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Back pain and headaches after nissen fundoplication after eating

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Posted 7/19/2023 3:34 AM (GMT 0)
Dear all, specially the members of the wrap club. I’m a 29 yo from Spain, who had a complete Nissen Fundoplication 4 and half weeks ago. I am posting here cause I have been having some rather unusual feelings since the surgery.

Firstly I sometimes feel like a lump in my throat and upper esophagus which feels like heartburn after eating . I’ve read in other threats of this forum that this might be normal and it is too early for the surgery.

Secondly, and the one I’m more concerned about is the feeling that I something have after eating. After I eat, specially now that I’m starting to eat soft foods, I developed a pain in my middle back, in the right side that kind of moves up to my neck and give me very bad headaches. Recently the pain is mainly in the middle back and quite bad migraines which are very annoying, and happen 20-30 min after eating, lasting for 2-3 hours. It is not a very nice feeling and it is making me not eat as much as I should cause I’m scared. I was wondering if someone has had this unusual experience and can tell me if it went away for them or if they did smth to fix it?

On the other hand and to share my frustration, I’m quite concerned cause my doctor told me that I will be eating and feeling normal 1 month after the surgery, and I have only see him once after surgery and it’s not going to be available for visits until October for Holidays. It’s a bit frustrating cause I’m a going in a month to India, as my partner is originally from there and we had not had the chance to go in years cause of Covid. I’m now hesitating if I’ll be able to travel and eat smth over there. I wonder if someone has travelled during their recovery and how was it?

Apologies for this long message. I’d like to thank everyone in advance as this forum has given me life and motivated me every time I have been feeling down during the recovery

Cheers

Daniel
Posted 7/19/2023 11:20 AM (GMT 0)
Daniel:

I know that you said that you won't be seeing the doctor until October, but is it still possible to call and speak to someone at their office - a nurse perhaps? Migraines and the lump in the throat are not something that I personally experienced - but that's not to say that it doesn't happen. I think that your surgeon underestimated your recovery time by a bit. Everyone's recovery journey is different, and you can expect small setbacks along the way. I personally didn't feel much better until around the 6 month mark, and the "new" me around 1 year. I know I would not have felt comfortable travelling out of the country at two months post-surgery, but if you feel you are up to it - why not?

Sharon
Posted 7/19/2023 11:59 AM (GMT 0)
Thank you Sharon for your kind words.

I am going to try to speak with someone from his office next week so that they can clarify if these are normal side effects.

I appreciate your comment and I guess I just need to be more patient.

If anyone has experience these kind of feeling and read this would be reassuring to hear their journey.

I hope you are doing great and thanks again

Daniel
Posted 7/19/2023 1:10 PM (GMT 0)
I had lump in throat for almost 7-8 weeks post surgery and have recently found out that's its no more. For me that famous shoulder pain which would sometime radiate to back was intense and lasted till 5 weeks and then gradually faded away. your inside swelling peaks around 2nd week and then slowly starts to subside and during this timeframe you can reflux like symptoms... and i actually felt acid in throat which gave a hell lot anxiety as i thought my surgery has failed but I guess since the swelling inside got fine, my reflux symptoms started to go away... Now its my 12th week and I don't have any reflux symptoms. no more lump in throat feeling... the only side effect i have is heavy gas bloat which would give a lot discomfort, my burps gets stuck in stomach and esophagus and it would give me chest pain issue. I would suggest to wait for another couple of week, i hope things will start better. I also have to travel to Canada in Sep and have similar fears but my recent recovery has made it possible since i can eat anything i want except for few trigger foods.
Posted 7/19/2023 4:29 PM (GMT 0)
Hi fa83.

Thanks a lot for your message, it definitely helps. I guess I’ll give it a few more weeks and see how I advance. The lump in my throat also made me think that the surgery didn’t work, but I guess it’s a natural fear some of us have had here. If you don’t mind me asking, did you stop taking PPIs straight away after the surgery or you continued taking them? In my case I stopped the day of the surgery as I was told by my surgeon, but maybe it was too early? I’m scared to go back to taking them though.
I’m sorry to hear you are struggling with bloating. I also do but fortunately not as much as other people that I have read. I assume is that because I’m able to burp. Although I relate to the chest pain, in my case sometimes I feel like a gas bubble is stuck in my chest and it’s quite painful until I manage to burp it out lol.

I wish you all the best and hopefully you can enjoy your trip to Canada at your best.

Cheers
Posted 7/19/2023 6:42 PM (GMT 0)
As you probably know, you can no longer belch as you have prior to surgery. That means that the gas can get trapped as it now only has one exit. You can get inexpensive anti-gas medication that contains simethicone. I also lost my ability to vomit, which really hasn't bothered me. A lot of Board members have continued to use PPIs for a short time after surgery, and have benefited greatly from it.

Sharon
Posted 7/20/2023 3:04 AM (GMT 0)
Yes, I am still taking PPIs as my surgeon advised for 3 months post op. So I guess I ll visit him after two weeks or so to check if I should discontinue. The good thing is I was on 80mg ppi along with H2 blocker and prokinetic agents pre surgery. Now I am taking 20 mg ppi morning + evening and a suspension containing simethicone.

For the first 4 weeks I didn't have much gas bloat but did face reflux symptoms. My gas bloating started into about 6 weeks and my gastro diagnosed it with IBS as my intestines would go crazy with gas movement. Walking helps, I would strongly advise to walk every morning and evening, it will greatly benefit you

Post Edited (fa83) : 7/19/2023 7:10:05 PM (GMT-8)

Posted 7/20/2023 11:10 PM (GMT 0)
I am also 4 weeks post op. I am experiencing the chest / back pain as well and in my case it happens if I eat too fast / progress my diet too fast. The reason for it is: your food is backing up in the esophagus and your esophagus doesn’t like anything in it so if is spasming to get the food through your tiny straw like opening left after the fundoplication. The spasms can last hours and in my opinion they irritate the nerves around that area and create extreme pain. Whenever you feel this pain - regress your diet. Go back to liquids if you need. My surgeon also seemed to give me a highly unrealistic and optimistic diet plan. It is very frustrating but I’m finding the experiences on this forum and timelines are far more realistic than the surgeon gave me. Even if I chew and soften the “normal” food I get the pain. It doesnt seem worth it for me at this stage to progress the stage as even strong pain killers dont kill the esophageal spasm pain 🥴. I have a feeling your pain is from eating bigger spoons than your esophagus is handling or food impaction.
Posted 7/21/2023 3:05 AM (GMT 0)
Yes you are right. My surgeon also didn't set the expectations straight. When I told him about chest pain which would travel to back as well, he replied its not the side effect of operation and advised some tests which came back negative. And then one day I realized it's gone. I still have occasional chest pains after about 12 weeks now and I figure it's related to my burps which are stuck in my stomach. And my chest pains are always on left side around heart area.
Posted 7/21/2023 4:08 AM (GMT 0)
So interesting! I think for me its also either trapped gas or food. Mine is more right side and travels to the back too. It’s definitely no fun I really hope this gets better 🥹🥹🥹
Posted 7/21/2023 7:49 AM (GMT 0)
Give it few more weeks, it will get better and don't take stress since it makes things worse.

Post Edited (fa83) : 7/21/2023 1:57:38 AM (GMT-8)

Posted 7/26/2023 12:52 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Mmartperez and fa83.

I’m sad to hear you are experencing similar feelings. I know how frustrating it is, specially after we were told that in a month we will be eating normally with no problem. Im trying to be more patient and mainly eat soft food. It is what it is, and hopefully it will get better with time.

I am visiting someone from my surgeons team next week to ask him my questions and concerns about it. I’m concerned he will say that it’s not related to the surgery, as fa83 said.

Today I went to physical therapy with a friend and told me that my right middle back area (where the pain is located) it is quite sore. She treated a bit today so hopefully that helps.

Hopefully things will get better for all of you.

Kind regards
Posted 7/26/2023 6:45 PM (GMT 0)
Did your doctor check your gallbladder. Sometimes pain which radiates to back on right side is cause of gallstones.

Post Edited (fa83) : 7/26/2023 7:44:39 PM (GMT-8)

Posted 9/7/2023 5:17 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry for the delay in the answer. Yes I checked with the doctor about gallbladder and seems to be fine. I still suffer from this pain after I eat sometimes, although I might be getting better. I’ll check with my surgeon next month.

How is everyone else with these problems doing?

Kind regards
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