Kate207

Thank you so so much for this!

I am absolutely terrified today after seeing my consultant. I had gastric sleeve surgery 26/07/2022 not for weight loss but to remove a stomach tumour. January this year I started getting stabbing pains under my left rib but wasn't really having any nausea, sickness or difficulty eating and drinking. After a CT scan in May and an endoscopy in August they found my stomach is strictured/stenosis. Today my consultant has told me the only option is to remove my stomach fully and sew my esophagus to my bowel. He said stretching it is not an option. I have an odd feeling (numerous reasons why) that they botched my operation and are trying to skirt around it. My consultant and surgeon keep changing the story. Like only an insignificant amount of stomach was removed. Then it was a full gastric sleeve performed. Then only a tiny amount removed again. Then the tumour was a GIST (sarcoma cancer). Then its just a benign tumour caused by pancreas cells. I've never known such confusing, arrogant, unsympathetic and clueless consultants and surgeons before - they're very worrying. Especially considering my surgeon is also doing private work for Spire. I'm absolutely broken. Any advice or anyone that has had a similar experience would be appreciated. As a side note this hospital in Liverpool has now given me a fear of hospitals. I was put on an oncology ward which I've been in before in a different hospital. I've always been a regular at hospitals over the last 20 years with pulmonary embolisms, 2 cancer scares, chronic illnesses etc and its always been a pleasant stay (even after surgeries) and a bit of a break and a chance to get some rest as I have 3 children. While in this new hospital after surgery it was like a third world hospital. I was lay in someone elses stale urine for a week before they agreed to change my putrid mattress. I caught scabies on my arm and oral thrush that spread to my esophagus and lungs. There was no shower so I had to wash myself daily in the sink. Finally they allowed me to use the mens shower as there was no womens shower which was literally just a shower cubicle with a door leading onto the corridor, nowhere to hang your towel or clothing and due to a blocked drain the floor/tray was flooded so my feet were in stagnant water along with my towel and clothing on a carrier bag on the floor/tray. By the end of my shower everything was soaking wet so I had to "get dry" with a wet towel and put on wet pyjamas before going to my bed and putting the curtain around to get properly dry and changed again. I had pneumothoraxes under my diaphragm and collar bone but was given the wrong and tiniest amount of pain relief. I was left to withdraw from my daily medication that I've taken for 5 years and left writhing in agony with the gas pain, pneumothoraxes, parasthesia and an intense burning sensation through my veins along with a massive headache, vomiting and aversion to light. No one would listen to me to help me to get my pain level under control and I could go on and on about the lack of care and the feeling of death and impending doom on this ward.

Please try not to worry. This pain is excrutiating and the hospital has a bad reputation. I'm sure its very rare for something like this to happen (whatever it is). Something has gone wrong and they're not telling me. Healing prayers to you.

Been having the same issues. I'm being checked for low B1 Thiamine as this can affect brain function. Due to me not getting enough down and sometimes having dumping syndrome I presume its malabsorbtion and I haven't been getting enough vitamins etc. I never knew it was so important. I keep going dizzy too. Healing prayers!

Around 5 months ago (I would've been 5 months PO then as 10 months PO now) I started to get a sharp constant stabbing pain under my left rib. It has come and gone over the months and I mentioned it to my consultant who ordered a CT scan which I'm still waiting on the results for. But its really gotten worse over the last few weeks now radiating to my left shoulder making breathing painful. I've had some nausea and sweating with it also. I went to A+E and all tests came back fine. X ray showed a build up of poop so they diagnosed constipation and after some suppositories I had a full clear out. The pain continued. Ended up in A+E again and they're stumped. Ruled out heart attack and blood clots etc and sent me home. I chased up my CT scan results today but they haven't looked at them yet. Has anyone experienced this? I keep seeing gas pain in search results but could this really be gas again? I thought I was over the gas pain weeks out. This feels a bit different.

Thanks for everyones replies. I thought I might add that my sleeve was for the removal of a tumour. So my goal wasn't to lose weight and I was given no aftercare advice on food intake or liquids etc. My goal has always been to gain weight as I was already underweight when I had the sleeve. Quick update. I got the results of my ct scan today. It shows my stomach is dilated and distended? Maybe not emptying properly so they'd like to get me in for a barium. Could I have stretched it? Does anyone have any info on this please? Still having the pain on and off. It seems to come in flares lasting days and then easing off. Weirdly seems to flare up if I take paracetamol or cocodamol so I've been avoiding those. Will check back in as soon as I have any other news. Hope everyone is keeping well.

Hello :-) I'm 9 weeks post surgery and honestly this has ruined my life I don't feel this is ever going to stop and I'm so scared. So my story is a little different. I had a laparoscopic gastric sleeve because I had a benign tumour growing on the outside of my stomach. My gastric sleeve is a smaller op than normal because they didn't take as much of my stomach away but I can't understand why I'm suffering so badly. Due to other health issues I've also got dysphagia and have been on a permanent liquid diet since 2016 and already very underweight. This is unrelated to the benign tumour and still being investigated. I never had any issues with acid before surgery. Anyhow, after surgery I was doing really well. The first few weeks I was building up to 4 300ml ensure shakes a day quite well. I felt great but this might have been the painkillers I was on for a pneumothorax. I wasn't taking the anti reflux medication as they couldn't prescribe it in liquid form and the orodispersable ones had hundreds of tiny hard capsules in them which made them difficult to swallow. But I was ok. No reflux problems. Then suddenly everything changed. I started getting the general foamies at first. Which I could deal with as they were quick in passing and after a google search I eased off the ensure shakes a little, drank more slowly and drank more water. I was started on omeprazole capsules that I have to open up and dissolve in water so I'm not really getting the full 40mg of it. I never miss taking this though. Over the past 6 weeks its gotten to the point that I no longer have foamies I have this constant thick sticky slime in my throat which is so bad I'm now losing sleep due to waking up choking and trying to hack it up. Every night is a nightmare. I go to sleep and start producing more thick slime and breathing in acid that I wake up choking and covered in sweat. I'm panicked trying to get the slime up to breathe, coughing up acid, gagging, choking on the slime, gulping on the huge lumps of slime that I can't hack up or swallow and sometimes vomiting. Its now gotten to the point that I'm living on a few cups of tea a day and water as I can't get the ensures past the slime during the day. Even an empty stomach has made no difference. I saw my surgeon and nutritionist finally a few days ago who treated me like I'd had something as simple as a tooth extraction and were unbothered by my weight loss, the fact that I can no longer get ensures down so I'm basically not eating at all and that I'm becoming depressed dealing with this choking slime and acid despite taking omeprazole. He's scheduling an endoscopy but in the meantime I'm honestly just so done with dealing with this. Its completely ruining my life. I can't eat, I can't sleep and I'm tortured every second by this choking slime in my throat. I have a young child to look after and I feel so tired and panicked daily. Has anyone dealt with the slime constantly? Rather than just when eating too much? Has anyone found a way to reduce stomach acid if already on anti reflux meds? Thank you in advance for any replies.

Thank you for this. This really makes sense! My consultant explained a few days ago that it was the lower part of my stomach that was removed although thats all he said. They never really go into much detail. I'll ask about the pyloric valve as I think you're right on this. Regarding the twisting this also fits. I never suffered from this slime or reflux until approx 3 weeks after surgery. I stupidly chugged back approx 750ml of a litre bottle of milkshake quite fast and instantly felt sick. I had extreme pain in my stomach so I went and lay down. As I did I had this strange muscle spasm in my stomach followed by a weird flopping sensation inside. Exactly as if my stomach had moved position. Thats the only way I can describe it. I was going to go to A and E but held off. The pain eased. The sickness went away. Then that night. Slime. And slime ever since :/

Thank you. I feared this would be the case :/ I've been tried on possibly every PPI. The pharmacy has also refused my surgeons request to put me on liquid omrprazole so I at least get the full dose as its too expensive.

I had a tumour growing on the outside of my stomach that needed to be removed. As it had grown right through the stomach wall I had to have a sleeve to take it out. Thry originally planned to just take a small wedge but the tumour was bigger than expected when they operated. I'm 5 foot 4" and currently 48kg