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shoulder-arm pain after fill



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I had my first fill two weeks ago (2/9) and I was fine for a couple of days after fill while on liquids or soft foods. Since then I get dull shoulder and arm pain after I eat and also seem to get it when I haven't eaten in a while.

Surgery was 8/31 and I'm 90+ lbs down.

Does anyone else have pain?

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is the pain on the left side? sometimes if i eat too fast or don't chew enough, food gets stuck and it hurts in my back by my shoulder blade. the food isn't stuck enough to where i need to throw up but it takes awhile to go away.

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i do

have had it for 4 days

on my left shoulder blade and down my arm

had my first fill a week ago friday

sure wonder if its connected

I had my first fill two weeks ago (2/9) and I was fine for a couple of days after fill while on liquids or soft foods. Since then I get dull shoulder and arm pain after I eat and also seem to get it when I haven't eaten in a while.

Surgery was 8/31 and I'm 90+ lbs down.

Does anyone else have pain?

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Had first fill June 28 and now I have had 3 incidents when moving my right arm where I get severe shoulder pain and my hand tingles for 20-30 min. Very annoying and uncomfortable. I can't say it's related or just coincidence. If I still have pain tomorrow I will call and ask.

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This is very normal for abdominal laparoscopic surgery of all sorts and can last the rest of your life.

This happens because there is a particular nerve that goes up your body from your diaphragm to your spine and the fibers of that nerve (which touches almost every organ) also pass through your shoulders ... and your stomach. When you eat, you apply outward pressure on the pouch which causes the band to apply inward pressure on certain nerve fibers, those same ones talked about earlier, and all of that pushes down a bit on the diaphragm, and all of that combined sends pain signals (referred pain) to your shoulders and back.

Even for non lap band, nerves are damaged in the process of surgery (it isn't done delicately - watch a few videos, it's violent) and when someone eats or moves or breathes deeply, or bends funny or all sorts of things it can trigger that referred and displaced pain.

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about it. For lap band people, just try not to over eat to reduce the pressure.

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This is very normal for abdominal laparoscopic surgery of all sorts and can last the rest of your life.

This happens because there is a particular nerve that goes up your body from your diaphragm to your spine and the fibers of that nerve (which touches almost every organ) also pass through your shoulders ... and your stomach. When you eat, you apply outward pressure on the pouch which causes the band to apply inward pressure on certain nerve fibers, those same ones talked about earlier, and all of that pushes down a bit on the diaphragm, and all of that combined sends pain signals (referred pain) to your shoulders and back.

Even for non lap band, nerves are damaged in the process of surgery (it isn't done delicately - watch a few videos, it's violent) and when someone eats or moves or breathes deeply, or bends funny or all sorts of things it can trigger that referred and displaced pain.

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do about it. For lap band people, just try not to over eat to reduce the pressure.

I had also read something similiar to this. But I will say, in the beginning after having surgery from time to time this would happen until learned how much I can eat without it happening. I had my first fill this last week and now I am having it a lot - I think partly due to the fact that I don't know how much I can eat. I worry that my band may be too tight, because I can't eat any bread without feeling like it is getting stuck. That is a horrible feeling. I am going to give it another week. I know my doctor doesn't want me to eat bread, but I like to eat whole grain every once in awhile.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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