Shoulder Pain After Hernia Repair

[Lisa653 1]

I had Umbilical hernia and diastasis recti surgery on 7/23/18. I have a large what I call a banana shape on my stomach and my hernia area is very painful. Now let’s get to my shoulder. My right shoulder hurts so bad when I sit and get up I get pains that go up my shoulder and up both sides of my neck to my head and make me dizzy. What the heck is that. I’m living on advil.

[Frustr8 7,886]

Well back when we were embryos, yeah only a few intrauterine weeks old the nerves that were going to be for the diaphragm lived up in the future neck and shoulder area. As we developed and the future diaphragm descended the sensory nerves still thought they were up above still. This is why classic gall bladder pain is felt in the right shoulder one not in the right subcostal(under the ribs) area, although when my own was so swollen it pressed on my liver and the neighbors and I did have subcostal pain. So now as BARI- patients we feel the pressure and,pain from the blasted CO2 gas our surgeons love blow up our abdomen to epic sizes with in the shoulders instead. Not blaming them too heavily, if I were groping around someone's abdomen with tools, knowing a misstep,could be fatal, I dang well would want to see all I could. I,may joke I have all the tools, have watched enough bari-surgeries on You Tube to be able to,perform my own, but you notice I AM BOOKED with A bonofide Surgeon who doggone well all the proper landmarks , knows enough about the proceedings to have taught many young surgeons, and when all is said and done this time I am NOT THE LITTLE ENGINE WHO COULD , just give me my general, put me in a slumber and do it for ME. In the words of the Late Elvis, Thank You Very Much!

[Megan_Rose 4]

Reading this has made me feel so much better. I had surgery nearly 3 weeks ago with a small hernia and the left shoulder pain was awful. It is also my getting full warning. It also acts up if I push to hard exercising. I have had a good last few days of it not hurting, so hopefully it's done. So weird this a thing.

[It's about Me 142]

I am glad I found this blog because I started having this pain in my shoulder then it would move up to my neck. I looked up heart attack symptoms because you know I was self diagnosing (don't do this by the way) and of course those are the symptoms of a heart attack too, I was stressing out and thought I was making it worse. Anyway glad to hear it is NOT that and just something that will go away.

[Humming Bird 275]

Several people have commented recently, so I thought I would pop on and

post. I am now over 9 years post-op (Lap-band). The shoulder pain was bad. I found that the cheap Walmart brand pain Patches helped the best. The shoulder pain did go away for me, but every once in awhile I get a tiny shoulder twinge as a reminder if I have overeaten a bit. It is nothing like in the beginning...just a reminder twinge.

[Sheila T 0]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one going through this and I'm also so sorry ya'll had to go through it. I just had my surgery 6 days ago,came home after 3 days in the hospital and the doctor only gave me 2 days of pain medicine and said I shouldn't need more than that 😭 I'm in so much pain though on my left shoulder and up my left side of my neck when I breathe or eat or move. They had me on a heart monitor, in the hospital and said everything is fine with my heart. They act like I don't need more pain medicines but I have a high pain tolerance and I'm trying not to cry ya'll! I might go see my primary care provider and see what he can do for me because this is so bad. I hate to see that it can last months or even years later but, at least I know I am not the only one who has had this type of pain. Now I know I'm not crazy 😭❤️

[Nana718 0]

Hi, I just got my Hiatal Hernia repair Wednesday, I'm barely 2 days post opt. My left shoulder is what hurts the worst. Was told to try gas x. Hopefully that helps. My breathing has gotten better, but still hurts.

[ShoppGirl 5,024]

23 hours ago, Nana718 said:

Hi, I just got my Hiatal Hernia repair Wednesday, I'm barely 2 days post opt. My left shoulder is what hurts the worst. Was told to try gas x. Hopefully that helps. My breathing has gotten better, but still hurts.

Sometime shoulder pain can be caused from the air that gets trapped from any surgery. I would probably run it by your surgeon though. Especially if you have already passed gas a few times and didn’t feel any relief. I was in the hospital after my bariatric revision surgery for 5 days because I couldn’t pass gas and the pain was so bad I couldn’t take it without the meds they weren’t going to send me home with so I stayed. Post sleeve I had no pain at all. I asked them to switch me to Tylenol the first time they brought the pain meds and I went home early the next day. The difference was all because of trapped air. I think it varies from person to person how much and where it manages to get stuck too. When I finally did pass gas I knew that I needed to keep it up because I instantly felt some relief. It took like 5 or 6 times and then I finally felt soooooo much better. I went home and took half a pain pill while my hubby went out for Tylenol and I didn’t take another. That gas is no fun.

[Karlid1 0]

On 1/22/25 I had surgery initially to bring my remnant stomach down from my chest and they said while they were in there, they'd repair a hernia.. It was done robotically, so I anticipated the dreaded CO2 shoulder pain. I was up & walking, doing what they recommended & was discharged the next day.. After about 48 hours, it had subsided but had occasional twinges.. Unfortunately, I wasn't informed that I would need to be on straight liquids, but I had a Roux-en-y in 2008..so piece of cake. What wasn't so simple was taking my various pills & having one get stuck 3 days post-op. I had no choice but to throw it up. Apparently that caused swelling, so I ended up in the ED... After about 10 hours, the swelling reduced & I was able to swallow again. After a few days of taking bare necessities, I flew home to CO. I will be doing my 2 week surgical follow-up via tele-health. However, I am now 10 days post op & I am having intermittent what I assumed was CO2 shoulder pain. It is excruciating and extends up my neck & radiates into my ear. I couldn't figure out why I was suddenly having shoulder pain again as the CO2 should be out of my system by now. After reading about everyone else's experiences, at least I know I'm not crazy but hope that the stress and swelling after the pill incident didn't mess things up. Needless to say, I will be calling my surgeon first thing in the morning.

BTW.. Even though I had some complications after my bariatric surgery in 08..I would do it ALL over again. No regrets.. I was 333 pounds the day off my surgery and 169 today.. And here's something only a bariatric patient will appreciate.. At 5'8", I was no longer considered OBESE, just overweight.. That is until osteoporosis hit and I am now 5'3, still 169 but back to being obese.. It sucks cuz I have maintained my weight between 167-169 for over 15 years but I can't control the fact that I shrunk 5 inches in the past 6 years.. The joy of getting older 😁 Thanks to everyone for sharing and saving my sanity..