I was banded 6 days ago and I'm recovering slowly. I'm able to do more things like get out bed, walk around, and light cleaning. I'm managing the pain and gas as best I can, but there is this annoying pain I get and I wondering when it will go away.

It happens sometimes when I burp (I'm burping a lot) or just because. The only way I can describe it is it's like I'm having indigestion without the acid. It's the sharp pain that develops right below my sternum and throbs for a couple of seconds. I have to grip something while it's occuring because it's terribly unpleasant. Sometimes I feel it lower.

Does anyone know what this is? Gas, maybe?

By the way...I never knew how bad gas could hurt!!

That sounds like what im getting too..mine travels all the way to the band & stops there & i get it in my back too..im 8 days post op..i keep walking & walking..& yesterday i started to use my treadmill again..i got told its gas still ?

I had the same thing for about a week except I couldn't burp (still can't). But I was told by my PA that it was likely due to my hiatal hernia repair (done with Lap Band surgery). It had something to do with gas passing up the esophagus, when it reaches the area of the diaphragm (where the hernia repair is made) it causes pain...something like that don't remember exactly. Could you have had a hernia repair too? (Some bandsters do and are not told right away...I didn't know until I called about the pain).

Edited January 29, 200917 yr by Jodi_620

If you are really concerned about it call you doctor to make sure.

I hear people complain about it all the time and it sounds like gas. I only had two times post op where I had gas pains and it settled in my back between my shoulders. I had my daughter "burp" me like a baby by hitting my back. It helped. I also see people post that a heating pad helps. I hope you get to feeling better.

If it is the same thing I had, you can't really manage it with a masage or heat pad. It comes on sporadically and goes away before you could plug in a heating pad. It is like an extremely painful and slow burp, I could actually feel the sensation in my stomach like most people feel just before a burp but it would just be followed by pain. It would stop me in my tracks, I would hold my eyes closed tight and hold my breath hard until it would pass in a couple seconds...It would start at the stomach and slowly travel up my esophagus...there was no rhyme or reason to when it would come on.

Edited January 29, 200917 yr by Jodi_620

I am having the same thing (7 days post-op). Dr. says its just gas. Keep moving!! :bored:

I had the same thing for a couple of weeks. The dr. said that it is a burp. Because the band is in place and you are still swollen from the surgery the burp comes to the top and has no where to go but backwards. Yes it does hurt like hell but it will pass. I had my second fill Dec 22, 2008 and I still get that weird burp once in a while but its not as scary or as painful as in the begining. Hopefully this helps hang in there!! I'm down 16lbs since sept 29, 2008.