Shoulder Pain, months post op

[IM_LORI 0]

I am 3 months out from my banding. This weekend I started getting intense shoulder pain. (left side) This is the EXACT same shooting pain that goes up under my shoulder/neck as right after my surgery. I called my doctor and I was explaining it to him, and the minute he heard me say I am working out, he cut in, and told me it's muscle strain from lifting weights. I told him this is NOT! There is no pain when I am pushing, pulling, twisting, and I can not isolate the muscle by feeling it either. I have perfect range of motion. It hurts when I cough, laugh, sneeze, hiccup. So he tells me take Advil for three days, don't exercise, hot pack it, and call him in 3 days if it doesn't go away. I told him fine, that was a lame answer and I'd get back to him in 3 days. Sometimes I feel like i have to burp and that same intense pain comes back. What is this about? How do I get rid of it? THis is MISERABLE. HELP

Lori

[annieM 2]

There is a shoulder pain thread, do a search for it and it may answer some questions. I have the pain too, and my doc said I may have some adhesions on my diaphram (sp?) and he could do another surgery to take a look and clean it up. I decided to live with it.

[Laura_MD 5]

Lori,

I can't tell what is causing your pain but I can tell you that I experience the same thing from time to time and I can tell you what has caused mine and what has helped in the past.

For me, it was either something got stuck (I took a pill that was too large, or ate sushi rice, or the doughy part of bread), or it was just that I really needed to burp, usually the latter.

You see, I have made the discovery that for me, there are very few foods that actually get stuck or that I cannot eat. The problem usually occurs when I let myself get too hungry and my stomach gets filled with a lot of air. Then, when I eat, as the food tries to pass through the band the air is being displaced by the food, but it has nowhere to go because the food is blocking its escape at the band site. This is much like the air bubbles you get when you try to sink an empty glass or bottle into Water. Until that bubble breaks and the air escapes, the Water (or food in this case) cannot get in. When this happens, the pressure builds up in your esophagus and presses on your diaphragm and causes the pain in the shoulder. This will sometimes happen, even with my Protein shakes, so it is not that my food pieces are too large or the wrong consistency, it is just the mechanics of the band and our stomachs.

My solution has usually been to ask my husband to burp me. Yeah, I know, it sounds crazy, but I know now why babies cry if you don't burp them properly, it hurts! Sometimes I can make myself burp if it is not too bad, but I have never been very good at that, so I usually ask for his discreet help. I doesn't usually take too much, just a few well placed pats on the back and it dislodges the food or pops the air pocket and I burp like a sailor and go on eating as before.

I hope this helps you some, but do follow up with your doctor if it continues. I have read many stories of people waiting it out and making the problem much worse than it needed to be. And if you have a true blockage (say from a pill or something) that is nothing to mess around with.

Good luck!

Laura