I had surgery on Monday 4/18. I haven't taken pain med cuz it made me sick but since wednesday I have had a headache like never before! It is at the base of my skull on the left side. I can't touch it without yelping and it is about impossible to turn my head. I can hardly sleep. Is this normal? I didn't have a lot of left shoulder pain so could this be the gas settling there instead of my shoulder. I have good pain tolerance but I am ready to cry. Thanks

NO NOT NORMAL. I had a similar headache 2 years ago and three days latter had discovered I'd had a stroke (at 39)! Was in the hospital for 7 days. Run don't walk to an emergency room. If you surgery was recently it could have caused a bloodclot which has traveled to the brain.

Go now, let us know how you are. I will pray for you too!

I'm still alive. Headache is still pretty intense but not as bad if that makes sense? I called dr. and they told me as long as there are no vision changes, numbness in the arm or seizures, not to worry. Well, I was still worrying because it was BAD! I have my follow up tomorrow (wednesday) and will ask more questions. I have feeling that instead of the gas going to the shoulder like others have said is so bad, that mine has moved to the base of my head and along the top of my shoulder and neck. I'm betting on that so if others experience this, definately call your doctor, but this is what I'm chalking my horrific headaches too.

Are you getting any Protein in? I know I get skullsplitting headaches when I haven't gotten enough nutrients in - particularly protein. It feels as if my head will explode! (and I normally don't get many headaches)

Hope you are feeling better soon!

Kim

I haven't gotten really any protein because this first week is the "clear liquid" for me so the extent of my liquid protein has been some Unjury chicken broth w/protein and regular chicken broth. I'm not allowed protein shakes yet.....back to work and it is the first time I've been hungry! I'm going to probably drink a shake today because I know it will help my hunger pangs and they are real hunger not head hunger.....I start to get shakie and jittery when I get stomach hunger. Maybe that is part of the problem too!!! Thanks.

I had an awful headache for the first few days after surgery. What worked for me was a small glass of juice. I was allowed protein shakes the day after surgery but I still had a headache.

I was banded 12/30/10 and had a headache for the first two weeks. I did some research & found out that there is a nerve that is attached to your stomach that runs straight to the back of your head & when the band is placed it bothers this nerve until it get's used to having the band lay a crossed it. I don't know how factual it is but I found it in a few articles & after two weeks the every day headaches went away not I only have them if I don't have enough Protein.

P

I was banded 12/30/10 and had a headache for the first two weeks. I did some research & found out that there is a nerve that is attached to your stomach that runs straight to the back of your head & when the band is placed it bothers this nerve until it get's used to having the band lay a crossed it. I don't know how factual it is but I found it in a few articles & after two weeks the every day headaches went away not I only have them if I don't have enough Protein.

P

INTERESTING!!!! I'm going to look into this....it is literally the base of my skull on the left side and it runs down the base of my skull, down my neck and sort of across the top of my shoulders and down to the collarbone. It is really painful, and totally unlike any headache I've ever experienced before. Thanks for the info

Were you drinking caffiene before surgery and didnt stop soon enough that could give you a really really bad thrashing headache.

I was really hoping you'd be feeling better by now. You poor thing

Happened to me to! I had my surger the day after you did. Mine was a combination of things. Gas from surgery in my neck was one. I too couldn't take the pain meds because they made me sick. Headaches worse in the morning. Today was the first day I just had a very small one. Looks like you are about where I am on the weight loss journey. Good luck!

also depending on how different doctors. Some require you to go carb free prior to surgery. I could be withdrawals. Some may think this is a bit odd. but if you go without things your body is used to having you will do funny things. i had headaches for two weeks giving up my Coca Cola, caffeine and my smokes. I too had pain at the base of my skull right after surgery. i kept massaging and rubbing and stretching. It was not fun!

I pray for you continued recovery! It gets better one day at a time!

Went for follow up yesterday and brought this to the doctors attention. They "believe" this could be the gas pains, although they said it was unusual for it to be that intense in the area I was describing. I assured them the pain was intense. I think if it were that bad in the shoulder area I would have expected it from being on this site and everyone talking about gas pains radiating there but no one ever mentioned the head/neck. I thought also about the caffeine but I hadn't had caffeine for about two weeks before surgery...however in an attempt to resolve this headache, I broke down and had two BIG cups of coffee! didn't help. It has gotten better but it is still pretty bad if I don't keep ahead of it with 3 or 4 tylenol. I switched to Excedrin tension headache because it is the only one that didn't have asprin in it and it helps more than Tylenol. Thanks everyone for the suggestions.....Oh, and at my follow up....I lost 4 pounds since surgery. Not terrific considering I'm on a liquid diet but hey, 4 pounds in a week, nothing to sneeze at. Total since April 11th is 17 pounds...whoot whoot