Pain at left rib cage area

lynne leck

I live in the uk i paid for my operation private just over a year ago. recently been taken over by the national health service . Met my new surgeon only 3 weeks ago and i told him everything was fine which it was .Had flu bad and i had a terrible cough my problems seem to be since then?
I have a 10cc band and i have 6.8 cc in it used to have 7.2 cc in it but had some removed back in november . Seemed better for a while but now feel tight again . But when i was tight last time i only experience discomfort not pain. Rang my new surgeons secretary today she is going to speak with him tomorrow and get back to me , mean while i continue to eat liquids only. what is surprising is i am not losing weight and have not for two month is that an idication of anything .I eat the correct potion size and dont eat high calorie food .any way i will keep you informed .i do hope its not slipped or if it is i hope unfilling it will sort it out.

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msstant

I had the left sided pain more on my side than the front of the rib cage the 2 weeks after surgery and again last week to the point where I took my pain med again. I from the beginning have had bad constipation (never had it before in my life) and I couldn't decide if this pain was gas/constipation pain or my husband and I started doing some light weight machines. I started taking a fiber pill and started going and the pain is going away now. Now I just have stretched muscle discomfort.

Tracy Woods

I was banded last week and I have the same pain, kind of a dull ache right below my left breast. Sometimes the pain will fade during the day if I take a walk or move around a little. I had a hernia that was repaired during my lap band surgery - I don't know if that has anything to do with it or not.

contraband

I was banded in August 2007. I have lost a little over 40lbs. I have only had 2 fills (total of 7.0 cc's in a 10cc band). I just started getting the pain you are all talking about 2 weeks ago. Possible causes from reading all the posts: 1) I started swimming 4x/week and maybe pulled a muscle, but I started swimming in January, 2) I'm eating too much, which I definitely am, 3) hernia, or 4) gall bladder. Also the pain was really bad today...it feels better when I push-in on the area that hurts. Also today when it was hurting a lot I walked for about a half an hour and it went away. I don't know what it is.

Tomorrow I am going to eat smaller portions of softer foods (applesauce, oatmeal,...etc...) and call my Doc. Please keep me posted as will I.

Thanks for listening,

Ellen

abitagal

Yes I have had this pain for a year. However along with the pain I contract CMV virus, which enlarged my spleen. So, for sometime I have thought it was my spleen. Recently, I went back to the doctor for the same pain, I believed the virus was back. I was then told it is my pancreas. Took all the test, everything is fine, but still the pain. I can't eat a thing. So today, I started a new search for the answer to this pain. What you have described is exactly I am experiencing. Have you seen a doctor for it yet? If so, what has he said. This is very painful and I am very tired of the pain. Please respond you are th first person to even have a clue as to what I am feeling. I thought I might be dying.

msstant

Since I got my constipation problems under control I no longer have the pain(except occasional constipated day). I started taking Benefiber every other day to every 3rd day to go. You could also change your calcium to the tums with calcium for the gas effect. If you are having the pain after eating they should check your gallbladder, it's not uncommon for overweight people who have eaten a lot of fat in their day to end up with gallbladder problems. Hope that helps you out some.

Cathy231

I did see a neuro surgeon. Since mine is in the thoracic area, it cannot be operated on. I get either a nerve block, or epidermal every 2 or 3 months. BTW, it took about 5 doctor's to finally figure my problem out.
Good luck!

Girlmoose

I was banded 12-17-07 and had pain in my upper left rib cage for 10 days. It started about 4 days after surgery. When I went in for my post op, the Dr. didn't know why i would have pain on my left side. I couldn't take deep breaths in because of the pain. I did have a low grade fever during this time of 99 to 100. They ran a CT scan and it turned out perfect. 2 days later the pain went away. I assumed it was from walking from the parking garage to the hospital and etc. a couple of times that worked some air and gas out, that caused the pain.

Then in the beg. of April, I had another attack! It hurt to breath deeply and I just wanted to hold my rib cage area, but maybe down just a little bit more. Not quite so high up in the rib cage... This lasted for two weeks and then the pain started by my port! I was going to my Dr. and they were running blood work that came back great and I didn't want to pay for another expensive CT scan that showed nothing before so they did a normal X-ray showing that the port had now flipped!

On May 8th, last Thurs. I had my 2nd surgery to flip the port and for them to check my left side to see what was causing me discomfort. I didn't think they would find anything because the "attack" was over on that side and it wasn't bothering me as much as it was. The pain was all at the port. When they went in last week to flip the port, he took some pictures with the cameras they use... kind of gross this part... You couldn't see anything for all the SCAR TISSUE! It took them 2 hours to clean it all out and flip the port back. They put me on antibiotics after this surgery and I didn't have the low grade temp. this time. I'm recovering much more normal and able to do things where in Dec. I was in bed for over 2 weeks! I'm never down that long. Always healthy and a quick healer!

The Dr. said that there was only one other patient he had ever seen with scar tissue worse then mine! I see the Dr. tomorrow for my follow up post op and have lots have questions to ask. Not sure he will have the answers though. I'm wondering if my body had an infection (which they weren't worried about because it was so low 99 - 100, not 103 degree type temp., which would mean a serious infection) and I've heard this is your bodies way of covering things up and trying to protect itself... OR, was my body trying to fight off a "foreign" object... It's been a bumpy road but I feel so much better now. I'm hoping the scar tissue stays away and my body accepts things now and quit trying to over react with the scar tissue...

This is just my experience and what happened to me and the left rib cage pain... I've had a little bit of that pain off and on since surgery but the last 2 or 3 days I haven't had it. The nurse said some of the pain after surgery in that rib cage area, was because of the cleaning out of all the scar tissue up in there and all around... I'm hoping I don't have any other problems with it and it is all behind me now and smooth sailing ahead!

Good luck to all of you and hope you find answers and solutions to your mysterious pains too!

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Wismer

I have the same thing but sometimes it is very painful. I was banded in feb and sure hope it goes away. I cant wear a bra with wire and can hardly bend over without pain.
Wismer

Buffie

Cindy,
I have the shoulder pain as well with the left-sided abdominal pain under the ribs. I had an upper GI series and ultrasound (no slip, no erosion), I go for a CT scan tomorrow. It all started when I had a 3 cc defill before plastic surgery 2 months ago. I'll be fine for a week and then BOOM the pain is back and excrutiating. I'm going for surgery in a couple of weeks to check everything out and replace the band. Did you ever figure out what's going on with your pain?

Buffie

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5'10"
Banded June 16/06
TLBC

Girlmoose

The saga continues... I thought I was doing fantastic... Until 10 days after my second surgery (to flip the port back & remove scar tissue). I was feeling great and decided to go for an hour and a half hike... Later that day, the pain started back up! Worse then ever! I thought the port had flipped again! They did an xray, which they told me it was flipped a 2nd time! My Dr. looked at the xray and had a Radiologist he uses look at my xray and they both determined it was not flipped!

I was in so much pain 3 days after the hike, I was in tears! Each day, it just felt worse... The Dr. worked me in and saw me. We went through all the things it could be and narrowed it down. The more we thought about it we decided to do an ultra sound. He wrote orders that if they found fluid they could drain it right there, while doing the ultra sound. He wanted them to look for a hernia also and whatever they could find... Sure enough, there was fluid! While using the ultra sound, they withdrew 30 c.c of blood & infection!!! They give you a shot to numb it up and it took maybe 5 minutes for the procedure and INSTANT relief! It felt great being numbed up!

They ran test and grew things in dishes over the long weekend. Tues. I got a call from the Dr. office advising that it was a staph infection! They changed my antibiotics that I was on my 2nd bout with, to a really strong antibiotic for severe infections. Even though I was on an antibiotic since seeing the Dr. last Thurs. and withdrawing the infection, Sun. night and Monday, I felt like the infection might still be brewing and growing...

I started the new antibiotics Tues. afternoon (yesterday) and I already feel so much BETTER!!! I can actually walk, move and bend with a lot less pain! My Dr. & Radiology Dr. said I have a great chance of healing with the new antibiotics & getting a lot of that bad infection out so the antibiotics can work even better to kill what is remaining. They want me to rest and basically do nothing while this heals.

They don't know how I caught the infection... Could be in the surgery room... Could be from touching money or anything and then touching the incision area and something getting in... Who knows... I really think it was from surgery though because I've had a low grade infection (temp 99 - 100 for 10 days) after my first surgery in Dec. and it seems to keep flaring back up.

After my 2nd surgery to flip the port they did put me on an antibiotic. They tested the infection & scar tissue they removed when flipping the port, so it should have cleared up after that. There were 6 -8 antibiotics that showed would work on the infection and they gave me one of them... However, 4 days after completing those antibiotics, the pain came back! I have faith that these super strong antibiotics should clear it up for the last time, after removing a lot of the infection. I have some energy today and actually beginning to feel like my ol' self!

This is just my experience from pain on the left rib cage area and the port area now. You might ask your Dr. if the pain could be from an infection... Keep an eye on your temps. so you can report it to the Dr. and see if this is a possibility... Good luck to all!!!

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Girlmoose

Buffie,
I wanted to mention to you... Once I had the second surgery and he cleaned up all my scar tissue(left side) & flipped my port(right side), the pain in my left rib cage went away! The CT scans and ultra sound, does not show scar tissue. My Dr. was completely surprised when he opened me up and saw so much scar tissue... He took a picture with the camera while doing surgery and you couldn't even see the cord! It was all around it, getting caught up in it... So you might not know and answer until he looks inside... Unless, there is some other xray test to see scar tissue inside the cavity???? My Dr. said none of them show scar tissue... Bummer!

Good luck tomorrow!!!

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