Problems 2 years Postop
Hello everyone, longtime since I have been here up until a couple of months ago I was constantly traveling for work and spent my downtime sleeping or touring around. In the last year and a half I have traveled to 49 out of the 50 states so I have been pretty busy. Now to my problem. I am hoping I am not the only one having this problem as it really does have me at my mental limit right now. I have my surgery in Dec. of 2004 and did great. I had absolutely no problems until I kid you not almost up until my 2 year anniversary when I had to go into surgery and have a strangulated bowel fixed. It seems I heal a little too well and I had scar tissue grow around and was cutting off the circulation to my bowel. Well I recovered from that ordeal and went back to work and about 5 weeks later I ended up back in the hospital from abdominal pain. I got over that incident and went back to work and to school, I thought I was out of the woods. I graduated in May and had planned to have a nice fun summer with my two younger boys before I start my masters program in the fall. Well so far that has not happened as I was taken back into the hospital about 5 weeks ago for abdominal pain and another surgery where I was told I had pancreatitis. I then went home and I am not sure what happened exactly or how I ended up at the University of Missouri Hospital in Columbia but a few weeks later there I was and I was there for 5 days for abdominal pain. I can not tell you what they did or what they found as the resident that was overseeing my care got crazy with IV pain meds and he put me on dilaudid. I have absolutely no memory of my hospital stay and the scarey thing about that is I guess I was making medical decisions during that time. which as a side note is the reason I never wanted to be a patient at the University as I had worked there as a nurse and also did some of my nursing clinicals there. But back to the topic. I still have abdominal pain, it has totally taken all the fight out of me and my doctor does not know what to do with me, I have unfortunately become the one thing I never wanted to I have become "The" Problem patient for my doctor, I am sure he would love to get rid of me as a patient and I honestly do not blame him if he feels that way. I am in so much pain that I take my kids across the street to the playground and we have to come home about 15 minutes later because I am in so much pain. and then I am absolutely worn out and have to laydown. It is not as bad when I stay still but when I move around the more I do the worse it gets. Has anyone had this problem? If so can you tell me what you did to make it better? I have done some brainstorming with a couple a friends of mine that are also nurses and they have a couple of ideas that I am going to ask my doctor about but maybe you all know if these have been brought up as possible problems with gastric bypass. one friend mentioned the possibility of phantom pains. For those that have not heard the term amputees suffer "Phantom " pains in limbs that they have lost often complaing of hands or feet hurting that are no longer there because the nerves are still there which is what another friend mentioned that possibly there is some nerve damage from the surgeries. I am desperate for an answer and I am tired of being in pain. I can not get any quality sleep, have no energy, I have just yesterday started eating food again after being put back on yet another liquid diet last Thursday when I was admitted into the hospital yet again for my abdominal pain. I am only eating scrambled eggs,pudding, jello, and drinking alot of protein shakes. I am miserable as I am also on steroids for my pancreatitis and of course that makes you jittery and hungery, I think even with a liquid diet I probably gained weight because I have drank so many protein shakes LOL. Sorry for the ridiculously long post. I really hope I am not the only one who is having these issues because not having the answer to why I am in almost constant pain that litterally has me at my mental breaking point really is unbearable. Thanks for reading my post I really needed to get that out.
Heather... I am so sorry that you are experiencing all of this right now but I AM glad that you have come back to the board for support. That is what we are here for ((hugs)). Pancreatic problems can be quite painful dear... *sigh* and I am so sorry that you are still right in the middle of all of this mess. The pain that you are experiencing could very well be from the inflammation itself, although the phantom pain thing might be also linked to the nerve issues. I would lay a wager that it is probably linked to the inflammation though... I don't know without digging through archived posts if you have ever had your gallbladder out? That sometimes is a contributory factor to pancreatic problems?? Do you still have yours in? Also regarding the adhesion surgery. I ended up approx. 2+ years out having an obstruction due to strangulation. After we loose the massive amts. of weight things shift around inside and the bowel can loop around and get caught up in an internal hernia (very common for WLS patients) as we have lost that internal fat that has "held" the bowel in place initially after having WLS. It is pretty textbook and the location that this normally occurs at within the body is normally the same for everyone (THAT predictable)... and I can tell you that when I went through it I thought I was going to die... ahhhhhhh mygawd the pain was that intense. Just glad that "it" is behind me now... Now back to your issues.... I know it is hard but try try try to back off on the food and take some baby steps in getting nourishment into your body. If you have to go back to eating like a newly postop WLS then do so... you don't want to stress your body any more and we surely don't want you to be enduring such pain. It pains me to know that you were up in hospital and going through such an ordeal and none of us knew....*sigh*... please please keep in touch and let us know what is going on! We do care kiddo and we are thinking of you!!! Elizabeth---------->
Anything WORTH having is WORTH working for !
Heather... awwwwww nuts... I was hoping that maybe the gallbladder might be the culprit. I am sooo so sorry that you are going through pain like this. I know before I had my knee replacement (last year) that I was really having trouble dealing with the daily pain. Normally, like you, I am a very stoic person and I just "deal" with things ... but the pain was just increasing and increasing in dramatic leaps and bounds and nothing I did ever took the edge off of it.. so honey, I know where you are comimg from...((gentle hugs)).... You HAVE to do what you have to do to get this pain under control though....babes you just HAVE to do it. So if that means a PCA pump then it means a PCA PUMP. I know what you are talking about with Uni hosp. I have never had a good experience up there , PERIOD. *shudder*.. but keep plugging along. I still think that you are dealing with the side effects of the pancreatic issues. That is a very painful malady...I might be wrong but I just don't think that you are dealing with phantom pains... what have you latest levels been? Also have you thought about going to Wash U? I would be more comfortable with a dx. from them.... Hang in there honey and keep that chin up...and don't stop coming to the MO board to let us know how you are feeling!!! Like I said before... We do care!!! Elizabeth---------->
Anything WORTH having is WORTH working for !
Ever had Kidney Stones? I recently a couple weeks ago had issues where I had one and let me tell you, they say it's like labor pains.... IT IS! I have an extremely high tolerance for pain and it was unbearable. Granted that is more to the back but mine radiated up into my abdomen as well.. Have they done CT scans?? Where exactly is your pain located? I know you say abdomen but.. that's a wide range of places. Ever had a hysterectomy? My friend had severe Endometriosis and had to have one and since her pain is gone. Just a thought. Let me know. Good luck and I hope you are pain free soon. Denise~ I live in Alma... not far from you :)
350/334/245/160
Highest/Surgery weight/current/goal Total Loss Thus Far: 105#
4-5 clothes sizes gone
"Good Things Come To Those Who Wait!!"
Denise,
Thank you for your reply. No I have never had kidney stones before but I know they are extremely painful as my father had some and they brought him to tears when they passed. Yes I have had CT Scans performed that is how Dr. H found fluid in my abdomin and then operated on me and discpvered I had pancreatitis, along with removing more adhesions, and fluid from my abdomen.
My pain for the most part is around my left upper quadrant although I do have pain in my back, my shoulders, and my neck, the worst of the pain is in my stomach it can put me in a fetal position at the drop of a hat. No I have not had a hysterectomy although I have PMS so bad sometimes that I wish that I would have had one. Right now I am just existing I am not living and I hate it. My kids do not understand, my partner is fed up to the point our relationship is falling apart. There is just so much a person can take and I have taken all that I can handle. I am in so much pain, the doctor was nice enough to call me in some pain meds but it is not even touching my pain. I do not want to go to the ER because they look at you with those accusatory eyes like you are drug seeking. I got so mad at one doctor about that I told them if I wanted to buy narcs just for the sake of buying narcs I would simply order them off the internet. He then realized that I was really in pain and actually did something to help me for a few hours. I was greatful to him. With as much pain as I am in getting a reprieve for a few hours where I was able to take a nap was priceless to me. Today is a bad day for me. I woke up from my side feeling like there was a hot poker going in my left side and it has not gotten any better. Sorry for rambling on and again thank you for your response. I am now going to go do the impossible I have to either find someone to mow my yard for me or I have to mow it myself as it has gotten out of control, I can not do it physically but I got a warning notice that I was going to be fined if I did not get it mowed so I guess I will have no choice in the matter.
