Question:
I'm 7 mos. post-op, open RNY. I've had two episodes of excruciating pain in the
upper mid abdominal region. These episodes occured about 2 wks. apart, with the last one happening about 30 minutes ago. The pain feels like extreme pressure, thats sharp and excruciating which seems to expand up to the chest and right and left side of abd. It's so severe, I don't want to move much less take a deep breath. The first time it happened, the pain would come and go and it lasted about 30-40 min. I can't seem to pin point the reason. Has anyone else experienced this before, and what did you do? THanks for your response in advance and God BLess. — Myrna E. (posted on April 16, 2004)
April 16, 2004
CALL YOUR PCP IMMEDIATELY! Severe pain like this might be serious. Call or
go to the ER or call 911 and get the paramedics. Look none of us here are
capable of diagnosing anything like this, and honestly I dont want to see
anything bad happen to anyone. Better safe than sorry, please call your doc
right now, just in case its life threatening. Bob Haller concerned
moderator who approved this post.
— bob-haller
April 16, 2004
It sounds like what I had, except my pain lasted for hours. My attacks
were three weeks apart and it was my gallbladder.
— Jazzy
April 16, 2004
I developed gallstones within a few months of my RNY and that is exactly
what it felt like. Sort of like a bomb went off in my abdomen with
radiating pain. I'd get myself to the doctor or if the pain occurs on a
weekend, go to the ER. Sometimes, the bile duct can become blocked by a
stone and it can cause infection and serious problems. After being
diagnosed, while waiting for the gallbladder surgery, I was told to go to
the ER if I had another attack.
— Janet S.
April 16, 2004
Pain that is as severe as you describe could be any number of critical
medical problems. You need to take the first bit of advice you were given
and see your doctor (surgeon or PCP) immediately and should strongly
consider going to your local emergency department should those pains strike
you again.
— SteveColarossi
April 16, 2004
Bob is right. However I too would guess gallbladder. Mine had to be taken
out 10 months post op.
— Danmark
April 16, 2004
A friends wife had her gall bladder removed, 6 months later she experienced
severe pain as this person described. With the christmas holiday some blood
work fell thru the cracks anmd she had a seizure, later traced back to
leftover gall stones in her bile duct, she came very close to dying...
Whatever the cause this needs checked out ASAP. SEVERE pain as described is
ALWAYS worth calling your doc or going to the ER, after all it might too be
your heart. My wife said heart attack pain occasionally presents this way.
— bob-haller
April 16, 2004
Sounds like gallbladder to me! I just had mine out a few months
ago..laparoscopically. Its a piece of cake seriously...it was SO easy! I
was up and about in 2 days! If thats what your doc says it is, and wants to
do surgery....then I would go for it. I know how bad the pain is from the
attacks...I would go through the surgery 100 times over to keep that pain
away!! ALSO- until you can get to the doc or get surgery....here is a list
of foods that I ate that did NOT cause me any more pain....Chicken Noodle
Soup, Jello, Apple Juice, Oatmeal with LITTLE butter and sugar, Grilled
Cheese with diet cheese and LITTLE butter....I know you will get very tired
of these foods but it kept the pain away long enough for me to take my
finals and then I had the surgery. The surgeon didnt think I could make it
but by only eating the foods mentioned above I did make it! So HAHAHA to
him! LOL!! Hope this helps!
— Valerie03
April 16, 2004
Myrna...I'm not a doctor, but I am an x-ray technologist who specialized in
ultrasound procedures for 21 years. You have classic symptoms of a
gallbladder attack. From info learned in the past 21 years on my job,
these attacks generally happen about 30 minutes after eating and can be
severe. The pain can be from the "pit"of you stomach...just
below the bottom end of your breast bone. The pain can radiate across the
abdomen into the middle of your back, up between your shoulder blades or
into your right shoulder. The attacks can also cause nausea and/or
vomiting. Sometimes you can pin it down to particular foods...greasy,
spicy, dairy, etc. Please check with your surgeon so they can schedule you
for whatever testing they think is necessary. Ultrasound of the
gallbladder which will show if you have stones, sludge, dilated liver
ducts, enlargement or constriction of the gallbladder and/or nuclear
medicine scanning of the gallbladder which checks the function of the
gallbladder, called a HIDA scan. The main thing is to call your surgeon so
he can be aware of your problem ASAP. I just had my surgery on 1/5/04 and
since I've been reading this site and others, it seems as if GB problems
often arise several months post-op.
Hope this helps a little.
— Katherine F.
April 17, 2004
I had pain similar to yours but it was more over to the right side of my
belly button and a little higher. It would build to a severe pain within a
few minutes and would be terribly sharp for about 30-45 minutes (although
the last one I had lasted with the severe pain for about 2 hours). The
pains started about 3 months post op and lasted until I had my gall bladder
removed 2 weeks ago with stones and sludge in it. I waited because I was
already scheduled to have a hysterectomy in Feb but decided to get both
surgeons to work on me at the same time so I would only have to take off of
work once for both surgeries since I had already taken off of work in Oct
for my wls. I seriously did not even feel a thing from the gall bladder
removal and was only in minimal pain for the other. I even asked my gyn if
the other doctor actually did surgery to remove my gall bladder because I
couldn't feel any pain in the area he operated on. I found out that he put
some numbing stuff in while he was in there so I wouldn't feel anything for
a couple of days and it worked great. I would suggest you get to your wls
doctor to have him order an ultrasound of your gall bladder. I ended up in
the ER and because my pain was not in the usual area I ended up having an
expensive C.A.T. scan that I didn't need because it didn't show the stones.
Of course, severe pain should be checked out immediately even if you have
to go to the ER, just don't let someone tell you nothing is wrong because
you know your body and you know something is not right. I had my wls
surgery 10/6/03 so gall stones can form fast after wls. Don't wait for the
pain to get wors, if it gall stones it will get worse. Good luck to you and
God bless you. Tina.
— tntwildlife77
April 17, 2004
My pain was also on the right and high. In any case don't wait on this. The
unltra sound does'nt hurt. It takes time to get that sheduled, and then to
see a surgeon, and time to wait to get in for surgery. All during this wait
you probally will be having more attacks. DON'T WAIT. Get to it. My LAP
gallbladder surgery was one of the easiest and less painful surgeries (I've
had 15 surgeries to compare pain). Don't sweat any aspect of testing or
surgery. This one is about as easy as it gets. Just get going and get well.
;)
— Danmark
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