Question:
What can this pain be? Your experiences, please!

I had lap DS 190 weeks ago. One week after surgery, while I was still suffering severe nausea, I began to have ulcer-like gnawing pain. I was already on Prilosec. I was started on Zantac, too. That didn't fix it, so I was put on Carafate, too a week or so later. It was pain in my upper middle abdomen and just to the left and above my navel, even radiating into my back sometimes.(Which can be a sign of pancreatitis, but ACUTE pancreatitis or an ulcer on the back of the stomch, but both have been ruled out.) Finally I had an EGD (gastroscopy) today, and to my utter shock (and maybe the MDs), no ulcer was found! No gastritis, either, as least not visibly. The pain has worsened to the point I am up all night between short naps, and even Vicodin doesn't help much. It still gnaws/burns/aches like an ulcer, and it is helped a little by Maalox, etc. However, eating about 1/2 cup of bland food like yogurt used to be the only way to settle it down for 50-90 mintes so I could rest (and how unpleasant it is to eat during the night when you're tired--not hungry--you can probably guess). Now it's starting to hurt AFTER I eat, too! In a slightly different way, along with the pre-food pain. That's ironic, because whether the pain precedes or follows eating is an important diagnostic clue for the MD. Maybe I've been drinking bland liquids or snacking so often to relieve the pain that I can't tell whether it IS before or after! The whole upper belly is tender to moderate pressure. No fever, vomiting (rarely), but there are spasms because I can HEAR them sometimes. QUESTION: Did you experience anything like this, and if so, what did you find out? Did you get treatment, or did it get better on its own? I am desperate to get back to work, but on 2 hours of rest per night and with this pain all day, I'd make big mistakes--which, as a nurse, I don't want to do! Please share your stories so I might get a clue as to what else to investigate. I am too far away to see my surgeon so often, and had transferred back to my PCP. So far, though, the doctor I'm seeing has done just what the surgeon recommended. If I have to go back to the surgeon, I will, but it's a 3 hourdrive each way, which makes follow-up hard.---Jesse    — [Anonymous] (posted on April 4, 2001)

April 4, 2001
Have they checked your gallbladder???Sounds like a possibility to me.
   — Lisa B.

April 4, 2001
OOPS! surgery was 10 weeks ago, not 190. Yes, Lisa, the ER doc felt my belly and it wasn't the GB. CHRONIC pancreatitis hasn't been ruled out, nor a stone in the common duct causing pancreatitis. But I really don't have enough nausea for it to be either of those, I think. (The ER doc thought so, too.) One rare possibility is an inadequate blood supply to the pancreas, stomach or upper intestine. Not enough to cause the tissue to die, but to cause pain such as people who have cardiac angina have. Unlikley, but possible, because I WAS on the table having lap surgery for 7.5 hours! That raises the risk of a blood clot plugging a vein or artery. Peole wih that problem usually hurt AFTER eating, from the beginning. Anyway,please keep those ideas coming! My nexte experiement is to stop drinking anything but water for a day or so, then reintroduce food and see whether the pain really IS before or 70 minutes AFTER--I've had to eat/drink so often I can't say for sure during the day! Thanks to all!---Jesse
   — [Anonymous]

April 4, 2001
Jesse, I have no idea what the problem might be, but it sounds like a good idea to go off everything but liquids for a day or so. One liquid you might try is Chamomile tea. It is decaf and is called natures sedative. I don't think I could have survived the past few months without it. It really seems to settle the new tummy and it might help you to rest until you can find the cause. Best of luck and please keep us informed
   — marlene R.

April 4, 2001
Hi Jesse, I think I'm close to the resident expert on Pancreatitis! I had it for 3 longgggg years. The first, Acute attack, was thought to be gastritis, eating too much, or wrong food. But 3 days later when I was admitted with less that a 2% chance to live, I ended up with a DX of Pancreatitis. I went into volumetric shock. All my fluids went to my abdomen. Over the years of having chronic pancreatitis, I have had different symptoms at different times. Sometimes it would feel like liver pain. Sometimes my whole upper abdomen would be very tender to touch. My amylase would usually be normal, with the lipase elevated. But my triglycerides would always be high. Good Luck, and let me know --
   — CohenHeart

April 4, 2001
Jesse, do you have your Gall Bladder? This sounds very much like what I'm experiencing. I had 4 ultra sounds of the GB and they all showed that it was normal. On 1/2/01 after much discomfort my surgeon sent me for a Nuclear Scan that also tested the function of my Gall Bladder. It's diseased! What a relief! I have been having duel symptoms for gastritis,GERD,and the GB. Hope you get some answers soon!
   — Linda M.

April 5, 2001
...Just posting a response to get my question back on today's list. I need all the help I can get! Thanks--JM
   — Jesse M.

April 5, 2001
Hi Jesse, I too think it sounds like you gall bladder. I was 5months preganant with my first child when I started to have this tremendous pain in my side that radiated around to my back. I couldn't stand, I couldn't sit, I couldn't walk. The pain would be so bad I would just have to stand and shake and break out in a cold sweat, I lived on rolaids, and milk seemed to help a little. I asked my Ob/gyn what it could be, he felt my gall bladder, it didn't hurt to the touch, so he informed me it was premature back labor. So I suffered another 4months with the pain. I had a different doctor for my baby's delivery, of which I had another attack the same evening after I had my daugther. Thank GOD for 800mg. of Tylenol with Codeine, so anyway, I had to see to same doctor for my 6 weeks check up, that I had for my delivery. I informed him I was still having these attacks, (ohh, the pain!!!!!) He IMMEDIATELY knew just from my description of the pain, what it was. I was sent to see a surgeon. They did an ultrasound, and I was chuck full of gallstones. So I had it removed. My sister ended up having the same pains as me 6months later, I told her I thought it was her gallbladder. She went to her doctor, they did an ultrasound, she didn't have any stones, but it was diseased, so she had her's removed also. I would definately have my doctor run as many tests as it takes to figure out what is wrong. You don't need your liver shutting down on you, or anything else. Get a second opinion if need be. Good luck Jesse!!
   — Nickie L.

April 9, 2001
Just an update and re-posting to get my question back in view--still needing answers. The update is that I have a hiatal hernia, which could have been fixed along with the WLS if the surgeon had done Xrays to check for it. Not many routinely do an "Upper GI with small bowel follow-through" pre-op but I now think they certainly should! I also have 2 diverticuli--one each above and below the diaphram, which could be the cause of my pain...and also would have been discovered and repaired (sigh)...but they're not sure yet about the cuase/cure for the pain, so I'm still very curious to hear your experiences...thanks, everybody!---Jesse
   — Jesse M.