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Unbearable Shoulder Pain!!!



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I am 8 days post op and still have HORRENDOUS shoulder pain!!! Other than that, I have been fine. I do get really hungry because I am still on liquids and dont really like the things I am allowed to eat so I just dont eat/drink much.

Does anyone have any suggestions about the pain in my shoulder?? When will it go away?? When will I stop being sooooo hungry?:confused2:

Thanks!!!

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So sorry you are going through the shoulder pain thing. That was my biggest complaint also. It was unbearable sometimes. Every time I would swallow (even saliva), I would just cringe with pain. Hang in there. Mine subsided at about 2 weeks out. At about 9 days, it started to ease. I could not take pain meds but don't know if they would have helped anyway.

My surgeon told me the pain was due to my hernia repair. Not sure if I believe that since I had the same intense pain with C-section.

Hope your pain subsides soon. I feel your pain!!!!!!!!!!!

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hi i am 24hrs post op and i did have some shoulder pain the nurses and doc told me it was the gas trying to disapate and it goes to the shoulders i had it befor when i had surgery walking is what i have done to help the pain and a light message of the shoulders its just a small pain now hope this helps

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Hello,

The shoulder pain will go away. Mine took about 3 wks at least. It was a hernia repair also. Pain meds help some, and sleeping in a sit up position helps as well along with a heating pad on my upper back. You need to drink lots of liquid. I use to drink the liquid then usually burp to help relieve some of the gas. I couldnt drink the protien shakes they made me feel ill. So I would buy campbells canned Soup like beef barley and drink the juice only and throw out the veggies. By day nine i was allowed to go to soft foods. Good luck on your journey.

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Yeah, when you have laproscopic surgery, they blow up your abdomin like a balloon so that there is room to work. When they close you up, alot of the time they don't get all of the air out. It tends to migrate north and settle in your left shoulder.

I didn't have it too bad but it came and went for about a month. Moving around helped for me.

The hunger will decrease as you get more solid food in you.

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Gas-X and walking are the best. I also found warm beef broth to help (go figure).

Does GasX help this? It seems that GasX is more for gas trapped inside your digestive system, I wouldn't think it would help for air that is trapped outside your digetive track and outside of any other organs.

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I had the shoulder pain minutes after the surgery.

Soon as I could I was moving around, walking, cleaning, etc. anything to ease it.

It was one of the two issues I had after surgery, the second was I couldn't take the pain meds.

The pain meds didn't touch the gas pain at all.

A hot compress and massage helps and I took Liquid Adult Tylenol.

You need to drink as much as possible.

I was on Phase II liquid diet 5 days after. I was really sick of the liquids I was drinking pre-op.

I just got creative. I love buttermilk (lo-fat) and that helped so much. I did drink lots of Propel.

Creamed Soups worked and Campbells Bean with Bacon,too.

I pureed it and watered it down, tasted like heaven!!!

:biggrin2:

Hang in there!

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Does GasX help this? It seems that GasX is more for gas trapped inside your digestive system, I wouldn't think it would help for air that is trapped outside your digetive track and outside of any other organs.

I actually asked my surgeon about this on Friday. You are correct...GaxX is only useful for gas within the gastric system, and does not help with the absorption of the intraabdominal gas that they put in there. He said that the gas is absorbed by your cells, carried to your lungs, and exhaled. I asked a physiology professor and she confirmed this.

He says that if people thinks it makes them feel better then it doesn't hurt anything, but that it really doesn't help the actual problem. :thumbup: Bummer!

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When I had my surgery over a year ago I had the same shoulder pain. My doctor said it is normal for most patients, and that it is from the anesthetic working its way out.. he suggested nothing but trying to walk around when it acts up and having someone lightly massage your shoulders. It faded over a few weeks and by week three it was gone! I know the feeling just hang in there!

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I had experienced the same pain and I am now almost 3 months out and still have the occasionally shoulder pain, not as intense as post-surgery. Hang in there!!!

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I was banded on Monday, Aug.25th. I am experiencing the shoulder pain too. My aftercare nurse told me to breathe through the pain. I also left the surgery center with a breathing apperatus (spelling). Basically you suck air in, then take your mouth off and push the air out like you are pushing through a straw. I was told to do 10 reps. every 15 minutes while awake. That seems to help a lot!

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      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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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. 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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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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