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Stomach Burning in the Afternoon 4 weeks post resection?

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Posted 9/12/2009 3:27 AM (GMT 0)
This is my third resection and granted, I'm older than I was for my first two resections, 10 and 6 years previously, but I don't remember healing taking this long.  The funny thing is that the right side where the actual resection was done feels mostly fine.  The left side of my stomach just to the side of my midline incision burns every afternoon.  I think it may just be the muscle.  It hurts when I'm knocked off balance and my stomach muscles have to be engaged to keep my balance.  It pulls in the same spot if I lift grocery bags.  This side is also more swollen than the other and it always gets worse as the day goes on.  Usually I feel great in the morning and not so much by 2 or 3 in the afternoon, then by 5-6 I pop a pain pill to take the edge off for the evening.  Does this sound normal?  Am I just being impatient?  Does anyone have experience using an abdominal binder for support to alleviate this type of pain?
Posted 9/12/2009 3:48 AM (GMT 0)
I had abdominal surgery about 6 weeks ago and I have the same problem. Mine is nerve pain from the nerves healing. I get it from every surgery and it can last months. If your burning is from nerve pain, the binder may not help much and may irritate you more. After my resection about 4 years ago, it hurt to have anything touch my skin. I could barely tolerate wearing a shirt.

I'm a little concerned about that spot being swollen. You may have a hernia. I've had two and they always got worse as the day progressed. When you push on the spot, does it feel like you can push something back in? When you lie down, does the swollen spot go away? Are you scheduled for a 6 week checkup? If not, you may want to call your surgeon just to be on the safe side.

Make sure you talk to your surgeon about your concern. He/she may not notice it if they check you while you are lying down.
Posted 9/12/2009 3:52 AM (GMT 0)
cant establish level of patience without knowing when the surgery was to the time you started lifting the grocery bags. I think after surgery there is going to be a weak spot on the incision. Yuno they use glue , use some extent of dissolving stiches for the inside but you dont indicate a change , like yes it was all good after but just recently its not, so i cant comment either. You imply the pain is slightly deeper by muscles. so there mite have been the opening tool placed there and it hurts a bit more. The other possibility is the bowel itself is new position at left from the new position at right from the resection. I would combine a epsom salt bath and the support. and when you lay down try to get that part of bowel on left to where it wants to be. As it also could be just the extra pocket gas that hasn't subsided completely out after surgery.
Posted 9/12/2009 4:51 AM (GMT 0)
Pain in general subsides if I sit still. It's aggravated by sitting upright vs reclining. I think it's possible that I've stretched some muscles out cause I think It got worse when I felt a pull in the same area when i reached over to pull the passenger car door shut one day. The swelling on the left side has always been greater than the right side. Surgeon says that the anastamosis site still lies in the lower right quadrant. I don't know much about how I'd compare the possibility of nerve pain to muscle pain. I don't believe a hernia is present, don't feel anything that is a depression of separation of muscle tissue, nor is there anything bulging that can be pushed in. I see my GI next week and will ask. For now I guess I'll just see if the pain kicks up later in the day moving forward and indicates healing. I can definitely feel a slight pull in the same area if I lift anything with my right side, such as the previously mentioned grocery bag, also my teapot full of water. I do not feel a similare pulling on the right side if I lift something with my left hand. I was told not to lift anything more than 5-10 lbs till 6 weeks and don't believe that I've done so. I can feel the same place pulling if I squat down and stand up without being super aware of standing using "only" my leg muscles. I'm not sure if that car door caused the possible muscle pull or if the other more severe pains seemed to leave and this was the last pain I was left with?
Posted 9/12/2009 2:09 PM (GMT 0)
I am concerned that you are lifting. You aren't supposed to lifting anything more than 10 pounds for at least six weeks after surgery. Please be careful. I also think that it is the nerve endings healings. I use to get burning pains like that when I was tired or overdid a little. They say it takes a full year to fully recover from any surgery.

Hugs
Gail*Nanners*
Posted 9/12/2009 6:50 PM (GMT 0)
Reaching over to pull the passenger door shut would exert more than 5-10 pounds of pressure so be careful. Reaching or stretching while lifting exerts more pressure than standing and lifting. (I've been helping my son with his AP physics homework so this type of stress is fresh in my mind!) The further away the weight is from your body, the more stress it exerts on your core.

After one surgery, the surgeon told me not to lift, push, or pull more than five pounds for six weeks. After my latest surgery, the surgeon told me not to lift more than twenty pounds for eight weeks. He changed it from six to eight weeks because of a minor complication. I haven't lifted anything heavier than a half gallon of milk since the surgery, I do not want another hernia.
Posted 9/12/2009 8:23 PM (GMT 0)
OK, I was just wondering if anyone had felt similar and could tell me if it was nerve or muscle related and how long it might take to go away. Today again burning like clockwork between 2-3 pm. Starting to feel a little mothering/smothering in this forum thread... I'm not "lifting" I'm going about my life as a mom of three as carefully as I can, 4 weeks post op. I'm also an engineer by training having taken many of my own physics and statics classes! Since the car-door incident I've been much more careful when reaching over and pulling them shut. I've hurt myself worse by trying to keep my balance when being pushed in the butt by my 2 year old. Also when I hit my head on something hanging in my garage, also when tripping over a crack in the ground or tripping over my own feet!
Posted 9/12/2009 9:51 PM (GMT 0)
i have felt what seems like i pinch my bowel if im in awkward position. If i move and let it readjust it goes away within 2 minutes not 1 hour. It would point to your lunch coming through bowel at inflammation and would eat at different time to see.
Posted 9/12/2009 10:20 PM (GMT 0)
Wow, I can't imagine how difficult it would be to not lift a two year old. My three year old granddaughter fell asleep on my lap last week and I was a prisoner in the chair for an hour. She wore me out after one night.

I didn't mean to preach, I am just paranoid about hernias having had two surgically repaired. The repair surgery was the most painful thing I have ever experienced so I just wanted to warn you to be careful.

It's probably just the muscles and nerves healing. It sounds really similar to the pain I've had after all four surgeries. The muscle pain starts in the late afternoon but the nerve pain is on and off throughout the day, getting worse later in the day. The afternoon pain should gradually get better in the next few weeks although it may take months to go away completely. My pain peaked last week and seems to be getting a bit better every day now. My surgery about 6 1/2 weeks ago.

For me, the nerve pain is on the surface. I can feel the burning pain on my skin and just below. My skin is sensitive to the touch and will burn even when I am relaxing and nothing is touching me. I've had numb spots by my incisions and the nerve pain gets really intense when these areas heal. The muscle pain is deeper and aggravated more when I move around. Touch doesn't seem to affect it but if I press the area, it feels bruised. It burns deep inside. Hope this helps a bit.
Posted 9/13/2009 1:29 AM (GMT 0)
I'm with you, another surgery is the very last thing I'm interested in. I'm constantly amazede at my friends blase attitude towards surgeries such as tummy tucks, why on earth would you do that to yourself?! Maybe different if you don't know what you're in for, I guess.

It's def hard going about my business with kids, esp the 2 year old. If he doesn't want to cooperate, I'm out of luck. Lots of coersion going on. Plus I'm on the floor and off the floor to change diapers. Trying to make a game out of climbing into his carseat, etc...

I've been down to one 5mg oxycodone in the evening but thought I'd give it a go without tonight as it doesn't really seem to get rid of this pain very well. I still have a good bit of swelling so I'm just going to hope for now that it's nerve or muscle and gets steadily if slowly better. I get paranoid because gas bubbles seem to cause a little bit of aggravation, which after having 3 surgeries for strictures this causes me anxiety. Progress is slow.

I definitely have a numb spot above the area where it's burning. The burning is not on the surface. If I press on it it may stop hurting for awhile. I forgot about another weird pain that doesn't seem to be getting better. The top of my right hip bone is sore and I have no idea what that is about. Maybe has something to do with the fact that they had to chisel my intestines off my abdominal wall muscle on that side?

Thanks for the dialogue!
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