Co2 gas pain

KatieRichardson · March 5, 2011

How long did you Co2 gas pain last? I had my husband take me to the ER yesterday when I went from find to gasping for air in a matter for 30 minutes....I figured the worst because I was almost five days out from surgery and didnt think it could still be gas bubbles. Even the doctor in the ER was shocked when my CT scan showed a couple of very large bubbles trapped behind my diaphram and not a internal bleed or a blood clot in my lungs. Now one thought it could still be bubbles and the on set so so fast....Of course my surgeon couldnt be contacted for whatever reason so there was no explainion from her or her staff. Im totally fine expect for the fact that 12 hours later Im still breathing only half way and cant walk very fast because the pain of breath is HORRIBLE!

So I had sugery on Monday morning 7am, have been fine..nothing wrong getting stronger everyday. And then at about 4pm on Friday I went from fine to gasping in about 15 minutes. Werid or not that uncommon???

CheckYes · March 5, 2011

Holy Toledo! I've never heard of the gas causing such severe breathing trouble. That must have been terrifying.

Puttingmyselffirst · March 6, 2011

I am so sorry for your scare. I too would like to know how long this pain lasts because I thought I would be feeling much better by now (surgery Monday feb 28), and it is kind of depressing that I'm not . I get this feeling that I have to hiccup or burp, but there is a giant air bubble between my chest and back. It's very painful.

Any insight would be great . I just want to be recovered all ready!!!

Delmann · March 6, 2011

I am 12 days post suegery and I have found that if I take to big of a drink and not sip I will get this terrible gas pain in my left shoulder. It hurts so bad that you can hardly move your arm. I figured that I should take a walk. A short 15 walk took the pain away to my relief.

I am learning to slow down when I drink because I do not want to feel that kind of shoulder pain again.

mommieburger · March 6, 2011

I had a similar experience and my pain lasted for 15 minutes before I managed to free the trapped air. This story is a little distasteful: About 5 weeks after the surgery I ate a larger than recommended piece of meat. It took a few minutes, but the radiating pain came and I was sure I got it stuck in my band. I tried pounding on my chest, but it hurt badly and I was finding it hard to breathe. Finally, I stuck my fingers down my throat to try to vomit and dislodge it. I wasn't able to vomit, BUT I released the trapped air and got immediate relief. I don't recommend this method, but before you go to the emergency room you may want to consider other ways of releasing that air that are more in line with your body. Your doctor should give you some better ideas.

heather14 · March 6, 2011

i had this too! i went back to my doctor because i was very worried about how much it hurt to breathe (see post "worrisome chest pain"). i couldn't get a real breath and was very scared. it took at least a week for me to feel that i could get a deep breath without pain. and now that i'm two weeks post-op it is gone. it still hurts if i get hiccups or need to burp, but i think that's my diaphragm healing from the hernia repair.

i also think some people are confused about the difference between post-surgical co2 and intestinal gas, as i was from reading people's posts. after surgery i had tremendous pain in my neck, shoulders and chest and i was sitting around trying to fart because of what i'd read. walking around helps the pain because it gets blood circulating, not because it makes you "pass gas."

i think most of my pain was due to the hiatal hernia repair which i didn't even know occurred until i called my doctor in a panic. needless to say, i wish someone told me about the potential for this pain before surgery. the shoulder pain everyone talks about was like a paper cut compared to what i felt was happening in my chest.

so the good news is... hang in there for a few more days and it should diminish. mine was the worst in the morning. was this the case for you?

KatieRichardson · March 6, 2011

I had a similar experience and my pain lasted for 15 minutes before I managed to free the trapped air. This story is a little distasteful: About 5 weeks after the surgery I ate a larger than recommended piece of meat. It took a few minutes, but the radiating pain came and I was sure I got it stuck in my band. I tried pounding on my chest, but it hurt badly and I was finding it hard to breathe. Finally, I stuck my fingers down my throat to try to vomit and dislodge it. I wasn't able to vomit, BUT I released the trapped air and got immediate relief. I don't recommend this method, but before you go to the emergency room you may want to consider other ways of releasing that air that are more in line with your body. Your doctor should give you some better ideas.

I wish mine was as "simple" as watching what I eat. I however have gas that is not trapped in my stomach, or can be burped(or farted) out. The Co2 the used during surgery has moved from my belly area to be trapped behind my diaphram. The doctor has no explainion for it and I will have to wait for my doctor to get in the office on Monday. I guess they dont run an emergency line at my surgeons office. The air will absorb into my blood over time and come out as I normally exchange oxygen in my lungs. Bad part is....lord knows how long that will take considering where it is trapped.

KatieRichardson · March 6, 2011

i had this too! i went back to my doctor because i was very worried about how much it hurt to breathe (see post "worrisome chest pain"). i couldn't get a real breath and was very scared. it took at least a week for me to feel that i could get a deep breath without pain. and now that i'm two weeks post-op it is gone. it still hurts if i get hiccups or need to burp, but i think that's my diaphragm healing from the hernia repair.

i also think some people are confused about the difference between post-surgical co2 and intestinal gas, as i was from reading people's posts. after surgery i had tremendous pain in my neck, shoulders and chest and i was sitting around trying to fart because of what i'd read. walking around helps the pain because it gets blood circulating, not because it makes you "pass gas."

i think most of my pain was due to the hiatal hernia repair which i didn't even know occurred until i called my doctor in a panic. needless to say, i wish someone told me about the potential for this pain before surgery. the shoulder pain everyone talks about was like a paper cut compared to what i felt was happening in my chest.

so the good news is... hang in there for a few more days and it should diminish. mine was the worst in the morning. was this the case for you?

OH MY GOSH! YES! This is it. And I too had a hiatal hernia repair. I also think some people dont understand there is a difference in the co2 used durning surgery and normal "fart" ass. I work in the medical field myself, Emergency Med. to be more specific so when I started getting the toe curling pain and the on set was with in 30 minutes I thought for sure I had a bleed. Its very scary when you truely understand some of the words that come out of the mouth of TWO emergency room doctors standing over you. I was trying to keep myself calm and explaining to my husband what was going to happen when we go to the hosptial. I giggle to myself remember what my husband face looked like when we got there. I got one sentence out before the guy in the ER said "Hold on once sec" I said to him, I had surgery on Monday and about 30.....(breath)...... minutes ago I started.....Then he was gone and a nurse came out to get me. I didnt even sit down. I laugh now, but its very scary nowing that I was lucky. Most of the time someone presenting the sypmtoms I had are normally have something much more worse going on.