Hi all!! I had the worst night last night since being banded!! I was in SOOO much pain I didnt even know what to do!!! I had this SHARP stabbing pain under rib cage on left side. I got online and looked at forum and sure enough someone had the exact same pain!! One of the gals who had that same pain ended up with a blood clot:omg: Needless to say, my night was awful. I went to see my doc an hour away from home today and told him about the pain and how I was going to go to the ER but I talked myself out of it and he wanted to send me over to hospital to do ct scan. I JUST WANTED TO GO HOME at that point to hubby!!!! I was SOOO scared and in pain off and on all day. By the time I got home I was in SOOO much pain I thought I might pass out! Hubby came home and took me to ER and they did chest xray and EKG. Heart was good and xray came back clean with no pnuemonia or collapsed lung. So then the did the ct scan. They had given me some wild pain medicine and I was dozing off and on and finally the doc came in and said NO BLOOD CLOT!!!!!! I WAS SOOOO HAPPY!! NOW, for the last week since surgery I have been sleeping in a recliner. I have NOT laid down flat AT ALL!!! The doc thinks that all the gas in trapped up pushing on my diaphram.... He said that he could see a big trail of gas bubbles in my intestines that pushes up against my diaphram...so he tells me to go home and lay with some pillows under my tummy for support and put my butt in the air...:heh: :heh: :heh: I did and BOY DID THAT FEEL GREAT!!! I could hear and feel all of this air and stuff moving around. SO, I dont have a blood clot and I am sooooooo happy tonight. Thing I wanted to point out about this story is....it is better to be safe than not live to be safe!!!! But of course, Murphys Law, as soon as he came in and told me I was ok....IT QUIT HURTING!!!!!:tired But that is fine with me...I would rather KNOW for sure then sit and wonder another night!!! Deanna

PS.... I lost I lost another 11 pounds since last Thursday!!!!! YIPPEEEEE!!!

Im heading out this morning for my banding, I will keep this in mind, in case I experience the same pain.

LOL you sound like me. But the ER was a lot nicer to you. They didn't give me anything for pain, they said go home and take tylenol. They did ekg,bloodwork and ct scan and nothing showed up, but he never gave me an idea of what it could be (I was HOPING he'd say it was gas). I'm going to go try what you said about the pillows!! They said if in a week it still hurts, to come back or go to my normal doctor, it could be undiagnosed bronchitis.. I have no clue where that came from?? They were smug about me making the self-diagnosis of a blood clot, but they didn't seem to tell me they had any ideas!

I did finally call my surgeon and they called me in pain meds and said to take it easy basically. Glad you're ok! I wonder how many more people are going to go to the ER afraid it's a blood clot because of that thread!

Ewww this is first time I've seen an AD right in the MIDDLE of the boards.. is this going to continue?

OH LAURA!!!!!!!!!!!! Your the exact one I was talking about!!! I was sooo glad that you were okay! I know that the other gal who had the blood clot posted and then you went to ER!! I am sorry they were not nice to you! The hospital where I ended up going in my home town didnt know anything about the lap band! But that didnt surprise me thats why I went out of town to do this procedure. The ER doc said that he had told someone else to do this with their butt in the air because he had some kind of air something or other...cant remember what he said but anyways.. I have felt so MUCH BETTER since doing it and the gas is coming out!! Not to be graphic BUT BOTH ENDS! FINALLY!!!!!:clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: He also said to maybe try Milk of Magnesia to get the digestive track moving to get trapped gas bubbles out of the intestine track. I havent done that yet, but probably will try that tomorrow!! All I know that all the gas is rumbling around all over in my tummy now instead of up in my rib cage! I am glad that you are alright and we were banded a few days apart...Yayyy US!!!!!!! Let me know if the butt in the air helps. It makes sense to me if all this gas is trapped up under rib cage and then always sleeping sitting up at an incline it never has a chance to get moving!! Deanna:)

...so he tells me to go home and lay with some pillows under my tummy for support and put my butt in the air...

This is something I learned from my cousin about 25 years ago on a camping trip when I thought I was going to pass out from gas pains and let me tell you it works like a CHARM. When you have gas pains, lay face down on the floor with a pillow under the soft part of your tummy (not at the rib cage) and let the pillow press your tummy. Slightly elevate your butt. You will get relief very quickly. It's the best way to press out gas. IT WORKS.

I wish I would have read this sooner. I also ended up in the ER cause I was haveing such a hard time breathing for a couple days. everything turned out fine they said from swelling the band was against my diafram.. I guess I gonna have to try the pillow thing cause I'm still full of gas it gets very uncomfortable, I want it GONE!!!

Emily 4/27/07

walk, walk, walk... this too shall pass..