Spastic Diaphram

[guzel 11]

I was sleeved on 12/14 and over all my recovery has been great. One issue I've been struggling with is what feels like a spastic diaphram. It feels like I'm getting a charlie horse right across my chest and sometimes I can feel it go to my back. The Dr ordered a muscle relaxant for me to take and it has helped some, but they're still quite frequent. Has anyone else experienced this and if so how long did it last?

[5DogMa 62]

Yes, me too! My surgery was Dec 7th. It feels like my esophagus/stomach/diaphram are having spasms. My left back hurts and the pain goes from the front left where the esophagus goes thru the diaphram and around to the back. I found out the hard way that most of my problem is acid reflux! Now that I'm getting that under control it's getting better, but its still there. I wake up with the pain from these spasms. Gee, it's 3:30 am and I'm up. Also, standing or laying down is better than sitting. Sitting seems to crimp something and it's hard to drink sitting; when I stand everything goes down better. I also still have a lot of burping and hiccups every time I drink.

Because of the surgery I could not take my regular Nexium and I couldn't drink enough of the liquid anti-acid to control my severe acid reflux problem. Plus this acid caused additional swelling that kept me from drinking enough to stay hydrated. I spent 2 nights back in the hospital on IV fluids and they pushed a PPI. I am now opening the Nexium cap and sprinkling the powder on applesauce or pudding because I need a PPI not just something that treats the acid that's there. I need to stop it from being there in the first place.

So do you have acid reflux or are you treating it?

[Lissa 2,631]

I'm glad you're both taking Acid Reducers. Are you also watching the temp of what you are drinking? I couldn't stand really cold or really Hot Drinks when I was early post-op. Try drinking things at the lukewarm to slightly warm temp and see if it helps with the spasms.

[guzel 11]

5Dogma your symptoms sound exactly like mine. It's not how i imagined reflux would feel. I get a spasm everytime I swallow. Take tiny sip, wait for spasm, rest, sip.... I also get them when I move, breath, cough.

Also as Lissa says cold is much, much worse. I try to drink lukewarm only. I started a PPI this AM so hopefully this phase will pass soon!

[5DogMa 62]

I agree with Lissa that luke warm or room temp is better than cold. Everyone is different. Warm chicken broth is like heaven!

For me getting the acid under control is helping the spasms but probably as much as that time and healing from the trama of this surgery is making things a little better everyday. Now if I can just get in enough calories to stop the dizzy spells and overall weakness from not enough calories for so long I'll be even happier. I'd like to get in at least 500 calories today.