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I ended up in the hospital last week. It started about 4am and didnt stop. I was in so much pain I was vomiting and balling all night and the next day until i got care at the hospital. The severity of my pain is still incomparable to anything I have ever felt before in my life. It was in my upper belly area. It was slight at first but grew over a while. I had diarrhea all night until I got to the hospital. I normally know what poop pains feel like..or dumping syndrome..but this wasnt moving or going away. I must have been in the bathroom at least 6 times before I went again at the hospital.. I think I threw up about 3 times before again at the hospital. They gave me pain meds and 2 bags of Fluid said I was fine and sent me home. The funny thing is that nobody...NOBODY, including my surgeon, seemed to want to take an MRI or ultrasound. As much pain as I was in, I knew something was wrong. I had to call the doctor the next day just to ask what happened because nobody told me. They just sent me home. So when I looked at the paper they gave me, it said gastritis? I didnt even know that was on there until yesterday. Nobody told me that they gave me the paper. All they said was here is your after care information. No pain meds to go home with, no instructions, nothing. I am still concerned about what happened. I still dont know what caused it. The paper about gastritis said it was from anti inflammatory meds, which just isnt possible concidering, I dont take any. They said my pouch was inflamed. Uh..my doc said i could stop taking the pepcid..so maybe he shouldnt have done that? So why wasnt anything explained and what the hell happened. I would love to know if anyone else has had something like this happen. They said it wasnt surgery related..which makes sense since mine was almost 2 months ago. So what the hell?

frustrated.

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I was given a gastroenteritis diagnosis. I knew it wasn't right as the pain was ridiculous. It turned out to be gallstones and I had my gallbladder removed when I had my VSG.

It was an ultrasound that picked it up.

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Your bypass surgeon wasn't suspicion that it could be something?

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How do they know it wasn't surgery related if they didn't take a look at anything on the inside? I have to tell you that emergency rooms are not places I like or really trust. I would go to my pcp and insist on an X-ray, CT scan, something. And if you have to go to ER again, raise hell until they look at your insides. Believe it or not, I went twice with raging infections. They admitted me, gave me IV antibiotics and sent me home. The second time, I refused to leave and insisted on getting a different doctor. He said two admissions in a month was way too many he was going to scan my belly.. Two hours after, he came in and said my left kidney was completely blocked up with two huge stones and he had already called around to find a urologist to come treat me the next day. Before I left and for about six months after, I called that hospital and told every administrator, head honcho I could reach what had happened. I now have two extremely healthy kidneys thanks to the doctor who had enough sense to take a picture of my belly. An X-ray would have shown the stones. X-rays tell them a lot.

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Ultrasound or CT would probably be better after this surgery. I can't let this one go. I'm frustrated for you!

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I'm curious to know if you have had your gall bladder removed or not, because in the beginning of my attacks they were like you are describing. My insurance kept putting me off and putting me off about getting it out(was using Kaiser Permanente then) and eventually it ruptured on my way to the hospital. I was in intensive care for a long time because of the infection from that rupture. If you start vomiting what looks like coffee grounds, your poop turns grey, or you are running a fever with the pains make sure you go back ASAP! Don't trust ER docs! Their job is to get rid of you as fast as possible. I had kidney stones 2 yrs ago when I was pregnant and they sent me home 6 times in as many days before admitting me and declaring it was a pulled muscle-after claiming it was an ectopic pregnancy and offering to give me an abortion pill, a heart attack, and then a pulmonary embolism all because I was fat and that's what we fat broads have apparently! I went home and passed out in the floor that night from the pain and later passed 2 big stones as big as aquarium pebbles. Keep going back as long as it takes to get the answer. They aren't in it to care about you. You have to fight to get it figured out in time before you die or are permanently damaged. My urinary tract will never be the same because of those big stones ripping through there. It could have been prevented if they had just listened to the symptoms and treated me like a human being instead of a fat person statistic.

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What you describe sounds exactly what my gall stone attacks were like. I got mine out many many years ago in an open operation because this went on for a very long while before docs did an ultra sound to verify,

I had so many stupid waste of money tests and all that was needed was an ultra sound.

As soon as they saw it, they realized in was in big trouble, rushed me to surgery and opened up my belly. I have an 8 inch scar because they screwed around so long.

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I'm so sorry that happened to you. I am not a big fan of ER doctors either. My then-2 1/2 year old was sitting on our coffe table and leaned over and fell - she caught herself with her hand and started screaming. I took her to the ER and they did x-rays of her neck. Turns out she had a broken collar bone which the ER totally missed but her pediatrician figured out within 5 mins of an examination!

I would definitely follow up with your surgeon and bariatric team and request that they write a script for an ultrasound or whatever else is needed to get you a proper diagnosis and care. hugs!

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Gall bladder was my first thought too

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Your bypass surgeon wasn't suspicion that it could be something?

nope. he told the er doctor to send me home. I even called the next day and asked why nothing was done. They said it was normal. I asked...WHAT exactly was normal? They still never told me what happened. Even after I explained that it wasnt anything I ate.

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I still have my gall bladder. I am actually taking a medication to prevent gall stones. I have to take it for 6 months. The thing I am worried about is an ulcer. He took me off the pepcid a few days early. A week later I was in ER. If this happens again..I am not leaving until they do an ultrasound. My surgeon still hasnt gotten back to me about whether or not I should start the pepcid again and that was the day after my visit to ER. I dont honestly know why he would even say i was fine concidering he didnt even come to the ER to look at me. I will definitely not take that crap next time. Thanks for your thoughtfulness :)

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Working in the health care industry and at a hospital, you have to advocate for yourself because a lot of times, no one else will. Best of luck.

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

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        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
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