Horrible Pain!

[Nancy1955 31]

Several people in my support group have said they have experienced level 10 pain between 2 and 5 weeks after surgery. One friend remarked it was so painful that her husband had to help her in the bathroom and she had to take lots of pain medication!

Others remarked that it had happened to them as well. They were told it was NORMAL! I am at the beginning of my 3rd week and dread this pain that might happen to me....

Have you experienced it? They say it is on the left side where most of the surgery took place.

[Ashlegal 525]

I have a low tolerance for pain and even without surgery spend most my days at a 4-5 on the pain scale. My pain never grew to a ten on the pain scale, ever. I know everyone feels pain differently but I have not met anyone who had WLS to ever complain about their pain being at a ten. A ten on the pain scale is comparable to a bone break and protruding through skin.

In fact the pain GETS BETTER as the days pass, not worse. What they have experienced was the healing of their incisions and if you are not easy with it, it can feel like something is ripping on the inside. But, yes the worse pain to be expected is on the left side where most of the surgery took place and but like I said, I find it odd that it would be pain they didn't feel UNTIL 2-3 weeks out.

[SassyTassy 34]

Hi Nancy1955,

I had surgery on 8/26 and about 7 weeks after surgery, I had pain that was unbearable. (I have a high pain tolerance and was almost doubled over in pain). After being told it was just healing, a stomach bug, etc., I asked for a scope to be done. Come to find out, I had developed a kink in the intestine and an ulcer developed because of the kink. It was an easy fix. With the scope, it was therapeutic and diagnostic at the same time. The scope showed that there was in fact a kink when the CT SCAN showed nothing. The scope was a 10 min procedure and straightened out the kink. I feel great and no more pain.

I have done a lot of research and a kink is very common.

If you follow the diet and instructions of the doctor, you should be fine. As for the pain from the surgery itself. Just take it easy. Be sure to get up and walk as much as possible. It not only helps with digestion but also gets the blood moving and helps the body heal faster.

Best of luck!

[kimvox66 91]

It happened to me. 10 days post-op I was doing great and it hit me like a ton of bricks. An abdominal binder helped and O was getting better, then it came back even worse. This was almost 4 weeks post-op. It got so bad, I could barely breathe and taking a shower was out of the question because I couldn't lift my left arm to do anything, it had to stay holding my side. The finally gave me Flexoril (muscle relaxer) to take along with the hydrocodone. Well, the long and the short of it is, I am 7 weeks post-op and haven't had any pain for about 3 weeks. It just vanished. Surgeon said it was pretty normal, some of us have a muscle structure that heals differently, especially if we amp up the activity right after surgery. While it was happening though, I scoured this site to see if anyone had a similar experience and couldn't find anyone that did. If it does happen to you, make sure you get in touch with your surgical center and tell them you need extra pain management help!

[Finding myself again 20]

Oh my goodness, YES!!! I am 2 weeks post op and have always struggled on that left side Tried to get off the pain med as I was walking every day, not a lot but a little. Eventually decided I still needed pain med. a day before my first follow up, a new pain developed where it hurt to breathe and sit. Also to laugh. Bought a binder for tummy and this helped. My doc appointment was rough. I cried the whole way through. I had kind of an emotional breakdown of sorts. Anyhow, they increased pain med strength and I now have a better hold on it. Wear binder all of the time pretty much. Back to walking. I am so glad this topic was posted because I for sure thought there was something really wrong w me????????.