I was banded on may 20th so i'm roughly 5 weeks out. From time to time I still get pain in my left shoulder! i thought at 2 and a half weeks it was gone for good, but NOOOOOOOOOOO! What's the longest you guys have heard of someone dealing with this. Apparently that walking thing only works in the beginning. I'm back to all my normal activities including working out! What gives? ugh! ouch!

I have heard, although it doesn't happen to me, that some people get the referred shoulder pain and that's when they know when to stop eating. Does it happen at certain times for you or is it persistent?

wow that's interesting. but unfortunalty i was eating or hadn't recently eaten. I would have been relieved if that was the answer. lol

The longest I've ever heard of someone dealing with it? The whole time they had the band, and then even after the band was removed... I've heard of people dealing with it for a very long time. I'm so sorry. I forget the reason that I heard, but I think it was something about the band causing irritation on... the diaphragm? There's a post on it in the failed lap bands forum on Obesity Help but I can never find that forum without following a direct link in someone's sig.

My understanding is that some people deal with the pain for longer than a couple of weeks after surgery, and for MOST people it does eventually go away... but not all people.

I have the shoulder pain. It is a signal that I am full and should stop eating. At first I tried to ignore it and it only gets worse if I continue to eat. Now I stop immediately. As I digest my food it goes away. It is the only signal I have that I am full.

I was banded in October 2010. In the beginning I had the shoulder pain bad. I thought it was the gas from the laprascopic procedure but it wasn't getting better. Then I learned that it was the band putting pressure on the phrenic nerve and it was my signal to stop eating. I actually liked the physical signal that I had enough to eat. Then it went away. Well about a month ago or so (and not correlating with any fills or anything) I started getting that pain back every morning. It has nothing to do with eating because I am too tight in the morning to eat so I just deal with it and it fades as my day goes on.

I still get shoulder pain and I'm three and a half months out. Since I was adjusted on Wednesday, it's become a signal that I am getting full and should stop eating.

That pain is awful. It's been 3 years for me so I can't really remember exacty how long it lasted but I would guess it was at least a month or two. What really helped me was the chiropractor. I had him adjust my mid back and the relief was instantaneous. It would last about 2-3 days and I would go back and have him do it again. For those who have misconceptions or are unsure about chiropractic....the "cracking" sound you hear is NOT bones cracking. It's the sound of gas being released from the joints. The gas from surgery gets trapped and that's what causes the pain. Release the gas, the pain goes away!