intense and I could not lay down at all due to the pain.  My CT results showed a  3.5 cm mass on the head of my pancrease , so I was referred to an Onocologist  in which he ordered  a MRI and  a Pelvic ultrasound and a ECD.  I go in for the results this week.  The puzzling thing is I have no Jaundice or nausea or blood in my urine that relates to pancreatic cancer.  I think that it may be related to my  Gastric Bypass but what could it be? Please let me know what you find out  what is your diagnosis as I think it may be helpful to many here that are trying to determine this pain in the lower back and quadrant area also. Janice

Wow! Thanks for posting this one... I was starting to wonder if it was just me???  My pain has been intermittant (not constant) for about 6 months... I will be 2 years post-RNY on May 24, 2007... I was diagnosed with gallstones and had my gallbladder removed the day after Christmas and have had the sharp, stabbing pain in the center to left side of my abdomen just under my ribcage off and on about every other week or so since...  I have been admitted to the hospital with what they said was pancreatitis twice in March (the first time for 6 days and the second time for 4 days)... and now I am due back to the gastroenterologist tomorrow to see what they're going to do with me. They are right now guessing that there may be a 'stone' in my bile duct that is blocking the opening to the intestine, but they can't get to the bile duct via the stomach because of the GB... He says we are going to discuss other "options" to see if they can find either the stone or the problem tomorrow...  If I find anything out, I will let you all know... I hope you will do the same... Thanks for sharing!!! I look forward to possibly finding some answers because I can't be going back to the hospital every other week... (as I'm sure you all can't either... lol). I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!!!  Heather V.

Please ask your surgeon to check for a hernia in the "peterson space".  My dear friend Patricia died suddenly (4 years out from lap rny) from this rare complication.  The bowel becomes strangulated and dies. She was in the emergency room for stomach pains 6 mos ago and they said "food posoning" when it eased. This time  from her first pain to death was 12 hours.  It was not diagnosed by a cat scan, only visible after they opened her up (can be checked laproscopically) when she was on life support.  It was too late then. I have spoken to my surgeon and he says the only way to know for sure with this rare *(but seen increasingly) complication is visually either lap or open.  the surgical community used to believe this only would occur in the first 2 years but are now seeing it much further out.  I plan to get a medic alert bracelet. Please do not let your real pain be ignored!!

That is so terrible.  I'm so sorry to hear about your friend.   I would hope that my surgeon would have checked for something like that since he has opened me up twice since this past December.   I'm sitting here just shaking from the pain at the moment. 

You should not be sitting shaking from pain!!   I feel so badly for you.  Mention the internal hernia of the Peterson space to your doctor.  there is a lot of medical literature on it....it should be ruled out.  I know this is a dumb question but have they checked your gall bladder ?(and if that has already been removed I have heard that sometimes stones still form in the pathways and can cause pain and/or pancreatittis). Good luck and try other surgeons.  Sometimes a new view is needed, not that your surgeon is bad but multiple opinions are good.