Question:
Dismotility and upper left quaderent pain

I am 4 years out now and the specilaists found out I am suffering from dismotility and had to have an illiostomy perfomed and I am still suffering with upper left quad pain..very painful to ingest anything even water and crackers which I have been living on for the past 3 months. All the tests show nothing and they don't know what is going on. They think its in my head. I have now decided to stop eating again, I have told my therapist and she said to keep telling the doctors to keep looking I have even begged they to take a look insde to see if they see anything. Both specialist keep telling me its from the surgery Roux and Y. I was wondering if any one else out there was having the same problem. The pain is so bad at times I go to ER and be given pain meds and sent home thats all she can do for me. Please if any one else has the same problem please let me know what to do. Thank you for your time.    — Shinny (posted on May 29, 2006)

May 29, 2006
Lisa, this is your body, find more specialists, run more tests. There is no reason you need to live in pain, ever. I went 6 months with an 'unidentified' pain and the docs told me anything they could to get me out of their office. I pestered and pestered until the problem was found. Don't give up and don't quit eating. ~~Rebecca
   — RebeccaP

May 29, 2006
I am 3 years out and also have problems with pain in my upper left quad. It is really bad when I am having a bowel movement. I am thinking about having a colonoscopy. Have you had one of these tests performed? I stay constipated, no matter what I do. It does get to a point where I cannot eat because of the pain and I get nauseated. I think it is because I am totally backed up. I am hoping that someone will shed some light on this situation. Sounds like we could have something similar going on. Hope you can get some relief and answers. Kim
   — txswtthang

May 30, 2006
Hi Lisa, my response is more on the encouraging side and to let you know not to give up with the doctors. I told my doctors that I was in pain, sever pain and I kept going back. Each test showed nothing and I continued to lose weight and my labs continued to downward spiral. I was referred out to a gastric bypass specialist and as you know they hardly ever decide to reverse this surgery. Well, because of my contant pain they made the decision to go in and reverse it. Well, guess what, when they opened me up they found massive erosion from where my pouch had leaked onto five major organs. They had to do six hours of repair. I am telling you this because they could not see this damage through all of the test I had. Thank God, I didn't give up, keep telling them I was in pain and NO IT IS NOT IN YOUR HEAD. Please, do not give in to your head, keep going back, keep having test. You know your body better than anyone and you have to live with the pain, not anyone else. I have been on pain medication for almost three years. So tired of the constant pain. Unfortunately, I am still in pain, but I will not give up until I am finally well. Good Luck Lisa, you have my support.
   — lindabaptiste619

May 30, 2006
I had RNY 9/03 and have been unable to have a bowel movement since. Very severe pain upper left quad pain, it hurts to eat and drink. I have gone from doctor to doctor and am not really getting any help. I'm on some meds now that "help" but can eat very little. At the 6th GI clinic, I don't know how many ER visits (they refuse to let me see a doctor now at the ER) they have concluded "I need to seek psych help". This diagnois is following me everywhere I go, I can't get away from it. I have to do daily enemas to get some relief from the pressure and pain, sometimes they don't help. One doc told me I have Crohns but didn't offer any treatment, a colon specialist has told me I have Pundenal Neuropathy (that's the nerve that controls the rectum), I have IBD, it's all panic attacks, muscle spasms, gastritis, ulcers, Gerd, esophagual spasms, hypertensive esophagual, on and on. Last endoscopy I had a stricture but the doctor didn't feel nothing needed to be done about it????? But I still have no relief. I don't know where to go or do now. I will pray you find answers to help yourself. I told my counsler last week I am going to stop eating all the crackers I've been living on. My CBC's are within normal limits so they say there is NO REASON to do any further bloodwork. I live on pain and anti-spasmodic meds. I wish I had some answers for you and I am soooooo sorry you are having to live like this. I
   — Nut Picker

May 30, 2006
Dear Lisa, I can certainly feel your plight...in 2001 I had RNY Gastric Bypass and shortly after that, my colon became completely dysfunctional and was diagnosed as "colonic dysmotility". So, in 2003 my colon was removed and I too had an ileostomy. With so many GI surgeries, we get alot of adhesions. It is very rare that this happens to bypass patients but when it does, it is quite a feat to deal with. You should have someone do complete UGI and small bowel follow through studies to rule out any anatomical abnormalities. If you have a great deal of adhesions, they can be repaired/removed but remember, that can only lead to more. Make sure you see a very good surgeon. If you had a good relationship with your bypass surgeon or your colo-rectal surgeon - check with them. For any ostomy related issues - please visit this site: http://st80.startlogic.com/~ostomate/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl. It is called "Shaz's Ostomy Board". Now you have two references for any questions that you may have. If you would like, please feel free to email me (find "Sherry" from "MD"). Good luck and I hope I can be of more support for you. Sherry
   — sstrohm