Does the left shoulder pain go?

[Dune 2]

Hello, i have just read the thread about left shoulder pain and found everyone's experiences really interesting to read.

I want this thread to be dedicated specifically to stories of people who had left shoulder pain but no longer have it, with a description of

• how long it took for it to go away,
  
  
• how it felt through stages of its leaving and
  
  
• if there was anything that specifically helped it to leave.
  

We know from the other thread that it is a common occurrence, and that the less ignorant doctors and consultants advise that it is caused by trapped air trying to leave the body and swinging the arms upwards can help with this. Posts reiterating this information are helpful and encouraging, but i would really prefer to hear specifically from people who had the shoulder pain, but no longer have it.

Many thanks,

Love Dune.

[Humming Bird 275]

We know from the other thread that it is a common occurrence, and that the less ignorant doctors and consultants advise that it is caused by trapped air trying to leave the body and swinging the arms upwards can help with this.

Your idea about the left shoulder pain is very wrong. I have been banded 16 months and my shoulder pain comes and goes. It is caused by pressure on the phrenic nerve. Pain caused by trapped air after surgery is usually in a different area, more in the area of the clavical, and only lasts a day or so. I know this first hand because I have had 4 surgeries. You can't tell me that it is trapped air after 16 months and I could just lift my arm to make it go away.

I understand you are asking many questions here at LBT to research the band, but many of your posts come across with an arrogance like you already know it all. re: less ignorant doctors.......

[Cocoabean 430]

The pain caused by the gas used during the surgery does go away within a few days as the gas dissipates. I've never heard the swing your arms suggestion, but movement helps with the pain and with dissipating the gas. I believe this to be a common even in abdominal laparoscopic procedures of many types, not just banding.

As Humming Bird said, this pain is just below the left clavical--not truly in the shoulder joint.

[Dune 2]

Your idea about the left shoulder pain is very wrong. I have been banded 16 months and my shoulder pain comes and goes. It is caused by pressure on the phrenic nerve. Pain caused by trapped air after surgery is usually in a different area, more in the area of the clavical, and only lasts a day or so. I know this first hand because I have had 4 surgeries. You can't tell me that it is trapped air after 16 months and I could just lift my arm to make it go away.

I understand you are asking many questions here at LBT to research the band, but many of your posts come across with an arrogance like you already know it all. re: less ignorant doctors.......

Gosh, i am so sorry i have come across in this way. I did not mean to offend. I do not want to come across as arrogant and do not believe myself or make any claim to be any more important or knowledgeable than anyone else, infact, i often feel quite the opposite.

When i said: "We know from the other thread that it is a common occurrence, and that the less ignorant doctors and consultants advise that it is caused by trapped air trying to leave the body and swinging the arms upwards can help with this."

I was summing up, some what clumsily what i had gotten from this thread here: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f78/left-shoulder-pain-36357/ in the complications area. I was not stating it to be fact. Although, the amount of posts in the other thread (provided link) indicates that it is a common occurrence, hense why i said "We know from the other thread that it is a common occurrence". And, if you check the link (if you havnt seen this thread already) you will also see that in the thread, there are many stories of people whos doctors and/or consultants have not payed a blind bit of notice or acknowledgment to the shoulder pain, or did not give them any warning about the problem before the op, despite the fact that so many people seem to get it. These are what i would call the "ignorant" doctors, and it is upon this scale that i chose to qualify the "less ignorant" doctors, regarding the posts in the same thread where people spoke about doctors and consultants who acknowledged the problem and gave this advice about it. If you reread, i have not said that this is correct or that swinging the arms is a cure. It does seem like a bit of a lollipop solution in some of the severer descriptions people have given really, but, never the less, i simply stated that this is the advice that some people in this thread said that they were given by doctors, i did not support or advocate it.

More than this, the message your post has given to me is that there are different types of pain with different causes, some more severe than others. I am really sorry about this and for the discomfort you have experienced with yours, i really did not mean to offend you.

The purpose of my thread was to find out if it does go away and what works/helps with this.

As i say, your answer indicates that sometimes it does not, but i was also hoping for some stories of people who had it bad like you who it did leave eventually, to perhaps give some encouragement.

Love Dune.

[Dune 2]

The pain caused by the gas used during the surgery does go away within a few days as the gas dissipates. I've never heard the swing your arms suggestion, but movement helps with the pain and with dissipating the gas. I believe this to be a common even in abdominal laparoscopic procedures of many types, not just banding.

As Humming Bird said, this pain is just below the left clavical--not truly in the shoulder joint.

Thanks Cocoabean, i am thinking that i should have perhaps included a link to the thread i was referring to in my original post so that you guys would have known what i was referring to. I've stuck it in my reply to humming bird, have you been to it? Its a real long running thread, and interesting to see so many descriptions of a pain caused by virtually the same thing separating the temporary post op from the long term one of course.

I worry because 5 years ago i dislocated my left shoulder which stretched my brachial plexus ball of nerves and left me paralysed down my left side shoulder to fingertips for 6 months. So this is a vulnerable area for me and i worry that this might mean that i might be one of the ones that experiences it more severely. It would all be worth it if it goes away in the end though, hense why i started this thread

Thanks for your reply,

Dune

[Cocoabean 430]

I've not been to that thread, I don't have shoulder pain that I think is band related, so haven't felt the need to seek it out. All my joint pains are unrelated to my band. I can only comment on the immediate post-op gas related shoulder pain. It went away as it dissipated.

As you have read, there are many banded folks who have left sided pain in the shouler months after surgery that aren't associated with the gas used during the surgery.

I don't think the medical community understands all of the possible reactions of the body to the band or any procedure.

You may or may not have this pain. You may or may not get stuck often. You may or may not be able to eat bread. You may or may not be able to eat chicken, or steak, or shrimp.

I sometimes get pain above my port. It doesn't seem to have an pattern to it. I have no idea if it is scar tissue or gas pain, or my pouch grinding something I have eaten. I just know that sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't.

Is there a risk you will get this shoulder pain? Yes. Is there a chance that your doctors won't be able to explain it to you? Yes.

Ever since I was horribly sick last April, my blood pressure has been very low. It also drops unexpectedly--had done it a few times befor I got sick. Doctors cannot tell me why. They cannot tell me if the drops are band or weight loss related. My primary doctor thought that as I recovered from the illness that my daily pressure would return to normal, but it is still abnormally low.

I have no idea if my pressure is related to my band. I don't think my decision to be banded would have changed had I known this pressure problem was coming, either.

And your first post asked about who had shoulder pain and it went away. I had the post-op gas shoulder pain and it went away during my first week post-op. Thus my response.

Humming Bird's pain has not gone away.

[Dune 2]

I've not been to that thread, I don't have shoulder pain that I think is band related, so haven't felt the need to seek it out. All my joint pains are unrelated to my band. I can only comment on the immediate post-op gas related shoulder pain. It went away as it dissipated.

As you have read, there are many banded folks who have left sided pain in the shouler months after surgery that aren't associated with the gas used during the surgery.

I don't think the medical community understands all of the possible reactions of the body to the band or any procedure.

You may or may not have this pain. You may or may not get stuck often. You may or may not be able to eat bread. You may or may not be able to eat chicken, or steak, or shrimp.

I sometimes get pain above my port. It doesn't seem to have an pattern to it. I have no idea if it is scar tissue or gas pain, or my pouch grinding something I have eaten. I just know that sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn't.

Is there a risk you will get this shoulder pain? Yes. Is there a chance that your doctors won't be able to explain it to you? Yes.

Ever since I was horribly sick last April, my blood pressure has been very low. It also drops unexpectedly--had done it a few times befor I got sick. Doctors cannot tell me why. They cannot tell me if the drops are band or weight loss related. My primary doctor thought that as I recovered from the illness that my daily pressure would return to normal, but it is still abnormally low.

I have no idea if my pressure is related to my band. I don't think my decision to be banded would have changed had I known this pressure problem was coming, either.

And your first post asked about who had shoulder pain and it went away. I had the post-op gas shoulder pain and it went away during my first week post-op. Thus my response.

Humming Bird's pain has not gone away.

Thanks for this answer Cocoabean, its really helped me to put things into perspective and understand a little more of what i might be getting into.

D

[JanB23 23]

I have had 7 laparoscopic procedures over the last 25 years. Shoulder tip pain is common and the severity i believe is dependent on how much gas is left behind. Your abdomen is pumped full of gas to separate things so the surgeon can see what he/she is doing and when complete they remove as much of the gas as possible. The pain usually reduces over a few days as the gas is absorbed. The pain was the worst when i had my band and lasted longer - probably due to the Frenic (is that how it is spelt) nerve involvement. I have found gas pain varies from under the diaphragm to either shoulder tips.

[GipsyGirl 6]

I was banded recently - about a month or so ago and I am still having shoulder pain once in a while. It is not as bad as it used to be right after surgery.

[thistime 0]

I was banded in June 2010. Ive had shoulder pain on and off. Initially oatmeal would send me thru the roof. Now, I often get it when I'm hungry, or rather when I haven't eaten much and know I should be hungry. Weird.

[willowcat 93]

Our bodies are interesting beings--no two are exactly alike! I've been banded almost 18 months and I still get left-shoulder pain--but only when I've eaten too much. Actually, I've come to recognize that when I "hear" that little twinge of pain, that it is now TIME to stop eating (or there will be unwelcome consequences). I totally get where you're coming from. I, too, read and researched and asked as much as I could before I got banded. I think that that's a smart thing to do--better safe than sorry. Still, sometimes you have to just hold your breath, take the plunge and hope for the best. I do hope for the best for you. Good luck!

[elcee 3,341]

Thought I would copy and paste this from another forum I belong to.

and he found the lapband tubing was curled up and pressing on my diaphragm just as he suspected - it had caused numerous adhesions and he said he found a lot of scar tissue in the area also. They shortened the tubing so it won't cause any hassles anymore, and removed the adhesions. So now I'm recovering.. and the pain is gone!! I mean I do have some pain from the gas sitting under the diaphragm.. and the incisions and the area itself where they had the surgery.. but it is in No way anywhere as bad as what I've been suffering through this year.

Extremely happy.. thrilled even to be able to look forward to a pain free future, and get back on track with my weight loss again.