Question:
has anyone experienced severe abdominal pain?

I ended up in the emergency room recently with severe upper abdominal pain.... they gave me morphine then sent me home. I finally went to see a gastroenterologist and he said it could be one of three things. a tear in my pouch, pancreatitis, or a hernia. Either way, it is going to take me a month to get the tests needed to get a diagnosis. I am on a diet of vicodin not much else. Dr. recommended low-fat food and no protein, but as you can imagine, this is not the ideal diet for a gastric bypass patient. has anyone had any experience with this?    — gloria M. (posted on March 24, 2005)

March 24, 2005
5 weeks after surgery I was still having a bad burning pain and could never tell when it would start. My Doctor said it was nerve pain and gave me medication and after 4 says I have not had any more pain.
   — Mary Ann P.

March 24, 2005
I have unfortunately for almost 1.5 years now. No one can seem to figure out what it is. It all has to do with food..as long as I don'y eat, I am fine. I have had tons of gallbladder tests, and all are normal. I have had every GI test there is, including an endoscopy, in which they found gastritis,and removed a polyp, but it all turned up to be nothing. I do go the my surgeon tomorrow, and pray that he knows something. I waitied so long to see him because I was pregnant last year, and no one would touch me while I was pregnant, so baby has been born,and it's time to find out whats wrong. My attacks happen like this.. I will eat something, and then statr having pouch spasms, which lead to dry heaving, and SEVERE pain in my upper epi area where my pouch is. It last any where from 4 hrs to 16 hrs. In order for my to get through them, I have to be totally sedated. The only thing that anyone has found, is that I have so much gas in my abdominal cavity, that they have never been able to visualize my pancreas, so as to what is next.... I'll repost tomorrow after my visit with my surgeon. Good Luck
   — katmamma1975

March 24, 2005
I posted an answer to similar questions several times in the last few months. I am 18 months out myself and have experienced excruiating pain on several occasions accompanied by nausea and HUGE burps. My gall bladder surgery was on 10/04/04 and I went for a few months after that with no pain then started having the problem again.....always within a few minutes after I ate but it didn't happen consistently. Last time, I ended up in the hospital diagnosed with pancretitus. They took me off all food and liquid for 24 hours and put me on heavy pain medication. Within a few hours, no more pain so they started me back on liquid. The only thing around to drink was no sugar added apple juice so I drank about a gallon of that. Suddenly I had SEVERE pain again, then a huge gurgling sound and pain went away within minutes. No more pain, no more problem. My bypass surgeon happened to be nearby and heard them talking about me and came by to see me. From his questions, I could tell he didn't think I had pancreatitus and I had none of the symptoms of it anymore anyway. I saw him after I was released from the hospital and explained my symptoms to him. His opinion was that the almonds I had eaten were the culprits. He said he had seen that as a very common problem with RNY patients. The nuts just don't break down and they sort of stick (like concrete) in the intestines and cause a partial to full blockage so every time you eat, you hurt. He said it could take hours or sometimes days for them to clear out. I haven't had any more nuts and have had no more problem so it seems he may have been right about mine. He said that as the body loses the weight, it is pretty common for the reattached part of the intestine to be subject to partial blockages and that causes pain, burping, etc., similar to a gall bladder attack. Don't know if that helps you but that is my experience. I can't eat nuts and I definitely can't eat high fat stuff. I've added back a couple of protein drinks each day to compensate for losing my favorite snack (the nuts). Hope you find an answer for you soon.
   — scbabe

March 24, 2005
Hi there Gloria, I wanted to tell you that for the past fourmonths I've had the same abdominal pain that your describing.. First I went to see my primary dr. he didn't know what it was, then I went to another Dr. and he thought it was my uterous, so he was going to do a historectomy,, went in for surgery, he found nothing, so he closed me up and sent me home. I then got frustrated and asked for a referal to go back to my surgion who did the bypass and when I did, he did a blood test, and found that I have a bacterial infection in my large intestine.. Thats all!!! I couldn't believe it.. It was somethins simple that can be cured with medicine.. I should have gone to him first. He put me on an aniboatic and on Nexium and I feel great.. I haven't had anymore pain. I can eat again with out fear that I won't be able to move or need the pain meds to get me through the day.. Maybe you should ask your doctor to find out if he's done a test to find something.. Hope everything works out for you.. Bernice
   — Bernice B.

March 24, 2005
I lived w pains like that Dr. put me on Nexium . The pain never came back I had every test done known to man. It was my miricle drug
   — Rusty A.

March 26, 2005
Hi...My pain came on suddenly, usually right after eating...very severe too, it had me on all fours on the floor. My surgeon said that it could be a hernia and scheduled me for some tests as well as exploratory surgery. My pain was in the center right under the rib cage. As it turned out, I did have a hernia and also had my gall bladder removed because it was not functioning. Thank God for my surgeon!
   — boonikki29

March 26, 2005
At 18 months out I got an internal hernia (my small instestine was up in my chest), and needed surgery to fix it. Pain is never normal and if I had had to wait a month to be diagnosed I would be dead. I would be calling my WLS surgeon now, please do not wait. Hazel I wo
   — Haziefrog