Post surgery pains - not sure if it is normal

[realme 0]

Hello there,

I need help in understanding my situation better:

I was banded 5 days back and I am facing following :

1. Sever pain on left side (I believe where the port is), so bad that my husband has to help me in lying down or getting up from bed. If I try myself it is so painful that I literally scream with pain. However I can walk and sit for a while with minimal pain.

2. My incisions ( four - 1" and one 2.75"- 3") are so badly swollen that the whole area around it hurts if I touch it.

3. If I try to walk/ work a bit there is a sudden pain that starts from my tummy goes to my neck/shoulder till my head.

4. Cannot talk for long - my chest starts paining.

5. I also feel lot of pressure on my heart. It would pain for few seconds and then after some time comes back.

I have gone through CT scan and other tests. According to my doc the surgery went well since my liver and other things were in perfect shape. My reports seems normal too but he also feels that the pain is abnormal. Not sure what would happen next. We are waiting till monday to see if there any improvements.

I understand there are post ops pains and hope that my situation improves with time without any drastic steps. My question is that - is it normal to have such severe pains? Did any of you had similar experiences.

Edited June 7, 2008 by realme

[Amanda1018 0]

Hello RealMe:

I am 3 days post op and I am not having pain as severe as you are describing. Are you getting adequate pain medication? Generally they prescribe a liquid version of Percoset for pain which is quite effective. I am concerned about the swelling you describe around your incision sites. That doesn't sound normal. If they are red and swollen there is the possibility of infection.

I can tell you that the pain radiating to your neck is quite normal. This is what is called referred pain, and it is related to the surgical proceedure and also to the gas that they have to place in the abdominal cavity in order to create a space to do the surgery in. Much of this gas remains after surgery and causes a great deal of crampy pain and this referred pain to the shoulder and neck.

Given the symptoms you are having, I would recommend calling your doctor. When did you have the CT done? Was it immediately post op, or since you have been home?

Quick healing to you,

Amanda

[JenniPenni 0]

Call your doctor. It is normal to have severe pain in the port area, but you should be able to breath ok.

[YoungNy 1]

I am no authority to say what is normal or not, but I will tell you that I have had most of what you described. The only thing that concerns me is the breathing. You shouldn't have any problems with breathing. I do occasionally take a deep breath and my chest hurts, then I start coughing and I feel like I just ran up stairs, but then I feel better. I'd say call your doctor and ask him.

[AZTaz 0]

I have also had severe pain around the port area. It still hurts to move after 8 days, but is slowly getting better. I did find that it helped to wrap a back support band around my middle. This appeared to support the stomach mussels better and offered some relief The down side is it does not allow for the incisions to breath, so I have to limit the use.

The amount of pain surprised me as I read so many stories about others having no problems. I guess everyone's experience is different.

Hope you feel better soon.

[okie_diva 0]

The surgical team told me that some people need to sleep in a recliner or chair until the swelling goes down. This is to avoid pain & the use of your stomach muscles.

Do you use a heating pad? This helped me tremendously!

[teckla 0]

:confused:I did not have any of the pain any of you speak of, My port did feel like a bee bite for a few days, Of couse the insisions hurt some but not bad, just like a cut on the finger. I did not even need pain meds after the first time they gave it to me in the hospital. Bought a bottle for home and still have not used it since November 2007. Only trouble I had was I could eat or drink nothing for 4 weeks. That was really rough, considering I was throwing up so much I do not know where the moisture in my body was coming from. God took care of me there, Lost 40 pounds the first month. Not nearly enough since.

[losing it in ne 0]

The heating pad is a great help. Are you taking your pain meds rountinely through the day? Sometimes it works better if you just take them before the pain gets out of control. I'm a pretty tuff old bird and have had some really major surgeries but I had quite a lot of pain in my port area. It sounds like you have talked to your doc already but I'd say if you don't feel considerably better by Monday you need to insist he do some test or go to someone else. Surgeons tend to be very egotistical about their work. Any tests you had before surgery and the fact that things went well doesn't mean there isn't a problem now. If you really feel you are having heart pain or really having trouble breathing you may need to just go to an ER. You need to be your own health advocate. Insist that they listen to you and make sure you are ok. Lots of things can happen after surgery. I hope you get to feeling better but do what you need to do for you.

[teckla 0]

I should of posted this in the first post I did. I had extreme breathing trouble with the first surgery I had, Gallbladder which was just 3 months before the lap band. They never did figure out what caused it. I could not even keep a oxygen level up high enough. The doctor gave me a anit boitic for maybe lung infection with in weeks I was better. The pain you say you feel could be the air. When I was younger I had my fallopion tubes blew out. You feel much pain like your describing there in your post. Some doctors are more careless than others about getting the gas out of your cavity after surgery.

Teckla

[realme 0]

Thanks for your sharing your thoughts and experiences and also for your sincere wishes and concerns.

I feel better in terms of energy levels and would like to feel that I am improving. I still have the pains. Any change in emotions - if I cry or laugh or even speak continuously – it would pain my chest and the left side where the port is. Still having problems in getting up and settling down on bed/ chair, but I am completely mobile. I noticed that the shoulder pain that I also thought might be gas related pain, happens when I lift anything with my left arm or after little extra activity and omg - it is so painful. I also sometimes feel pressure on my heart - a really bad feeling. I hope that all this is the referred pain that Amanda explained above.

I want to be positive and want to believe that everything would be okay with time and these are normal after ops nuisances. Because if this continues my Dr. indicated last week that they might have to go back, open me and look for the problem. I am SO very scared of this.

According to my Dr., CT scan report seems okay. Some other tests indicates - no infections. But he did mention that my incision looks “interesting” and may be there is some allergic reaction. My tests were to find out white blood counts etc. I am meeting him tomorrow to discuss rest of the reports.

Edited June 8, 2008 by realme

[Insky67 2]

I can completely relate! My surgery was on the 4th of June and it has been the worse pain of my life! :driving: Having a baby was a cake walk compared to this.

Are you doing any better today? My recovery has been slooooooow, getting on the computer today was a real task...hang in there.:incazzato:

[BeckyinTexas 3]

I had my surgery 3 years ago and I remember the gas pains! The second day after my surgery, the pain was horrible. I chewed some Gas-X and it helped immediately. The pain was in my shoulder area and neck. I never had much pain in the surgery site other than about a week after my surgery, I must have rolled over on my stomach while I was asleep. That's how I've always slept flat on my stomach. Well, it woke me up and scared me to death thinking I probably has screwed something up. The pain was around my port site. I stayed up the rest of the night worrying I had messed up the whole procedure. I called my doctor the first thing the next morning and he assured me that everything would be OK. After taking a much needed nap, I woke up and was feeling fine. I even went grocery shopping that afternoon. I went back to work the day after that and other than being tired, I was fine. I felt like I had no energy for a couple of weeks but no pain. Did your surgeon give you a breathing thing? I don't remember what it's called but I used mine every hour. The told me it would help clear ny lungs. Ask your doctor about this. Hopefully things will start improving for you soon!

[realme 0]

My status

- I am feeling much better emotionally and physically.

- According to my doc my reports were normal except for that I am little anemic and have little large ovaries (have to take this separately with my Gyn).

- My pain in neck when I work is still there and pressure I feel on my heart is still here. My Dr. said he is unsure why and suggested if we wish we can do the 3rd C-scan - for only chest..

- Another thing he suggested that Becky also mentioned above to use that devise to breathe for lungs. It is important otherwise it can cause pneumonia (newbies- please remember this). I didnot take it that seriously.

- I have decided to hold on to c-scan for a week and see if there is any improvement. I would also talk to my primary care doc.

At the end I would agree with losing it in ne that we have to be our own health advocate.