got a question for the long time vets.....

Mine (adhesions) never caused pain but the bowel obstructions that I had (X 2) caused pain.

Adhesions, in and of THEMSELVES, do NOT cause pain. They can, however, cause your organs to get bound to one another or to the muscles or interior abdominal wall and prohibit normal functioning of those organs which CAN cause pain.

You have certainly had more issues than probably 90+% of the people who have RNY (although the spinal curvature is probably not related to your surgery, and some of the other issues may also have happened even without the surgery). My complications were all related to the hernia repair and plastic surgery, but I had several, including gallbladder removal after a bout of pancreatitis AND almost 18 months of mystery, intermittent severe upper abdominal pain (caused by adhesions that resulted in my intestine growing into the mesh used for my open RNY incisiona, hernia) AND a tummy tuck incision that, in its entirety, turned necrotic and left me with a crater in my belly that took over 5 months to fill in and heal up AND a huge seroma that needed drained for weeks. I had NO complications from the actual RNY, though.

Hang in there. Hopefully they can find the source of your pain. There is a rare syndrome (called sphincter of oddi dysfunction) that mimics gallbladder pain even after the gallbladder is gone (and is much more common in those who have had gastric bypass than in the general population)). You can Google it for more info. It would at least be worth asking the gastroenterologist about.

Lora

Thanks.

They want me to give another stool sample. I'm gonna call them Mon and see if they wpould even consider exploratory surgery. It's rediculous.

Don't be too surprised if they are reluctant to do exploratory surgery. Every surgery creates additional scar tissue and many surgeons are reluctant to go in when they have absolutely no idea what they are looking for. That's why I ended up enduring 18 months of intermittent pain that gradually became more frequent. Three separate surgeons were afraid of opening me up (open surgery OR lap) and not being able to find the problem and then me having even more scar tissue.

Finally, my RNY surgeon relented (a week before I was supposed to go to the Cleveland Clinic for a whole week of diagnostic testing). She was able to see the problem right away, but she warned me that the source of the pain MIGHT be the remnant stomach and that she would NOT go into it without a good reason.

(Have they eliminated the remnant stomach as the source of your pain?)

Lora

Amy, I am 3+ years out from RNY. I have had some issues too. Mainly strictures (I had over a dozen EGDs just this year alone). I have recently been diagnosed with scoliosis. And more recently with a marginal ulcer. I went to the ER with severe upper right side pain. They did a CT scan, X-rays, blood work, urine, said they didn't see anything. I went back a few days later unable to stand/sit because I was in so much pain. I insisted they have a general surgeon come look at me since I was a RNY'er. The general surgeon saw something on the CT scan, admitted me and did a endoscopy. That's when they saw the marginal ulcer. Now my gastric bypass surgeon wants to do a revision. Which I am scared of, but don't know if I can live with this pain while waiting to see if carafate and Nexium heal it or not. 

What I have learned....regular doctors don't know what to look for with WLS patients. You need to see a specialist. There are several things that can be wrong and won't show up on regular X-rays and won't stand out in the minds of a PCP or an ER doctor. 

I'm seeing a gastro Dr right now. Also my pcp's nurse had the same surgery just before I did so I can throw stuff off of her. I just feel like a guinnea pig lately cuz they give me different pills to try. I've had egds, ct with contrast, multiple xrays, labs and every thing looks normal. The spot is tender to touch also.