I finally did it!! Got banded on the May 25th by Dr. Benavides in Dallas. Real sore, have lots of gas!! I have been taking chewable gas-x but that seems to only work for a short time. Also I have not been drinking my water like I am suppose to. Any suggesitions?

Keep a pitcher of water, iced tea, or Crystal Light in the fridge.

Suck on party ice

Get a cute sports bottle and keep it full of iced water

Get a faucet filter (this was a good one for me)

Try the sodium free/sugar free waters there are lots of good ones

Good luck and get drinkin'

Water is so important, so please try to get that in. Walking helped me more witht he gas than anything else did. I used a heating pad for my shoulder though.

I was banded on 5/25 in Mexico by Dr. Ortiz. I am more sore today than yesterday & think I overdid it with the liquids. Sometimes the gas is so painful & can barely breath! Thats when I take a walk around the block...it most of the time allows me to burp & feel better! I am struggling with the not eating thing. I see the food & want to eat...I'm glad I cannot physically eat it! This is the only way I am going to lose weight!

Thanks I need all the help I get!! After I read this I sent my husband to the store and he got me the Crystal Light and also the sugar free kool aid!

why is it your shoulder hurts??? They told me it would but it hurts if i Burp or take a deep breath in. weird

I used extra strength gas X (not the regular one) and take them often. Walk walk walk . And drink that water. It goes away.

Hi texastina,

Welcome to Lapbandtalk. When you had surgery they pumped your abdominal cavity full of gas so they could see to do the surgery. The pain you feel is the gas which they could not, when your surgery was complete, entirely remove from your body. They get as much out as is possible but the gas migrates and gets trapped in places. For some reason, probably related to anatomy - which I won't even claim to have an understanding of (lol) - the gas causes pain in several places. Some people have the pain in their left shoulder, some have it in their back between the shoulder blades. Some unlucky people have it in several places at one time. It will go away eventually. Everyone is different but I've heard it can stop within a short period of time like 2 days (that was me) or for as long as several months. I don't understand why it varies so much but it does. It will stop when your body has absorbed the gas through your bloodstream to your lungs and you exhale it. Another way to get rid of it is through passing gas. Hopefully you'll be one of the ones who doesn't suffer with it for very long.

A position I recommend to help reduce gas pain is this: Stand next to your bed, facing the bed. Bend from the waist and put your forearms on the bed with your forehead resting between them. You can bend your knees a little if it's more comfortable but try to keep your fanny sticking up as high as you can - I sometimes propped a few pillows between my hips and the bed to rest on. It looks crazy but it really helped me, and has helped several other people that I know of with their gas pain as well.

Lastly, if you feel the urge to pass gas - do it. My husband had NEVER heard me pass gas before my band surgery. I would rather have exploded than pass gas before my lover! OMG! The humiliation! OK, I finally got over it! And it only took 14 years and a laparoscopic surgery!

Good luck on your weight loss journey. Keep in touch so we'll know how you're doing.

BTW, there is a group of Dallas area LBT members who meet once a month - usually in Irving - and you're more than welcome to join us if you'd like. Go to the Texas forum and scroll through, you'll see the thread there about where and when we meet - either that or PM me for the info.

DonnaB

Thank you. and yes as each day goes by I have more and more gas!! coming from both ends! It hurts to burp...I am not as sore today. I will PM you later for that info. about LBT meeting.

Thanks!!

Rumbaut told me that some of the shoulder and back pain came from the stitches anchored in the diaphragm. I had several so I had a lot of back/shoulder pain-mostly gone. I haven't noticed the horrible gas. A little gas. Burping still hurts and feels weird.