Phrenic nerve pain to left shoulder blade

[MargenOhio 2]

I have this nagging referred pain above my left shoulder blade prior to eating ever since my surgery February 24, 2009. It occurs when my tummy is empty before Breakfast, lunch and dinner. It gets relieved after I eat or drink to fullness. My doctor has no idea why I am having it but does it agree that it must be from some type of diaphragm irritation. It feels very much like the gas pain we all had right after surgery. But it only happens now prior to meals. It gets very bad at times and will completely interrupt my work so I have to eat to relieve it. Needless to say my weight loss has been slow due to this as well since I don't make good choices when I am eating to relieve pain. My doctor will be doing some research but I don't feel hopeful. I even tried my husbands' Neurontin 300mg when the pain is occuring. Nothing touches it but filling up my tummy. No reflux, no other pain, no nausea or vomiting. I am afraid I may have to have my band or port revised/moved. I cannot live the rest of my life with this pain every day. Any significant ideas out there that I can take back to my doc?:biggrin:

[elcee 3,341]

Sorry about the pain, I can't give advice on how to relieve it.

However you say that you are making bad food choices when in pain. As you also say that you get this pain regularly why don't you try prempting it and have healthy food prepared ready? Maybe make breakfast the night before, cook a bit earlier than you normally would, have healthy Snacks at work in the fridge etc.At least then you should still be able to lose weight whilst your doc try's to figure out what the problem is.

Good luck

[tonya66 13]

Wow, this is a new one to me....I get the left shoulder pain when I overeat, its horrible. Good enough reason for me not to overeat. I feel for you. I would have a barium swallow test done, make sure the band was placed in the right place. Sorry I could not be of more help.

[Kristine73 1]

Ok, so I'm not crazy .... shew

I het the left shoulder pain, but it comes when I'm doing stuff like housework and such. Stuff that never caused the shoulder pain before. It has been so bad that I almost broke down and cried.

I have fibromyalgia, so it magnifies any pain. I take 200 mg's of neurontin/night

[bambam 0]

I'm like Sunshine - I get that pain when I have taken one bite too many. It isn't comfortable! I really need to start listening to that burp, hiccup, or little squeak in my throat that is my signal to step away from the food!!! For some reason, sometimes I think "there's just one little bite left"... but uffda, that one bite can make a world of difference.

Sorry I'm not of more help. It's amazing how we can all be so different following the same surgery.

[pinkeetoe 0]

I have this also, but when I am hungry and when I eat. I am short and when they did an xray they saw the tubing touching my diaphragm. They said if necessary, the tubing could be shortened which should help the problem. I obviously am not too excited about another surgery but don't know if I can handle this discomfort forever.

Also, I am not really getting what I imagined as fullness, but I do have to stop eating because of the shoulder pain.

[xani 0]

Ha I seem to have the phrenic nerve pain all the time. When i dont eat, when gas builds up, when I overeat, when i carry weight on my left shoulder or in my hand or on my arm, If i have anything acidic or heavy. I have Erythromelalgia and on Neurontin 300 5 times a day and Endep 50mg. I also have to have de-gas right after meals or else the gas will build up and cause dreadful pain. The only thing that can relieve it is by lying flat on my back or by taking an NSAID, anti inflammatory. I had surgery 3 months ago, it was dreadful in the beginning. I nearlly passed out a few times from the pain as it was so intense in my chest and shoulder. I found by keeping an ice pack on my gut near the lap band on the left side and hot pack on my shoulder it helped somewhat. Recently it has been slowly getting better but its still there. For the last month ive been getting spasms and stabbing pains near the lap band on the left side at the bottom of my rib cage where the phrenic nerve sits. It wakes me up and i have no choice but to put an ice pack on it or rub some tiger balm or chinese massage oil into it to relieve the swelling. Its driving me nuts. My doctors are talking of opening me back up again to shorten the tube from the lap band to the control port. I dont think this will make a difference. I believe my lap band is sitting right next to my phrenic nerve. How do I know this? Well when i lie down and press on the area roughly where my lap band is positioned, it hits my phrenic nerve and sends a shooting stabbing pain to the nerve and up my chest. This is not a co-incidence. I really dont want to go through surgery again, it was a big shock to my system with the initial surgery and took me over 1.5 months to recover - as with my condition Erythromelalgia it takes me a long time to recover from any injury. Im seeing my doctor again in 2 weeks to see what the plan of attack would be.

[illinoishusker 0]

I get that kind of pain around my back on the left side. If I've waited too long to eat or if I over eat. I get gas pains or some kind of pains right there. I have to gasx myself to death. lol

[MargenOhio 2]

I've had my band since February 2009. I've only lost 40# with it. I still get phrenic nerve pain when I am hungery every day. I just tolerate it. It does go away but always comes back. I have learned to live with it. My doctor wanted to send me to a pain specialist. I have not been back to see him since. I am disappointed in this band and wish I would have gotten a sleeve but my insurance didnt cover it. I still have plenty of stricture but when I eat moist soft food I don't have a problem with getting stuck and throwing up. That's probably why I have stopped losing weight.

[jadekatz 0]

omg! i have this same neck/shoulder pain but it doesnt seem to be tied to eating or not eating i just seem to have it almost daily to some extent.......

[claire0823 0]

I don't know anything about the shoulder/phrenic nerve pain, but yoy mentioned you don't get soft moist foods stuck and thats what you eat so thats why you aren't losing. BEEN THERE, DONE THAT! You basically "eat around the band" to avoid the vomiting/PB'ing. Get a little bit of an unfill. It will makea WORLD of difference. The band is supposed to allow you to eat solid foods that will keep you full/satisfied for 4+ hours. I was filled to over 7CCs in my 10CC band and just had two CC's taken out due to being over-filled and everything getting stuck. I'm hoping that once I get one CC put back in, it will be the "sweet spot" everyone talks about and I will be able to eat solid foods and NOT slider foods but still lose weight! Good luck with your journey.