I had key hole surgery almost 7 weeks ago to remove my gall bladder. Surgery went fine. Recovery was fine. Only sore for a week or so but compared to the gall bladder pain it was nothing. Stiches were removed after 10 days and both incision had healed well.Now after almost 7 weeks I suddenly have pain on the incision site on my upper abdomen. It's not a constant pain more a shooting pain right on where the scar is and it feels.like a pulling/tearing sensation. Has any one else experienced anything like this so long after the surgery?
Yes just same, my doctor said it was adhesions. Caused by scar tissue and healing together. Google it. I still bothered by it 6 years on.
Thanks I will Google it. So is it not worth visiting the doc and just keep up with painkillers
Best to see doc if pain persists, I had scans and tests to rule out other stuff first. I find that codeine only takes the edge off and causes other problems so I tend to do without.
Hi Adrian,
How do your adhesions feel? I'm afraid I have SOD, but I'd rather have adhesions. I experience a feeling as though I have a tug or a pull where my gallbladder was. It's not constant but seems to occur when I've been sitting lots.
I had an abdominal CT scan in Sept 2015 for another illness and no adhesions were noted. Thanks!
Hi Lynda, don't think they show up on scan, can't be sure as it was a few years ago it was done. Feel much worse when sit down, seems to squash things together, what you describe seems similar. Can vary a lot aparantly, very severe can twist the intestine and partially block digestive transit (fortunately mine doesn't). Can be a tearing pain? Difficult to describe, sometimes just pulling or dull ache, side feels tender to touch when this is bad.hth
Hi Adrian,
Your post has made me feel so much better! I had my gallbladder out in 2009. My digestive tract isn't blocked, as I just had a colonoscopy this year. I'm glad your's isn't blocked, either. Cause they'd just want to do surgery which would probably result in more adhesions...
Don't have a tearing pain, just have this "I'm here" dull ache. Seems to act up after I've taken some types of vitamins or eaten a bigger meal. Large meals are out of the question as I have bile salt malobsorption. I deliberately don't palpate the area. Don't want to feel anything . My gastro has and I've felt no pain when he does it.
Thank you, this has helped me so much! My gallbladder was diseased, but showed up as okay on ultrasound. The surgeon took a chance because I told them I was in horrible pain (not). But I did have nausea, constant diarrhea (tmi) and had lost over 30 pounds. When it was removed it was brimming with small stones and sludge, but not thickened. Ugh...
Again, thanks so much!
Glad I could be of help, used to worry me before I found out what it was. Eating certain things does kick it off, I eat very low fat and virtually no dairy. Wine kicks it off, but have to live with that occasionally!
Well thank you! I must admit that the feelings have gotten more frequent the longer it's been since the surgery. Milk doesn't bother me, as long as it's lactose free. I can still have ice cream for some reason and cheese, but I do that in moderation, too.
As for wine, I can't do wine at all, but I can have rum, say, once every so often. I like my rum and coke with lime! Only one drink, mind.
Can't do beer or spirits at all unfortunately, only certain good red wines. Eggs are problem too, but strangely enough I can manage a bit of Wensleydale cheese. Taken years to discover. Oats and white fish were my only friends for a while!
I think that each person has to find out, usually by experimentation, what works and what doesn't. At the very end, before my surgery, I was eating gatorade and rasin bread once a day. I was miserable.