sharp pains on my left side?

I had my RNY surgery in december 2010.....no unusual pains or side effects at all up until now. I was put on antibiotics for a UTI and some painkillers for muscle strain....about a week later I woke up at 4am with EXTREME belly pain. It was so sharp, I woke my husband up and we went the ER. Had the joy of sitting doubled up in pain in the waiting room for 4 hours before I was even taken back to a room....and then didn't see a doctor until 8 am.....and finally in for xrays at 12:30 (but I digress)....

The xrays showed gallstones in my gall bladder.....but my pains are on the LEFT side.

I notice I have them more if I skip a day of stool softener pills or miralax.

Could this be a constipation issue? I've had problems with that ever since my liquid diet before surgery.

The pain is on my left side and feels like a mix of extreme cramp and someone stabbing me in the gut. It's a good 8 or 9 on the pain scale. After an hour or two it subsides.

I went to see my surgeon....they did a CT scan and he said that the CT shows there are no blockages or other problems with my RNY. He did see the gallstones, but says that would cause pain on the right, nausea, vomiting, etc.....I'm not having those symptoms at all. 

Has anyone else had this problem?? I'm having the pain on and off again today.......making a warm pot of decaf and I'm going to take stool softener and my usual dose of miralax which seems to help make it go away. When I had the first pains, I stopped taking cipro (which my primary care put me on and requested liquid antibiotics from my surgeon, and I stopped the pain medication for my strained muscles (I strained my neck and shoulder muscles lifting weights and playing tennis). And I take two probiotic tablets a day 6 hours after my antibiotics to counteract gut issues from that......

Any ideas???? My surgeon basically says there is no identifiable cause for the pains, but he will do more tests if they continue.

I'm not too upset.....I started this process with a 60+ BMI....now it's in the 30s and I've lost 200 pounds from my heaviest weight. I can handle a little gut pain without changing my mind that RNY saved my life!! :) Just wondering what this is......

I have not had this problem or issue thank God, so i can't give you insight but I want to wish you a speedy recovery. . Congratulations on your weight loss that is amazing.

did dr. cook say anything about removing the gallbladder??  You can have referred pain in other places with the gallbladder.  I had left shoulder pain.


I do have some pain on my left side occasinally but its usually from constipation or if I have ate something i shouldn't have.  Make sure you are getting lots of water with that miralax.  IF your really constipated you can actually do more than 1 dosage if needed.  When i seen the gastroenterolgist at Hickory Gastro he said you could do miralax up to 4x/day for couple of days if you are really having problems.

Hope you get to feeling better



Tamara

Dr Cook wants to wait and see if I continue to have pain before doing gallbladder surgery because he thinks this might be something else. he didn't want to do a major abdominal surgery and find out this problem still is an issue. I'm supposed to call the office after the holiday and find out how he wants to proceed. He was waiting on the ER records to make a final decision.

I drink lots of water with miralax....didn't know I could take more than one dose a day when I need it. I might try a 2nd dose and see if that helps.....

next time you go to the ER tell them you suspect you might have twisted or obstructed bowels. If that is the case, and they leave you in the waiting room, you might lose some of your bowels, or your life, adn that is kinda bad. So be assertive and tell them what your concern is. It might be constipation (which is what it sounds like, but I'm nOT a doc), but it might be a real serious issue.

I had right shoulder-blade pain with my GB, and then all along the bottom of my rib cage on my right when my GB needed to come out. It was swollen and infected and in the words of my Surgeon in Georgia "fixin to explode" so they did emergency surgery. That is not typical with GB problems

When I was having gall bladder pain I felt it on my left side not my right. They took forever to figure it out. So you can see it could be coming from your gall bladder.

Julie

 I get stabbing pains right under my left ribs when I have a ton of gas or am backed up a few days...

I had my surgery April 2010.  I too have been having terrible left upper sided pain.  Terrible discomfort.  I dont have my gall bladder anymore.  However the CT scan shows I have a Mesenteric Cyst the size larger than a softball.  It is very uncomfortable.  The surgeon thinks it is scar tissue from the gastric bypass, but he is not sure.  I have surgery July 19.  He is doing exploratory lap and excision of the mesenteric cyst.  Dr said if it is attached to the pancreas that it is not good.  I'm very nervous.

Well after a couple more days, I think my problem is constipation. Lately, it seems to be getting to be a constant problem for me. Miralax and stool softeners weren't helping....maybe because of the antibiotics and those few days on pain meds for muscle strain.

So, I took exlax for two days --- oh my Lord I feel SO much better. No side pain for 2 days now......

I don't want to take regular laxatives very often, but this time it was necessary.

I'm glad they found the gallstones....but maybe this was a constipation issue.  I already drank a lot of water each day....but cutting out the decaf coffee completely, increasing my water, going back to a daily dose of miralax instead of every few days, and daily stool softeners to maybe prevent this from happening all the time.

I get a bit frustrated....this has been a constant problem since I had surgery. And if I up my fiber intake with fiber powder, pills, or  even vegetables/fruits or whole grains like oatmeal, it seems to have the opposite effect and makes the constipation worse not better.  

Sometimes my frankentummy just makes no sense to me!!!