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Continued shoulder pain - week 6 post fundoplication

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Posted 11/10/2015 2:05 AM (GMT 0)
Good day, ...
Question to all post surgery members. During my hospital stay, I suffered severe pain in the front of my left shoulder. You could say the soft squishy area just in between and under your collar bone. It was so bad it would hurt to breath. None of the Drs knew what it was, and we chocked it up to the air from the surgery and the fact that I have injured brachial plexus nerve bundle.

So, I am just into my week 6 post op and I find that when I have been up and about too long and I start getting pain in my diaphragm, it then starts to radiate into my back and then sure enough my shoulder starts again.

You would think that by now all the extra air would be gone. And if my brachial plexus is being agrivated, why? from what?

Has anyone else experienced this ?

Thanks for all your support
Posted 11/10/2015 4:36 AM (GMT 0)
The air would be gone by now, but the way the pain gets to your shoulder is because the air has irritated nerve endings in your diaphragm, the shoulder pain you feel from it is referred pain.

Did you have a hernia repair done as well? If anything had to be done to your diaphragm its entirely possible that you are getting pain from scar tissue forming, and that is getting referred to your shoulders as well.

If its really bothering you check with your GP, they can prescribe something like amitryptaline or gabapentin to get those nerves to chill out!
Posted 11/12/2015 6:26 PM (GMT 0)
Hiya Craine,i can tell you i had pains in my shoulder (Left side) for some four months after surgery and i still occasionally get it depending on what ive eaten.I had a partial wrap over two years ago now and have had no reflux whatsoever.
Give it time and it will settle.I think it has something to do with the wrap being stitched to your diaphragm but im no doctor just speaking from my own experience. All the best. Barry
Posted 11/12/2015 8:37 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Barry,
Thank you for the info! I really find that if I eat too much - wow do I ever get shoulder pain! It will radiate into my right side and then up the back of my neck. It's just awful!!

Then if I eat the wrong food, I get cold sweats and unfortunately nothing takes that away except for time.

Barry, how does alcohol affect you? I am a red wine and martini drinker - are you able to? When were you able to drink again?

Thanks for your support - there doesn't appear to be many people on here that have had a partial wrap.
Posted 11/13/2015 4:27 AM (GMT 0)
Apart from the shoulder pain, how are you finding the surgery? I'm looking at having the 180, do you feel like its stopping reflux? You're right that there don't seem to be many having partial wraps. Interestingly enough my surgeon, and the other surgeons at his offices, will only do Dor Fundoplications. They refuse to do Nissens.
Posted 11/13/2015 9:44 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Craine, i get sweats sometimes aswell and have no idea why,it's definitely related to the surgery as i never had the symtom previously. I usually get a sweat in the morning about half an hour or so after breakfast,really strange, but im ok the rest of the day.
I started drinking beer about a year after surgery and im fine, just can,t drink as much and the same with food,i ve learned to eat smaller meals but more often.
I would say it took a year after surgery to feel i was confident again with my eating and drinking and back to feeling like myself again.
I originally had a 360 "floppy wrap" which turned out to be a disaster,i had a undiagnosed motility problem so had to find another surgeon and have a redo to a 200 degree wrap.
It's the best thing ive ever done as now i have no more reflux or take PPi's etc , i was in a real bad way for years before it.
This type of surgery takes time and you will feel better as time goes on, i promise you,try not to worry too much. Barry
Posted 11/13/2015 2:24 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks again Barry - I think we all worry in the early stages if this was worth it. But I keep trying to reassure myself that one more year of "crap" and then my life will be amazing 🤗
Posted 11/13/2015 4:29 PM (GMT 0)
Jenagade: having the 180 has been excellent. My surgeon's office will not do the Nissen procedure because of the inability to burp or vomit. I am quite happy as this concerned me greatly.

Just remember to stay on liquids for a full two weeks before you start soft foods and stay away from the "avoid" foods. Also listen carefully to your body about being full - it is very different from what you remember. It doesn't feel the same.

I am very happy not having any reflux issues, and I knew it impeded my sleep, but I had no idea how much until now. I sleep so well now!

I was able to burp on day two or three (it's hard to remember which day it was). I have a lot of gas the other way (😕). Work will be interesting.

I am happy you are only getting a partial wrap. Do you have a hernia as well?
Posted 11/14/2015 10:00 PM (GMT 0)
I'm not too worried about overeating with the wrap, for some weird reason removing your gallbladder kills your appetite, I have to be reminded to eat sometimes and my portions are pretty small when I do, I guess thats why people lose so much weight after it.

My surgeons office is the same, none of them will touch the Nissen and they haven't done it in years. This was good news to me too because even though my manometry had no swallowing issue it did show tight UES which does make me choke from time to time and I was concerned a Nissen would make it worse. I was suprised that they went for 180 instead of 270 since toupet seems to be the more common of the two, but from what I have seen since, the 180 seems to give good results.

It depends on the day of the week, but my barium swallow showed a very small hernia, however the dr said that everyone has small hernias from time to time and since it wasn't there in the endoscopy that it probably wasn't anything to be concerned about, so it will just be the fundoplication for me! He did say that if they were to find a hernia, the fundoplication actually is somewhat of a repair for smaller hernias anyway.
Posted 11/14/2015 10:05 PM (GMT 0)
No major hernia is a good thing for recovery - in my mind, it would mean less stitching in the diaphragm - which is what causes me most of my pain issues.

You may find yourself recovering much sooner than I. Which is very positive news indeed!

Your also lucky that you will not have to wait 11 months for the surgery. Although I did appreciate the 5 day hospital stay 🙄

Please let us know when the scheduled date is and how you are recovering. We are all here rooting for you!
Posted 11/15/2015 2:18 AM (GMT 0)
I'll be calling the surgeon tomorrow to confirm I want it. With how fast private goes i could be in by next week for it eeek.

I am very lucky, here healthcare is publicly funded but my parents have always had comprehensive coverage health insurance and I was able to take over my policy when I turned 18, so I kept all the benefits from it and it covers everything except GP and dental. It's been such a good thing to have, going through the public system would have taken years.

Because it hasn't been long since my gallbladder op it might slow recovery, but this is a good time for me to do it because there's no set date I have to return to work and uni won't start until Feb. I'm optimistic about it but I'm trying to stay realistic about what recovery will be like, probably helps that I've just gone through it and know how long my body takes to adjust to the changes to my digestive tract.
Posted 12/19/2018 12:29 AM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone!
I'm on week 7 (Nov 1st) post my nissen fundoplication for a hiatal hernia. (I also had a cholecystectomy done in the same laparoscopy)
Currently I'm still experiencing left shoulder and neck pain (moderate discomfort). Burping is not longer painful as it was the first two weeks.
Doctor says that I have to give it time and patience and Rx'd some IV analgesic (Parecoxib) which I still haven't taken because pain isn't unbearable. I notice that pain comes after meals and during night before going to bed, also when I have a beer or two.
Has any of you experience some similar post op pain this far?

Thanks!

Post Edited (CesarIvan) : 12/18/2018 5:40:17 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 12/19/2018 1:35 PM (GMT 0)
CesarIvan:

My guess would be that it's still trapped gas. I would try taking an anti-gas medication containing simethicone (if you haven't already). At seven weeks you still may need to watch your diet for gas producing foods and vegetables, and the introduction of beer will only cause more gas buildup.

Sharon
Posted 12/19/2018 6:48 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Sharon,
I was not sure if it still was CO2 from the surgery or gas from food digestion because not being able to burp properly.

thanks for your reply. =)
Posted 12/20/2018 1:03 PM (GMT 0)
It's more than likely the gas from food consumption. I lost the ability to belch and vomit, so I had to adjust my diet accordingly to consume the least gas-producing foods. Beer is not your friend right now.
Posted 12/20/2018 11:09 PM (GMT 0)
Can you belch now?
Posted 12/21/2018 2:45 PM (GMT 0)
No, or vomit. I had a full wrap, and knew about it prior to surgery.
Posted 1/9/2019 2:05 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Craine and Cesarivan,
How is the shoulder pain? I found it to be by far the worst pain of the surgery. I discovered that shoulder pain is common with gastric surgery. Here’s an article explaining it. It is regarding a very different procedure, but the information explaining shoulder pain issues is the same.
https://www.carepointhealth.org/dealing-shoulder-pain-gastric-band-surgery/

I found the more I walked, the better it felt.
Hope you’re feeling better!
Denise
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