Help - Pain In Upper Left Chest/shoulder Area

[ElieMaeHolliday 0]

Since I had my surgery on 9/8, I have had pain in my upper left shoulder/chest area. I have had abdominal surgery before, and thought it was just gas that was trapped. Didn't worry too much about it. It has been a month and I still get this pain on a daily basis - sometimes really intense! Anyone else had this experience? Is it still gas and if so - WHY after a month!! Remedies?

[La_madam 20]

SOunds to me like Gas..I still get trapped gas pains and Iam 18 months post op. The only remedy for me for gas it to walk walk walk and take a few Gas X

[mahelpme 24]

Although I am newly banded, banded on 9/26 I have had the pain you discribed until today. This morning I took 2 papaya tablets and No More Gas! Papaya is a natural enzyme and should be just fine for you. I hope this helps. It definately helped me. Good luck

[ElieMaeHolliday 0]

THANKS SO MUCH FOR YOUR ANSWERS - I THOUGHT I WAS GONNA KEEL OVER!! I will try your suggestions!

[ickytazz 0]

I still get the pain, it's awful. I got it today i think because i didnt eat for 6 hours and was "Starving" .

[princess_n_thep 2]

I would check with your family physician just to be on the safe side. Are you older? It sounds like gas to me too though.

[Danistar 0]

I would be very careful with Papaya tablets as they have an enzyme that dissolves Protein.

Would it errode the band? I don't know for sure but maybe you should ask your doctor?????

[Dena 2]

I had my surgery on 9/16/05 and I still have the pain in my shoulder on a daily basis. I called to schedule my first fill earlier and they told me it is in fact gas although I have just about convinced myself its what I'm eating. It seems to only get really bad after I've eaten (especially things I know I shouldn't)........

[Anu 0]

Hello Bhartzoge-

I was banded on 9/29. Post surgery the only real pain I have had was in my neck and shoulder. I normally carry my tension there so I assumed it was stress, but inspite of regular massages (four in one week!), hot pack treaments, tiger balm, and meditation sessions it grew worse so I went to my primary care doc. She said it was probably a combination of stress, dehydration, and the gas from the procedure (mostly likely not gassy foods). The muscles get all knotted up and dry and they can't release because they aren't getting hydrated enough.

She gave me several shots of saline in the muscles of my neck and shoulders and my pain was IMMEDIATELY relieved. I have continued the hot packs and neck and shoulder exercises and I have had not had a single problem since. It has worked for me. As they say "individual results may vary"

Best of Luck-

Anu

[Bensmum1109 0]

I am having the same problem and was about to post a similar thread. I was banded 9/16 and the pain feels like I imagine a heart attack would feel. It's actually in my upper chest by my left shoulder, and I do get it after I eat. It lasts most of the night :-(

I wasn't sure if it was because I am beginning to convert to solid food and that maybe it was getting backed up.

I guess I will just keep taking my Prevacid and Tums. Did you all know that Extra Strength Tums have 800 mg of Calcium in each tablet?? My doctor requires me to take 1500 mgs of Calcium as a supplement, and all I have to do is eat two Tums :-)

[Guest kjdiva]

In 1986 I became a certified EMT (emergency medical technician) for the State of California. At one point in the EMT training course, we students were cautioned by the instructor about a phenomenon that emergency workers often see in the field: intense shoulder pain in a patient who mysteriously shows no evidence of shoulder trauma -- no bruising, for example, no lacerations. We were told that if we enountered this shoulder pain in a patient showing no injury there, it meant we needed to be aware of possible internal injury -- because internal bleeding can send pain messages radiating to an entirely different body site in a kind of "missed signal" reaction.

While this EMT course was going on, I had to go into the hospital for an out-patient laparoscopy for a routine look-around. All told, the procedure took about twenty minutes and I was home and sprawled out like King Tut on my own bed by mid-afternoon. However, that evening I had developed such a crippling pain in my right shoulder I had to pile pillows under my right elbow, like a sling. I mean, I couldn't have hurt more if I had broken that shoulder. By morning, the pain was gone.

When my EMT class next met, I corraled our instructor during the break and told her about my laparoscopy. I asked her if my shoulder pain had been caused by the laparoscopic procedure; had I sustained a kind of "elective" internal injury that caused the pain to radiate to my shoulder, as she had described in class?

She grinned like I'd just handed her an Oscar for Best Director. She said "Oh, YES!" in out-and-out glee, and added "That's EXACTLY what you experienced! A clean scalpel or a blow to the mid-section, the body interprets it only one way -- internal trauma!" At which point, I became a celebrity and was swarmed by my fellow students who wanted all the gory details. (The better to treat their future trauma patients.)

I guess the moral of the story is: we should not be shocked if we end up with some type of shoulder pain as a result of our laparoscopic LapBand procedures.

My doctor has never mentioned this post-op possibility to me. (I'm having my procedure done after the first of the year.) The only reason I know about this at all is because of that long-ago EMT class -- and my long-ago post-laparoscopy "broken" shoulder!

Regards,

KJ

[ejkusko 0]

I see you are banded for almost 3 years. Are you still getting shoulder pain? and anything in paticular that brings it on so I know what to avoid?