Doc said L. shoulder pain normal for some hernia repairs.

Mine is debilitating but comes in waves:crying:... got band and hernia repair May 29th.

Did anyone experience this? How long did it last? Did you hear anything different than my explanation?

Thanks...I'm miserable.

it will start feeling better by the end of the week! I thought wait did the pull my arm out of socket when they were done with my surgery. I think it's from all the air pumped in us, but again that's just my conclusion :frown:

Christine

It's definitely gas--lots of gas pumped in for both surgeries! Pain was much worse that I expected, even thought I knew it was coming. Got better beginning the 4th night.

That's exactly what it is...all the gas from the surgery. I just got home from my surgery that was performed yesterday.

This AM in the hospital, I called in the nurse because of the left shoulder pain I was having...it is indeed, from the gas.

She gave me a heating pad to put on while I was there and it helped to lessen the pain...I'd recommend heat. Since we don't have a heating pad here, I took our electric blanket from the bed and have it draped over my shoulder...feels much better!

Hope you get some relief soon!

I'm 5 weeks post op. I think that was the worst! Mine possibly lasted almost a month. Still if I over eat I feel it in my left shoulder.

I was banded on the 26th and i suffered from the same severe left shoulder pains. Mines started to get better around the 4th day post op. You will be fine. :frown: it gets better.

I had horrible pain in my shoulder two days post op...broke down crying from it while at the grocery store! It does get better...but it takes a few days. It really did feel like I was being stabbed in the shoulder.

I'm the same way...my left shoulder will start to hurt when I'm getting full...weird!

I was banded and had the hernia repair at the same time 3 weeks ago. The left shoulder pain was worse than the incision pain so I can relate. I used a heating pad and also made sure I did a lot of walking 20 mins 2-3 times a day. It will get better in just a couple of days. I found that every day got better and better in the first 2 weeks. Now I have just occasional slight discomfort on the port incision, but I think it's because my port kind of sticks out (it's like a little lump) i'm not liking that too much, but will speak to my surgeon and hope it will continue to go down with the swelling. But you'll feel sooooo much better soon! Congrats!

I had a hernia repair as well and my left shoulder was extremely painful. Explanation by my doc was the same as yours. The pain came and went and I got vicodin as an extra med to help with the pain. After about a week, my left shoulder pain was gone and has not returned. I had my surgery may 5th.

I'm still preband, but years ago when I had my gall bladder taken out, the dr told me that the gas would cause my shoulders to hurt and burn.. to me if felt like boiling water had been poured on my shoulders. He told me to lay on my back, prop my feet up higher than my head and put a heating pad on my shoulders. It worked wonderfully! He said having your feet propped up would 'push' the gas out of your shoulders faster.

I'm 1 week out today and I got the pain in my left shoulder. It eases a bit if I rub it. I'm going to try heat now, thanks for the tip guys!

I also get the same sharp pain in my right hip, like in front of my hip bone and right of my belly button. I'm thinking that's gas too.

I'm 8 days post op. Had my check up today. Shoulder pain since day 5. My dr. said it has to do with swelling on the diaphram that hits a nerve in the left shoulder. He told ME that it should ony last 2 days and if it continues to watch for signs of infection for a possible infection behind the diaphram...so it's worth asking your dr. about...

I had the same thing - It was horrible....it was in both my shoulders though and my neck - I could barely move....but thankfully it left after about 4 days!!! It will get better!!

I'm 8 days post op. Had my check up today. Shoulder pain since day 5. My dr. said it has to do with swelling on the diaphram that hits a nerve in the left shoulder. He told ME that it should ony last 2 days and if it continues to watch for signs of infection for a possible infection behind the diaphram...so it's worth asking your dr. about...

AlaskaGirl77 is right. My Dr. warned me about this before the surgery. He said that for some reason our brain signals that the pain is in our shoulder, when really it's from the diaphragm. Again he said that after a week it should subside, so you'll probably want to keep in touch with the Dr. if it doesn't go away just to be safe. Good luck!! :redface:

My wife had the bypass and I had the band, during the educational process they talked about this possible pain, but in the discussion with the surgeon he discussed techniques he used to minimize it, and I think it was mainly operating table positioning. Neither of us had shoulder pain. I wonder if this is a new technique.

Thanks everyone.

I'm post-op day 6 and the pain persists. I'll check out the nerve-diaphram thing but in the meantime heat and a massage helps a lot.