Hey all, I just had my surgery on Monday the 13th. Things have been going as I expected but my shoulders and neck are just killing me is this typical? I've used ice packs and heating pads and they are still so sore. Any ideas or tips on how to make the pain go away is very much appreciated! Thank you ?

I literally feel your pain! I had my surgery 9/7 and my neck/shoulders have been killing me as well. Not sure what's going on, perhaps all that time on an uncomfortable gurney and hospital bed? Anyways, my husband has been rubbing my neck and shoulders with a topical CBD cream each night. It definitely has been helping me along!

Hope you feel better soon!

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I had my sleeve done 2 days ago. The neck and shoulder pain was excruciating and the worst part of the whole deal.
A wonderful physical therapist saw me walking the hall and she walked with me. She believes in my case it is referred pain from the diaphragm (I had hernia repair also).
When I got back to the room she got me these two HUGE moist heat packs that were really heavy. That helped tremendously.

I have been in pain with my head to toes since my gastric bypass surgery

My back went into spasm on day 3. I couldn’t sit or stand or lie down, tears running down my face. Just awful. Surgeon suggested it was from stress I was sub consciously holding in my body. I had a lot of swelling so swallowing was painful so I was very tense every time I sipped or swallowed which would have contributed too. A physio finally came to see me (hours & hours after) but a lot of the pain had reduced by then.

Honestly, I sometimes think they can throw you about a bit during surgery so that could add to it as well.

It could also be the surgical gas escaping your body too. That gives you terrible shoulder pain. Walking, heating pads, gas X, passing wind, all help but it does take days for it to fully escape your body.

37 minutes ago, Arabesque said:

My back went into spasm on day 3. I couldn’t sit or stand or lie down, tears running down my face. Just awful. Surgeon suggested it was from stress I was sub consciously holding in my body. I had a lot of swelling so swallowing was painful so I was very tense every time I sipped or swallowed which would have contributed too. A physio finally came to see me (hours & hours after) but a lot of the pain had reduced by then.

Honestly, I sometimes think they can throw you about a bit during surgery so that could add to it as well.

It could also be the surgical gas escaping your body too. That gives you terrible shoulder pain. Walking, heating pads, gas X, passing wind, all help but it does take days for it to fully escape your body.

so sorry about your pain, I hope it remedies itself quickly, what a journey this is!

Thank you for the tips I will try them all.put!

4 hours ago, Lisa LoVuolo said:

I have been in pain with my head to toes since my gastric bypass surgery

That's so sad, I hope you heal quickly and your pain subsides, I know its a process to go through and hopefully it will go by quickly. Good healing thoughts to you.

Is it gas pain? I dont think they always tell people but they pretty much inflate your abdomen during surgery. Gas can travel up in your body and get trapped in your shoulders. My bestie had the issue when she had surgery 3 years ago. She didn't know about it, but a friend who was a nurse told her about it and went over to her house to walk with her.

I avoided the issue of trapped gas by walking continually to work itself out. I walked laps in the hospital until they wouldn't let me any more. When I was home I paced the hallway upstairs, and walked around the kitchen island when I was downstairs. Maybe walking will help ease it a bit?

Hope you feel better soon!

It's totally gas from the surgery. I'm two days out and the pain is awful from the gas—feels like a heart attack. But as others have said, walking helps a lot.

The first night after VSG, I had terrible pain in my shoulder/neck area. I also had back discomfort and couldn't get comfortable. I was pretty miserable that first night and it wasn't from my incisions or my tummy. Looking back, I realize now it was probably from the gas. I was pretty out of it the day of surgery so I didn't walk around much except to the restroom so it was all trapped inside me and moved to various places. Once I started moving and getting the air out from Day 2 onward it improved until it was gone after a few days.

Ice pack it up, that's what I've been doing and it's given me some physical relief. Good luck.