Gastric Pain after Weight Loss Surgery

WEIGHT REDUCTION SURGERY: HOW MUCH WILL IT HURT?
Depending upon which source you refer to, as many as 100,000 to 150,000 people undergo bariatric surgery each and every year. The ideal candidate for such procedures is someone who weight more than 100 pounds over his or her target weight or has a Body Mass Index of 35 to 40 or higher. These individuals will have tried traditional methods without success and are turning to surgery in a last-ditch effort to obtain elusive physical fitness and improve their quality of life. It works about 3/4 of the time. Be aware, though, that it can be an uncomfortable procedure.

Many people report having experienced intense pain after gastric bypass surgery. In particular, upper stomach pain after gastric bypass is fairly common, although other types of discomfort, including neck, shoulder, hip, knee, foot and back pain after gastric bypass surgery can occur. Some doctors report that, individually, there is a 1% to 5% chance that any of these symptoms or another, related health problem may occur. Collectively, though, one in every five people who undergo a bariatric procedure will suffer from some type of medical symptom, which may include severe pain in one of the aforementioned area. Patients have also been known to experience stomach or abdominal discomfort tied to eating too much, or partaking of the wrong types of food.

What about lap band surgery pain? Personal reports describe that it may in fact be less painful than other bariatric alternatives, especially gastric bypass. According to experts, this is due to the fact that the lap band is put into place laparoscopically, which is less invasive that other forms of surgery. This also reduces the length of post-surgical hospitalization as well as overall recovery time. Certain types of gastric bypass can also be completed laparoscopically; however, since lap-band surgery does not require the stomach to be cut or stapled, it is again far less traumatic and causes less overall discomfort following the completion of the procedure. Some pain is still to be expected, though, especially for the first 24 hours following the operation.

Such surgeries can also help relieve pain amongst the morbidly obese, though. As part of an October 2004 study, researchers at the University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University studies 54 patients who had undergone bariatric surgery. They found that more than half of them expressed at least partial relief in muscular or skeletal pain symptoms, while a whopping 92% claimed to have experienced a reduction in pain and or tenderness in certain muscles or soft tissues (often tied to the condition fibromyalgia). "The study clearly showed the benefit of weight loss in terms of pain, function and quality of life," said Dr. Michelle Hooper, who served as the primary investigator during the research study.