Left Shoulder Pain After Lap Band Surgery

[jenjuice 0]

I asked my doctor who has done LB for years and is nationally known. He said this is common and that the band actually can irritate a nerve and cause the pain. It is even written in his side effects pamphlet

[beeblers 6]

SHOULDER PAIN!! I HAVE IT!

There was a study done in Australia (they have been doing LAGB longer than US) that showed that at one week post op 62% of pts had left tip shoulder pain and by 5 weeks post op 23% still had it. It is common among laparoscopic surgeries like gallbladdr etc. It usually is worse sitting up, taking a deep breath, eating, it is sometimes relieved by laying down. Related to the nerves that get irritated in the diaphram during surgery, either by the gas or the manipulation, It is called "referred pain" similar to the way a heart attack will "refer" pain down the left arm.

I am 5 days post op and am dealing with some pretty nasty left tip shoulder pain right now, it is better if I lay down, worse sitting up. I hope I am not in the 5 week group, because it is the only thing that really hurts right now!

[kaznelson 0]

Nearly 3 years since having my band and if I eat too much I get Left Shoulder Pain at night

[momlambert 77]

Nearly 3 years since having my band and if I eat too much I get Left Shoulder Pain at night

I've only had my band 7 months but I get the pain after the first few bites of food every time I eat and then again when I'm full. It stays for 10-15 minutes and then subsides. If I don't stop eating at that point, I PB. It's my "warning sign."

[aefizzy 0]

I had the same thing happen for the first month after my surgery. I talked to the doctor and he said he could not think of anything related to the surgery that would cause the pain, but said it could be movement related. When I started to think about it I relaized that after surgery I did not want to sleep on my right side where the port was located so i slept on my left side. I think that was the casue becase I felt like I had a pinched nerve. I slept with a heating pad surrounding the shoulder for about five nights in a row and tried to stay on the right side more and it got MUCH better. It does not even hurt anymore!

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

My left shoulder pain went away for about a month. Yesterday, for no apparent reason, it's back. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to why mine comes and goes.

[ked0230 0]

I still get it when you eat to much the food in the pouch pushes on the diaraphragm causes the pain in the left shoulder it is a earning sign to stop eating.

[hiddenhottie 0]

I was just banded 11/06/07. Have had no problems except for gas pains (think I'm gonna "splode"). My M.D. said to watch for shoulder pain, and hopefully it wouldn't last too long. So far so good! He also said the shoulder pain actually comes from the Diaphragm, although the pain is felt in the left shoulder. Weird huh, Something about "referred pain". Makes some sense though, the diaphragm is the big sheet of muscle that separates the heart & lungs from the stomach so no telling what happens to it during surgery.

[meebee123 0]

:omg: my left shoulder started to hurt 2 days post op 11 days post op 2 visits to er 1 night addmitted to hospital and now nothing to eat due to stommack pains for 11 days now and can hardly move left arm. what is wrong? doct tells me now i have pancreatidice:help: im in pain and cant even work!!!! why???? i wish i knew

[beeblers 6]

meebee123,

If you have pancreatitis then you have an inflammation of your pancreas which sits just below your stomach (hence the stomach pains). Anything that irritates the diaphram (the big muscle used for breathing) can cause shoulder pain, also known as "referred" pain. An inflammation can, which is why gallbladder patients have referred pain. Just having the band can too, because it can rub up against the nerves (see previous posters regarding pouch fullness, etc.)

Hopefully you are getting treated and get it under control. Stomach pain should be looked at and I am glad you are getting it looked at.

Good luck to you!:sick Get well!

[wendus1974 0]

Hello everyone,

I am new here and I was reading about the left shoulder problems. I am a nurse and will soon be a patient. I work for a bariatric surgeon also. When you have abdominal surgery where they have to inflate your belly with gas, that will irritate your diphragm and cause right shoulder pain. Left shoulder pain can be the stomach filling with gas and irritating the diaphragm. It can also be serious if it is a leak or a breakage of the tubing rubbing against the diaphragm. This happens because the diaphragm and shoulders share the same nerve supply in the womb and are seperated by the development of the lungs and heart. So if something irritates our diaphragm, it is perceived as shoulder pain. We had a patient with this complaint recently and our Doc took her very seriuosly and ordered a CT right away to make sure that all was well. I was and she ended up taking gas-x to get rid of the gas. I hope this helps you. I am so excited to be here and looking forward to my surgery. Your photos and testimonials are an inspiration.

Wendi

[LangleyGirl 0]

Mine started the day after surgery and still flares up at least once a day. Sometimes it will wake me out of a sound sleep! When it's really bad, It's difficult to move my arm..... when I try, it seems like the signal from my brain to the shoulder muscle isn't working properly. Weird!

[Oregondaisy 2,020]

I know all about the gas they use during surgery. I never had left shoulder pain right after surgery. I have had my surgery close to a year ago, and I think mine started more like 5-6 months after surgery. It comes and goes. Sometimes it will hurt for days, then go away for a few weeks and comes back. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with anything else. It just comes and goes. Sometimes it's there in the morning, and goes away later in the day. Sometimes it comes at night etc. It just seems to come and go whenever it wants to.

I know it has something to do with the diaphragm. I know someone who had her band for 2 years and finally had it removed because her shoulder shoulder pain was so extreme and hurt her the entire time until she had her band removed.

[annieM 2]

I have it too! I noticed right after banding that my shoulder was sore but I knew about the gas and associated pain and I thought it would go away. Wrong. I'm a year out and am still having trouble. I even had two shots to my shoulder and therapy for four weeks and it didn't help. There is no way I would give up my band because of it though. I'll live with it.

[deniloo 0]

The drs told me before surgery that there would be shoulder pain for awhile caused by the gas that they use to blow your body up. It moves everything around......and I still have some pain after 1 month. BUT......didn't think that would still be an issue after so many months...so maybe this isn't related to the left shoulder pain so many months after?