The truth about how I'm doing now...

Howdy, I must apologize right now for the length of this.  You might not have realized it by now but I am very long winded (typed) and this particular topic takes lots of words to explain so I hope you will bear with me. I like to joke and unless you read my blog you might think that as I got further out life got easy.  Certain things definitely DO get easier with time and practice, however I am going to be perfectly honest about what is going on right now and I hope that doesn’t scare anyone.  I am having complications from my bypass.  I don’t know if it is life threatening or anything but it certainly isn’t fun and I feel like you guys should know. Since the end of June I have been having these episodes of abdominal pain that last anywhere from 5-6 hours to all day.  The pain is crippling and it makes me throw up.  Simply said, it SUCKS.  That is why there are days I post and days I disappear.  The disappeared days are when I am curled up in a fetal position somewhere in a daze from pain medication or sleeping off a nightmare of pain from the night before.  I have been to the ER 3 times in the past month and had half a dozen diagnostic tests done and I go for another test tomorrow to figure out what the heck is happening.  If my surgeon doesn’t find anything tomorrow I’m looking at exploratory surgery hopefully soon. Here is what they think it could be:   -Internal hernias (when you lose weight quickly your bowels start slipping around with all the extra room and sometimes they slip through each other and kink, which I guess can hurt like a b*tch),  -Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome (also has to do with when you lose a lot of weight quickly, all the fat padding that used to protect one of the main arteries that runs through your gut goes away so it can get pinched off by slippery small intestine and that cuts of blood supply to major organs like your colon and it hurts really badly too until a change in position allows blood to start flowing again),  -Dead bowels (resulting from either the hernias or SMA syndrome, when blood gets choked off things start dying and it feels like when your foot falls asleep – achy and pinched),  -Pancreatitis (and this would be my own damn fault because pancreatitis is almost primarily caused by alcohol consumption and in recent months I have gotten lax in my once strict NO ALCOHOL view point to allow a few beverages now and then.  When you are losing a lot of weight your internal organs are already under a lot of pressure as they filter through all the fat that is being burned off (why lots of post-ops, myself included, eventually have to have their gallbladders removed), so my pancreas was already under a lot of stress the last thing it needed to deal with was my social drinking.  Pancreatitis happens when something gets lodged (normally a gallstone and no you don’t need a gallbladder to get gallstones) in the duct coming from your pancreas so all the insulin and such that your pancreas excretes gets backed up and basically this causes your pancreas to start digesting itself, which yeah, that would hurt.)   And of course there is the possibility that I am a freak and there is something else wrong – all the docs and I can agree on at this point is THERE IS DEFINITELY SOMETHING WRONG. None of those options sounds fun to me and all of them will require some kind of surgery to fix and until everything gets fixed I live on hydrocodone and Tylenol 3.  So yes, I lost over half of my body weight in less than 2 years and I can do lots of cool stuff and wear normal clothes and I no longer have type 2 diabetes or hypothyroidism but there are certain moments after I’ve been in pain for a few hours that all of this hardly matters because all I can think about is the gut wrenching pain.  Would I do it again?  Heck yes.  But I want anyone deciding on surgery to know these kinds of things can happen.  I may do many things but I’m not going to lie to you about the realities of WLS. I have no doubt that a month or two from now I will be posting how these things can also be over come because I have every faith in my new surgeon’s ability to fix me, and I am too young and possibly stupid to think otherwise.  Until then be patient with me if I don’t reply right away or seem to disappear and if you are a praying person send one up for me.  Oh, and if I get short with anyone, like my debut on the 20’s board a few weeks ago, know that I spend many hours a day out of my mind in pain and I don’t really mean it and I will regret it when I am back to my senses (because I do regret sounding like a cranky b*tch and this is an official apology for that).  I am ready to get back to being my cheerful post-op self.  Here’s hoping I’ll be all better soon.  Thanks for sticking with me to the end of this very long post.  I am getting ready to leave for the hospital tonight (more tests in the morning) so I might not get to reply to anything until I am home from the hospital either tomorrow evening or later depending on what is found, but I appreciate them and will enjoy going through them when I get home.

I had acute pancreatitis for a months until they took out my gallbladder (a few years ago) the pain was ridiculous. I thought I was dying. To imagine this pain, picture yourself being stabbed through the stomach and back. Then repeat it for 6 hours continuously. I'm sorry you're going through this Amy, I hope they find a cure for it soon and get you back to enjoying life.

It feels like someone is wrapping their hands around my gut and wringing it hard, over and over.  It gets hard to breathe it hurts so bad.  I don't have a gallbladder anymore, so that is one of the reasons my surgeon isn't sure if it is pancreatitis or not - however I do still have stones floating around in there so it is a real possibility.  Thanks for the response.  I am optimistic, and it helps to hear that someone else has been here (though I wouldn't wish this on anyone). 

Is it wrong that I look at that back of you lying on your back and have dirty thoughts?  LOL!

Amy, Just want to wish you good luck with your tests, I hope they get to the bottom of it and it is the least complicated fix. In the meantime I WILL be praying for you...BTW I used to take hyrdorodone everyday for my herniated discs, so I know what a pain in the ass they can be - they make you feel great, but drowsy, and then you build up toloerance, take more and more next thing you know you become physically dependent on them or worse - addicted. You might want to ask your doc for a slow-release narcotic pain reliever so that you don't have to go through the ups and downs. I take MS Contin now which is continus release morphine pills. It works well for my pain and the only side effect is a little bit of drowsinesss. Since it doesn't cause euphoria for me it is has  a lower addiction potential...and just in case you were wondering it is alot weaker then when you get morphine in your IV...One last thing, please stick around the 20's forum, we love you for you who you are and all of your contributions to this board, you have definitely been helping to raise the bar around here!

Amy, I hope that the doctors find the solution to what is hurtting you so much.  I am sorry that you are in such pain.  You are such a sweet person, I really wouldnt want something like that to happen to anyone especially you.  I hope you are back to your self soon.

Hi Amy I am so sorry for what you are going through. I will keep you in my prayers. Dont worry about what your saying on these boards. We are all here to support each other through the ups and DOWNS of WLS. Best wishes (((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))