Shoulder and Diaphragm Pain

[kafinator330 6]

Sleeved 3 days ago and having trouble breathing in deeply without having pain in my shoulder and diaphragm. Anyone else have this? How long did it last? Any tricks to alleviate the pain?

[mishelley828 0]

I had the sleeve on the 20th and I was having that same issue when I came home. I continued to use the spirometer when I got home and that helped alot. I think think the pain lasted about 5 days. It was from the tube being down your throat while you were under anesthesia.

[EmmyJ 184]

Although deep breathing hurt, it did clear some of the pain up for me in the long run. As much walking as I could manage also helped. I think my shoulder pain mostly went away after the first week, but it did pop up a couple of times after that. It does subside

[songsmith 334]

Three days out, it is probably gas.

However, I had a rare complication common to any sort of abdominal surgery (not just WLS) so wanted to chime in. I also had diaphragm discomfort (tightness more than pain) and could only breathe shallowly. Then I developed a cough. My surgery was in February, so I thought I was sick and/or my allergies were kicking up. I called my surgeon's office, and his PA convinced me I had a cold and any soreness was due to "muscle strain because you are losing so quickly."

Yeah. Made no sense to me either, but I was sure they would have had me come in if it was something to worry about. Two weeks later, the cough is worse. I phoned my Primary.

Three more days. Walked in. My primary (because she's awesome) knew right away what was wrong: pleural effusion. It's when Fluid builds up in the sacs that surround your lungs. She sent me to the ER on the off chance it could be a blood clot instead. (They couldn't tell by the X-ray she took.) I later asked the pulmonary doctor why an operation on my stomach affected my lungs. He said something along the lines that there is always fluid, but your body is so focused on healing the wound from surgery that it fails to empty out the fluid and it builds up.

Aaaaaaanyway (sorry for the long story, but goes to show don't always trust your surgeon) it's possible you could have something like that. Definitely call your surgeon. Walk a lot in case it is gas. If shortness of breath continues or pain worsens call your primary. They took out nearly 2 liters of fluid from my lungs.