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Hello everyone

E

ernestdefoe

Member
My name is Ernest and I had gastric sleeve surgery yesterday May 31st. Had to go back today for a follow up where the surgeon checked my incisions to see how they were. My only problem and this started today when I get a severe cramp in my stomach and then sometimes it feels like someone is crushing my heart I’m sure most of my symptoms come from gas pain. Please tell me this feeling goes away soon.
 
I think you're right Ernest and jeez, you're only one day out! It's common to have discomfort for a while after any surgery. Didn't your doctor tell you this? You can't expect to feel 100 percent after just one day.

However, a phone call to the nurse should suffice. The staff will record every complication you may be having and document your brief episodes of pain. Follow your doctor's instructions TO THE LETTER, taking in only liquids, then semi-solid, then soft, then solid in the prescribed amounts and it will all go away. Your own pain threshold and healing journey will be similar and yet different from others. Just obey your doctor and concentrate on sticking to your diet, getting enough water (8 glasses a day) and meditation on positive thought (or prayer). There have been hundreds of patients here in this group and none of them died from this surgery, though some had adjustment problems. YOU WILL BE FINE!
 
Well he did say I’d have pain around the incision sites but he never mentioned the cramps and feeling like something is squeezing my heart. He did say I’d have some discomfort because of the gas but never told me what to expect.
 
Probably a good time to mention that gas is pumped or piped in before surgery, but after surgery, there's no way out. So it has to find its way out through muscle fat and skin. I remember the intense pain in my arms and shoulders, especially.
 
Hi Ernest, If you think your symptoms are out of the ordinary, perhaps you should the surgeon's office and explain your symptoms to him/her and see what they think. I definitely had pain directly after my surgery but not a pain like yours. I'm really sorry you are experiencing this. I know my whole body was uncomfortable, and I had pain like Diane described (arms and shoulders). The best thing to do is check with your doctor.
 
Having gone through many surgeries before gastric bypass I was a been there done that kind of person. Most of the time I could handle it. The one surgery that affected me the worst pain wise was hip replacement after the bypass. Prior i had a DNC after a miscarriage then after two kids two years apart I had left ovary removal with cyst inside the size of a lemon, and or course they cut me all the way across to take my appendix, wasn’t told about that til after. I had serious reaction to pain med and anesthesia I scared dr cause I stayed out for almost 10 hours on a one hour procedure. Learned to warn doctors about that. Then a year later I had a tubal. This time I had violent reaction puking and diarrhea at same time. Now I warn dr about that too. Had a couple of kidney stones after becoming dehydrated a couple of times. That is when I would only drink soda, mostly with no ice to dilute it. Bad young me. I had several orthopedic surgeries for repair of torn ACL and almost non existence of meniscus in left knee. I had tendons on outside of ankles shortened for chronic sprains in both ankles. I had hysterectomy that was determined botched two years after the surgery. (cut off my right kidney flow with 9 staples) Had gall bladder removed for gall stones. follow up to hysterectomy I had five kidney procedures over 2 year to repair the cut off. A couple of years later I Was in motorcycle accident hit by semi, broken left ribs, broken left hip and broken left ankle, breaks in both bones in right forearm above the wrist and right little finger. Right eye socket was fractured and a barrette in my hair damaged my scalp. Lots of hardware in and then later removed cause my body doesn’t like surgical steel. (a year afterwards took motorcycle safety class scored second highest on written and road skills test). Did well for quite a time then had gastric bypass. My team was very thorough on explaining most of the things to expect, for which I am grateful. 10 months after gastric is when I had my hip replacement. I can share that I was not prepared for that amount of pain afterwards. Especially after all the proceeding I events. I am good now. And a year past the hip surgery. Some days are tough but I am tough too.

you have us to help you move in the right direction and point you to who to talk to for your journey. You can vent without judgement and share the good stuff too. There is a lot of useful information recipes and support here. Ask questions read old posts, you never know what you will find.
 
I will always suggest mentioning any pain to your doctor and/or team. That being said, esophageal spasms can feel very much like heart pain. My surgeon called the entire upper half of my torso the construction zone and said pain and spasms were to be expected. But again, always keep your team fully updated, in case it turns into a longer term thing or something more unusual happens.
 
Thanks everyone. I ended up calling my surgeon and he basically said it was a spasm and as far as the other to take some Tums because it could be acid reflux. He did state that if the duration and frequency increases that I might need to pay a trip to the ER. So far today the spasms and such haven’t been that bad. Thanks again everyone.
 
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