Question:
Any Ideas Why I Have Pain?

First off I have an appointment to see my Dr. about this, However, I thought I would ask here and see if this sounds familiar to anybody. I had open RYN surgery Sept. 18th. No complications, fairly uneventful. However, I have had a pain in my abdomin. To begin with I assumed it was just normal healing pain. But it has not subsided at all, in fact it seems worse then ever. I had orginally thought maybe it might be a hernia, but there isnt any bulge or bump of any kind. Doesnt there have to be one for a hernia? The pain is to the right of my insicion, and only hurts if I stand or walk and WOW! it burns!(which means exercise is proving impossible) If I lay down or sit it doesnt hurt! It doesnt really hurt if I bend over, now doesnt that sound wierd? Im absolutely miserable! Im fighting depression, which I know can be a normal occurance after surgery, but I think it is made worse by the constant pain Im in. Anyway If this sounds familiar to anyone or if you have any ideas, Id love to hear from you! you can also email me straightly at [email protected] Thanks everyone! Patricia    — Tricee (posted on November 10, 2000)

November 10, 2000
Hi Patricia. I was just about the same length of time post when I started having abdominal pain like you're describing too. I called my surgeon and described the pain like "someone had hauled off and punched me as hard as they could right in the gut." At times, the pain was so intense that I couldn't stand up straight and could only walk hunched over. I, too, felt "ok", however when I was sitting down or bending over. Tylenol would help to ease the pain somewhat but I still had quite a bit of tenderness and soreness, kinda like it was "bruised". My surgeon told me that it was simply some muscles that were being pulled due to the "rearrangement" of my "innards" (my paraphrasing, not his). After a few weeks, the pain subsided and I've been fine. Recently, however, the pain has seemed to return, (I'm now 8 months post and down -93#)but now I'm pretty convinced that the pain is more gassy pain than muscle pain. I sometimes get up in the morning with the pain so severe that, again, it's hard to stand up straight. I end up taking things pretty slow for awhile until the gas eventually begins "moving around" and then I'm fine. When I have the pain in the morning, it usually occurs when I exercised the night before. If I have it in the afternoon, it seems to occur when I've been sitting for too long and again, once I've been able to get up and walk around for awhile, it will subside. I guess the gas just gets kinda "trapped" in there and lets us know that it's "there" in the only way it can...by causing us pain. I hope that this helps give you a little insight into what might be causing some of your own pain. Good luck and God bless. Let us know what the doctor says. cj
   — cj T.