Hello,

I'm sorry if I did not post this in the proper place.

My question is, I have been having cramp-like pain in my abdominal area that is most band prominent under my ribs on the left side for about two weeks now. It feels like a giant gas bubble is stuck in my intestines or something.

I have had my band ten months and have not had any recent adjustments. I am paranoid it has slipped, but I don't think that this pain is a symptom of slip? Also I have not had any acid reflux.

Honestly I am not even sure it is band related- just wondering if anyone has had similar problems. Plus my surgeon is 5 hours away so I'm hoping it isn't.

Thank you in advance.

I think it's probably a good idea to talk with your doctor about this. Though the pain of gall bladder disease generally is located in the center of the abdomen or off to the right a bit, it's not terribly uncommon for it to occur the way you describe.

After 10 months of loss, gall bladder disease is often the culprit for abdominal pain.

But it's important to let your doctor know what's going on so that s/he can do a full assessment.

Chances are, it's nothing that is of enormous concern. But it's always better safe than sorry.

Yes, I would go to the doctor. Call them and describe the pain and let them take it from there.

Definitely go to your doctor!! I just got out of the hospital for the exact same thing. Since I had my gall bladder removed in 1990, I'm told that I now have pancreatitis and it's pretty bad. I will most likely have more episodes in the future. My doctor said that it's not related to my lapband surgery but I question that. I just had my lapband installed 2 weeks ago and I've been on the liquid diet so it couldn't possibly be anything that I ate. I will be going to see him this coming week to further evaluate everything.

I agree that it could likely be your gallbladder. It's fairly common to develop gallstones/gallbladder disease after rapid weight loss.

If you can't get to your surgeon you should probably inform your PCP of your symptoms.

I hope you feel better soon.

This doesn't happen to most people with lapbands or even those that develop gallstones. I had my lapband for 6 months when ai suddenly developed severe gallstone necrotizing pancreatitis. It resulted in 4 straight months of hospitalizationand another 2 months off and on, 8 operations, and lots of complications (kidney failure/dialysis, lung failure/on a ventilator, blood clots, sepsis, an ileostomy, etc. I was also fed totally intraveneously for 4 months - was allowed nothing by mouth including water). I then developed endometrial cancer, which I believe is indirectly due to the pancratitis. I was not able to keep my lapband (I had an open wound and a wound vac for a long time and when they changed the bqndage you could see the lapband tubing poking out9, but also lost 70 pounds in the hospital. It was a year and 7 months of utter hell. But my life was saved, which I am told is a miracle. I am doing great now and recently had the ileostomy reversed. But gallstones and possible pancreatitis can be very serious. My infectious disease doctor (I had MRSA, c-diff, and VRE) said I was the 2nd sickest patient he had ever had. The surgeon also said it was not caused by the lapband, but I still wonder. This is not a criticism of the surgeon - he was fantastic and I consider that he saved my life.

Hello, just thought I'd share my recent experience with you. I was experiencing terrible gas pains (along with terrible constipation ) in my left side, I was in so much pain I couldn't even bring myself to walk to the car to be driven to the hospital! I talked it over with my Dr and we decided to go over my diet & see if something wasn't agreeing with me. Well, long story short I gave up drinking Crystal Light & (knock on wood) I have yet to have an episode again in over a month. :crying: We think it was the aspartame, apparently not everyone is able to digest it properly. Hope you find some comfort!!!!

So glad I read your post! I've had the same type pain for several weeks and I drink alot of Crystal Light. I'll give it up immediately and see if that helps. Thanks!

Hello,

I'm sorry if I did not post this in the proper place.

My question is, I have been having cramp-like pain in my abdominal area that is most band prominent under my ribs on the left side for about two weeks now. It feels like a giant gas bubble is stuck in my intestines or something.

I have had my band ten months and have not had any recent adjustments. I am paranoid it has slipped, but I don't think that this pain is a symptom of slip? Also I have not had any acid reflux.

Honestly I am not even sure it is band related- just wondering if anyone has had similar problems. Plus my surgeon is 5 hours away so I'm hoping it isn't.

Thank you in advance.

hay im curious did u find out what it was ?

for 2 weeks i did intense workouts mixed with healthy dieting etc THEN noticed this swelling ... then the dull pain kicked in

ive been getting this for some time now.. 6 weeks my dr first said its normal intestines moving around... my 2nd dr said the swellings abnormal but nothing to worry about ...

now im gonna have scans

IM SCARED SOOOOO FRICKIN SCARED

iduno what ill tell my parents if its cancer... i dont wanna worry them

Any pain should be checked out. I'm the greatest for thinking its nothing, but I ignored digestive symptoms for way way too long that DID turn out to be cancer. Most times, it isnt, and with a lapband, there are often vague pains, even the tubing touching something can cause pain, gallstones are common (OK, so you dont want em, but they're relatively easy to deal with), when I had restriction, I would often get this horrible centre chest pain, SO intense and it would radiate into my throat and the roof of my mouth, but we couldnt find a single reason for it, although it mimicked gallsones. It was brought on by cold food or carbonation and my doctor thought it was simply cramps, and I certainly havent had a sign of it since all my fill came out for another surgery a few months ago. 99% of the time, the pain is nothign serious but there's nothing to be gained by not checking it out.