Gastric Bypass 9 years on.

[mytime1234 0]

Hi everyone I had gastric bypass in Perth WA in 2005. My first few days after surgery were fine but I could only tolerate Water and little bit of orange juice.

I went home 1 week later but started to feel unwell with pain in left shoulder. 3 days after the pain started I was in agony so went back to hospital and was given injection for pain but it did nothing. I was sent for a scan and they found that I had abceses internally.

I had student doctors trying to insert a drain but it kept going the wrong way so then I had to have it done under a ct scan. After being readmitted to hospital I was there 1month when I demanded from the surgeon to open me up and see what was going on.I went back into theatre 3 days later and was told that yes they did have to operate to clean up the mess inside. I was on antibiotics but nothing was working. Nurses were telling me that the antibiotics that I was having were so strong that they should have fixed it.

I had to stay another week as I had a very high temp and another infection. When I finally went home I refused to go back to that hospital ever again.

I did have to go back to another hospital as I ended up with a bleeding ulcer.

It has been 9 years and I am sorry that I ever had gastric bypass surgery as there are to many ongoing problems associated with this surgery. I am 63 years old now and have not been able to work full time since this surgery as I keep getting the pain in my left shoulder especially when I eat and I have a continual pain in the left side where the bowel is. The left shoulder pain I think is a nerve that sits on the diaphragm and when you eat that nerve responds.

To anybody thinking of having this operation, think twice, think again, then think again, then find people who have had bad experiences.

[volkitteh 34]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience but that doesn't mean the surgery is wrong. Researching the doctor and hospital where it's being performed is key to avoiding problems and no surgery is exempt from possible things going wrong. Even if I never reach size 2 or some other dream weight, my diabetes is already gone and if I fail it will be my fault for falling off the rules. And I think in the past decade a lot better techniques have been developed. Sorry yours didn't work out but there are so many more success stories, and if your health is failing as many of ours is, it's worth the low risk of something going wrong.

[Chelly 364]

What happened to you is not common place with this surgery.

I feel for you that you had and are having difficulties.

This surgery has changed in the past decade and has been improved upon.

More people have had this surgery then any other WLS and have had great success.

I am one of them.

I hope that you can get beyond your anger about this and try to have a happier life.

[James Marusek 5,244]

I am sorry to hear that your surgery went bad. From discussions in my support group meetings, I have been told that the gastric bypass surgery today is very different from the surgery performed two years ago. Today most of the surgery is done laparoscopically (also called minimally invasive surgery (MIS)), where before it was done as major surgery. As a result many of the problems that occurred years ago do not occur today. I had my surgery a year ago and saw none of the problems that you report. The surgery was even less involved than the laparoscopic hernia operation I had a decade ago. I did not take any pain medicine after the operation and none since.

[bellalulu 87]

Thank you everyone for clearing up the story and avoiding some people who need this life saving surgery from being scared or turned away because of the bad stories. While I am sorry for the people who have had terrible side affects, it does not mean everyone will have a bad experience. It is the horror stories of surgery gone bad that deter people from moving forward with possibly saving their own lives. If it were not for those horror stores I read on this site, I would have done this years ago when I wanted and was in a much healthier place in my.life. It only got worse for me. So I say, do your research, listen to your heart and your doctors recommendations and no one else, not even family. Good luck.to all.

[fleabag1975 20]

Hi everyone I had gastric bypass in Perth WA in 2005. My first few days after surgery were fine but I could only tolerate Water and little bit of orange juice.

I went home 1 week later but started to feel unwell with pain in left shoulder. 3 days after the pain started I was in agony so went back to hospital and was given injection for pain but it did nothing. I was sent for a scan and they found that I had abceses internally.

I had student doctors trying to insert a drain but it kept going the wrong way so then I had to have it done under a ct scan. After being readmitted to hospital I was there 1month when I demanded from the surgeon to open me up and see what was going on.I went back into theatre 3 days later and was told that yes they did have to operate to clean up the mess inside. I was on antibiotics but nothing was working. Nurses were telling me that the antibiotics that I was having were so strong that they should have fixed it.

I had to stay another week as I had a very high temp and another infection. When I finally went home I refused to go back to that hospital ever again.

I did have to go back to another hospital as I ended up with a bleeding ulcer.

It has been 9 years and I am sorry that I ever had gastric bypass surgery as there are to many ongoing problems associated with this surgery. I am 63 years old now and have not been able to work full time since this surgery as I keep getting the pain in my left shoulder especially when I eat and I have a continual pain in the left side where the bowel is. The left shoulder pain I think is a nerve that sits on the diaphragm and when you eat that nerve responds.

To anybody thinking of having this operation, think twice, think again, then think again, then find people who have had bad experiences.

medical profession and surgery procecdures are way more advanced now. I am 4 1/2 wks post op and also in Perth, I wouldnt turn back at all. I have had the best treatment and feel the best i have in years. No regrets here.

Perhaps you may have been better researching surgeons , sucess rates with their patients and stuff first before going ahead. Shame you had this expereince, even so i wouldnt have ever let trainee staff touch me after going through that....

best of luck...perhaps get relooked at and you may find they can better your health and you will be more happier with it. there is ALWAYS a fix

[tblabella 6]

I am sorry to hear of your troubles with the surgery. I had the gastric bypass on August 1st, 2013. I have had few problems. When I first had the surgery and was on all liquid it was fine. When I started trying to eat is when I had problems. I thought this was normal. Maybe I wasn't chewing my food enough etc., but when I finally told my Dr. they set me up to have my esophagus stretched. I actually had to have it stretched twice. Since I have been a lot better. I get nauseated sometimes, but not anything to stop me from doing anything I want to. I haven't felt this good in years. I am down 88 pounds.