Question:
Is this pain in my upper left abdomen just gas or something more serious?

Hi. I'm about a month post-op from open distal RNY (5/21/01). From the very beginnng, on & off, I would get this sharp, continuous pain in my upper, far left abdomen, from just under my bottom rib to halfway down to my waistline. The pain comes & goes, maybe on for a several days, then for a few days it's gone, but most days I have the pain. The pain gets worse when I have gas, and it seems that when I have gas, it stays trapped in that area. When I press on my upper abdomen, I can actually feel gas moving away from the area I pressed. But shouldn't it be moving on its own? Why doesn't it move? Do I have to squeeze the gas through by pressing or will it ever start moving on its own? Is that pain in my side related to this gas or is it something more serious. Note - when the overall gas is gone, the side pain remains. 2 weeks ago, when I asked my doc. about this, thinking it was my stomach staples, he said that the stomach wasn't in that area; that it's intestine there. Could I have a kink in my intestine? Of course, my doc said that if it persists, to let him know, but I don't want to bug him if it's just gas.    — lalasmommy (posted on June 22, 2001)

June 23, 2001
Could someone PLEEEAAASE answer this if you can! I know you're not doctors; I mean I will check with my doc; I just was wondering NOW what it MIGHT be. Has anyone else had this kind of a pain?
   — lalasmommy

July 12, 2001
Alexandra, I had similar pain in my abdomen too. My sharp pains went all the way from my left side to above my belly button. The seemed to come when I drank. Have you noticed when they come? I called my doctor and he said it was because i was trying to take too big of a sip and too many in a row. As soon as I stopped sipping in a row and took baby sips, the pain stopped. He said it was gas. Do you still have the pain? If you do, try to see if it is in relationship to moving, drinking, eating, etc.
   — Denise F.

July 12, 2001
I too had that same pain for about 2 weeks. My doctor told me that it was due to the clamp used to hold the incision open while he performed the operation. I am 6 weeks post op and that pain went away within the first 3 weeks. It takes time, remeber you had major surgery. Good luck.
   — janicem129

July 12, 2001
OK. I'm going to answer my own question. Thanks for the other answers. I think that the pain could have several causes, like the ones you mentioned. But here's another one. I saw my dr this past Mon. and I told him I still had the pain I described in my question above and that I was now also having trouble w/ constipation. He agreed that it was gas but that it wasn't moving because of the constipation; my intestines were sluggish. Sounds logical, doesn't it? He told me to take the milk of magnesia. I took it just before going to bed & the next morning I had LOADS of diareah, lasting on & off during the day. When it was all over, I felt 200% better; it was like getting a poison out of my body.
   — lalasmommy