Left Shoulder Pain After Lap Band Surgery

[elle 1]

Relief is on the way for left shoulder pain.

I originally had left shoulder pain, after surgury from the anesthesia.

I believe it is air trying to escape.

Then that went away and I got left shoulder pain a month later that

was quite painful and I was told by my doctor that it is from a nerve near the diaphram and it just feels like it is in the shoulder area. I would get it after eating something doughy or too quickly.

Anyway, I learned to slow up and after more time the shoulder pain has gone away. I assume that I lost weight and whatever was pressing on the nerve has been relieved.

[sherry21 0]

My surgeon told me that it is from the band rubbing on your diaphragm. The pain radiates to the shoulder. I had it right after surgery for awhile... then every now and then. I too had shoulder surgery. This one doesn't stay around forever.

[jillrenee15 0]

I'm one week out and I have the pain too. It is an ache up under my left collar bone. Sometimes it is worse than others. I don't think its gas. That whole left side still kind of hurts, especially when I breathe deeply. Have learned to breathe shallow all the time. Hate to think what it will feel like when I start to do some activity. Hopefully it won't be forever...

[trixiebelle08 0]

Hi all, I am in Australia and have been banded for 3 months. I still have ongoing shoulder tip pain. Surgeon has no answers, said he's never seen anything like it?? Cat scan revealed tubing is definitely rubbing against diaphragm. Is there nothing they can do?! I am sick of living on Endone (i think its called vicodin in the States) and having to restrict my lifestyle because of pain. Despite this problem I LOVE my band and still think its the best thing I have ever done. Can anyone shed some insight into my problem?

[treat 0]

I also have l shoulder pain all the time, I have been given muscle relaxers and they help somewhat but still having pain. Also my port is flipped and I am awaiting a correction for that

[JoanieP 2]

My shoulder pain comes when I am at my best eating what I should and only 3 meals. I get very tired of it, too. It is the only bad thing I have experienced since being banded. Nothing seems to work except eating something...I suspect it is gas in my stomach from being empty.

[DaGramma 0]

The worst pain after my June 18 Lapbanding was the shoulder pain, at the top of my left shoulder and radiating to the left side of my neck. It was horrible for the first 2 weeks and continued for over a month. It would come and go after that and I was told it was due to the gas they insert to inflate your organs during surgery to give the surgeon more room to work. After nearly 4 months, it is mostly gone but I have noticed a correlation to the pain returning and being constipated. Milk of Magnesia makes the pain in the shoulder go away!

Janet

[trixiebelle08 0]

The worst pain after my June 18 Lapbanding was the shoulder pain, at the top of my left shoulder and radiating to the left side of my neck. It was horrible for the first 2 weeks and continued for over a month. It would come and go after that and I was told it was due to the gas they insert to inflate your organs during surgery to give the surgeon more room to work. After nearly 4 months, it is mostly gone but I have noticed a correlation to the pain returning and being constipated. Milk of Magnesia makes the pain in the shoulder go away!

Janet

Hmm, thats interesting cos I was wondering that myself about Constipation being a factor in this left shoulder pain nightmare! I noticed when I get the pain spasms I also tend to burp or fart a lot. I am having surgery this Thurs to relocate the tubing and see if that makes a difference, I hope so because I cant live like this forever, its awful. Despite my bad news I have still lost 10kg now and am so happy about that :crying:

[Banded2gether 0]

Hello everyone. I was banded on June 2, 2008. I have had neck and left shoulder pain every single day ever since the surgery. I want to start off letting you all know that I did have pain in my neck before the surgery, about a year ago on and off, but this pain that I've have since June is very different. It is unrelieved by any measure except strong painkillers.

I have talked to all my doctors about this and none of them seem to be able to explain this. The pain is a lot more painful a couple hours after I get a fill and usually keeps me up all night and all day. I've had an MRI, x-rays, fluroscopy (to check for band slippage and to make sure food could go through the pouch), trigger point injections, variety of muscle relaxers and pain pills, but still after 5 months, I am in pain every single day of my life. I am very frustrated about this and feel horrible. I absolutely do not want to have to get this band taken out, but if it comes to that, I am going to have to do it, last resort only.

The pain gets worse after eating, going for a long time between meals and being so hungry my stomach growls, after a fill, sitting certain ways, driving seems to make it worse, and breathing a lot like during exercise affects it. This pain is so weird! I've also gotten a variety of people to massage the area and it helps a little bit when they press on the two most painful spots. I can actually point to the spots that hurt. Doesn't seem to radiate at all. I am continuing to work with my doctors to figure this whole mess out and will keep anyone posted if they would like me to. This is definately not gas, but, when I do get gas, the pain is worse. I feel slight pressure at the top of my stomach from it sometimes too.

At my next fill appointment at the end of this month, I am going to see what else my surgeon has to say and possibly ask to get all the Fluid removed for a day or two to see if that helps. When I approached him about it, he said he had never heard of this before. My family doctor is the one who said the band could be causing this pain, I hadn't ever thought it could be the band, but I thought about it and did some journaling on the subject and found so many correlations that is was crisp clear that this is the band causing this! My family doc and I aggreed that we are going to wait a couple more months with some pain pills to see if anything changes before pursuing a neurologist. I feel like this isn't muscular pain, it feels like nerve pain.

Feel free to contact me if anyone needs some support with this pain. It's horrible. I had this lap band put in to help me with pain that I was having from being so heavy, not to cause pain and I am getting upset about it. I hate to blame the band, it's the only thing that has helped me lose this weight and keep it off!

~Megan

48 pounds lighter

[NerdyGirl 0]

Please keep us all posted with what you find out. I have been having minor pain the past several weeks that was coming and going. The pain was consistent with the gas pain I felt after the surgery. However, this is now completely unrelated to the gas. I told my doctor about it yesterday and he seemed surprised, but since I said it came and went, he wasn't very alarmed. I had a fill yesterday and today I experienced the absolute worse pain in the world. It started out as the minor pain that I had before, but continued to worsen to the point where I started to have chest pains. I took 600 mg of ibuprophen and it didn't do anything. I was hungry but in so much pain I barely wanted to eat. I figured I better try something soft and got chicken salad. As I continued to eat, the pain began to subside. Then this evening as I started to get hungry again, the pain came back. Again, after eating, I feel much better. This is ONE heck of a way of my body telling me that it is hungry! I really hope that it doesn't persist. The minor pain the past several weeks have been annoying, but I think I can live with that. What I experienced today is definitely not tolerable long term. I was going to call my doctor today, but after checking here and seeing this seems to be something much more common than I thought, I think I will still continue to identify patterns with the pain. I'm hoping the increase pain was related to the fill and home that it decreases after the next several days. Please continue to post your updates. Thank you!

[lucyavery 0]

Oh my gosh! The left shoulde pain was awful. It was the only thing that bothered me about the surgery. It lasted for about 2 months and I have been fine for the last 4 months. The nurse told me it was from where they blowed my diagphram up with air during the procedure. I hated it!!

But I would do it all over again. I love my lap band and do not regret it at all.

[sharon elaine 0]

hi! i was banded on october 6, 2008. immediately out of surgery , i was in terrible pain in my left shoulder. i still have alot of pain, even though my surgeon's assistant doesn't explain it and i have even been to a chiropractor with no relief. My primary doctor doesn't know what to think. now i need a fill but am afraid the pain will increase. it just got bearable recently. did anyone get relief from this type of pain? what about after a fill? did it get worse?:cursing:

[Bander 0]

Left shoulder pain... Almost every medical person will say something about the way you eat, or being too hungry, or some irritation. But when youve been through all of that and still having that pain and getting worse years later, it may not be those reasons. Ive had my band since 2006. I had the classic L.shoulder pain. It was all blown off due to everyones valid possibilities. Well at first it was the gas used in surgery, then it was overeating, then it was because I had one diet soda... But 2 yrs later whe I was on meds for the pain someone finally thought maybe we should run some tests. Finally, the band is on a nerve and Im on Neurontin. I have lived all this time in severe pain and just now got someone to listen. Now the band is open, Ive gained much weight back, and I have to decide if Im going to live with it or have another surgery to fix it, all of course out of my little pocket. So for now I can get my health ins to pay for the Neurontin and thats the path Im choosing at this time.

Please dont suffer. It is not supposed to hurt. If one MD doesnt have any answers, go to someone else.

Also to the person who went to their band doc with questions and got directed to their primary care. Your band surgen got paid WELL to put that sucker in, you should at least demand they care for you. They are just passing the buck. The band has been out for a while but that doesnt mean every primary care doc knows how to help you.

I hope this info helps you.

[Bander 0]

Please read what I posted after your question and see if that seems similar.

Best wishes!

[mroseharvey 0]

I just has my surgery yesterday and found out I had a hiatal hernia also that he had to repair before he put in the band. I am foing ok alittle shoulder pain. I was just wondering does the hernia affect the band at all and our weight loss.