I might be down for the count for a few....

Dajerseyrat

Well-Known Member
Well as some of you know, I had bariatric surgery 2 years ago and lost well over 80lbs and have become way more active and fell back in love with the passions of my 20's. No, not her again... I fell back in love with mountain biking after a 20+ year break...I even got a new fancy bike and been logging mile after mile and making some new friends and staying in shape. I even signed up for my first race in March.
Well during late summer I started getting some pains in my left flank and mid abdominal area, which felt like a runners cramp or side stitch and it would go away. Well recently I got it back pretty bad and sought medical attention cause Im super paranoid having lost my father, my uncle and a good friend to all sorts of internal cancer, and I figured if something is wrong I rather catch it early. Plus it didnt feel like a normal sore or strained muscle.
Well the good news is all of the tests so far dont show any abnormalities as far as cancer would be concerned, but it did show a small hiatal hernia as well as a rather large gallstone. I was aware that the side effects of bariatric surgery was gallbladder issues down the road, and now Im down that road and may need it removed if this is causing my pain.
Funny thing is the pain is not on the side my gallbladder is on but closer to where my pancreas or stomach would be and pulls downward my abdominal. Its a weird feeling for sure...I thought exercise brought it on and managed to do 23 hard miles last week with my belly wrapped up. But now I do notice it coming on more often after I eat, which is a symptom of the gallbladder.
I really thought I was done with all my surgeries and really dont want to undergo another surgery and recovery. I remember the worst part of my bariatric surgery was waiting for my abdominal walls to heal and I felt weak in the mid section for a good year afterwards and really dont want to get set back like this again..
Im going to my surgeon today and will have a better idea if I have to go under the knife again....
 

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JimN

Captain Wildcat
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Im going to my surgeon today and will have a better idea if I have to go under the knife again....

I had my gall bladder removed at 17. I had three tiny scars, and recovery was pretty quick as I recall. To be honest, it doesn't sound like your pain is coming from the gall stone, although that doesn't mean they won't want to remove it. Good luck!
 

Juggernaut

Master of the Metaphor
Well as some of you know, I had bariatric surgery 2 years ago and lost well over 80lbs and have become way more active and fell back in love with the passions of my 20's. No, not her again... I fell back in love with mountain biking after a 20+ year break...I even got a new fancy bike and been logging mile after mile and making some new friends and staying in shape. I even signed up for my first race in March.
Well during late summer I started getting some pains in my left flank and mid abdominal area, which felt like a runners cramp or side stitch and it would go away. Well recently I got it back pretty bad and sought medical attention cause Im super paranoid having lost my father, my uncle and a good friend to all sorts of internal cancer, and I figured if something is wrong I rather catch it early. Plus it didnt feel like a normal sore or strained muscle.
Well the good news is all of the tests so far dont show any abnormalities as far as cancer would be concerned, but it did show a small hiatal hernia as well as a rather large gallstone. I was aware that the side effects of bariatric surgery was gallbladder issues down the road, and now Im down that road and may need it removed if this is causing my pain.
Funny thing is the pain is not on the side my gallbladder is on but closer to where my pancreas or stomach would be and pulls downward my abdominal. Its a weird feeling for sure...I thought exercise brought it on and managed to do 23 hard miles last week with my belly wrapped up. But now I do notice it coming on more often after I eat, which is a symptom of the gallbladder.
I really thought I was done with all my surgeries and really dont want to undergo another surgery and recovery. I remember the worst part of my bariatric surgery was waiting for my abdominal walls to heal and I felt weak in the mid section for a good year afterwards and really dont want to get set back like this again..
Im going to my surgeon today and will have a better idea if I have to go under the knife again....

First, really glad to hear it isn’t the big “C”. That before and after photo is wild! Anyway, the trails will be here when you’re ready for them so do the needful and know we’re pulling for you.
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
Good luck, and keep us posted!
hoping for a best case fix-up.
 

roc

Well-Known Member
Good luck!, my wife had really bad pain in her shoulder area, turns out, there is something called referred pain, she wound up having emergency surgery to have her Gallbladder removed. That was over 11 years ago, all good.
 

Soundguy

#SenditGuy
Team MTBNJ Halter's
That sucks but also great that it’s not cancer related. That before and after picture is crazy!
 

Delish

Well-Known Member
Team MTBNJ Halter's
I can relate to gallbladder pain. I suffered through years of discomfort after eating certain foods without knowing what he problem was. Finally one dreadful evening I googled my symptoms and had one of those "duh" moments. A couple weeks later I was on the table having a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. It was a life changer. Now I can eat a whole plate of doner kebab without writhing in pain all night. I'm not sure how it compares to the bariatric surgery you had but after about 3 days I was ready to get on the trainer and after a week I was riding again.
 

jdog

Shop: Halter's Cycles
Shop Keep
You aren’t missing much for riding conditions now anyway.

Hope too see you back on your feet shortly.

I’m going to need some major grunt work once 6mr dries out a hair.
 

Dajerseyrat

Well-Known Member
Well, just got back from the doctor's and the good news is that he doesn't want to automatically jump into a gallbladder surgery. He feels my symptoms are more musculoskeletal related at this point given the location and being asymptomatic. He also doesn't see anything in my scans that would indicate any cause for concern, and says most bariatric patients show positive for a small hernia. He's not too concerned about the gallbladder and says if it's not broke, don't fix it.
3 weeks of ibuprofen and try not to do anything that aggravates my abdomen and we will see where we stand from there.
He did say that it could be some internal scar tissue or the beginning of a hernia and said a last resort would be an exploratory laproscopic surgery, in which he would also remove the gallbladder while he was in there. But so far, it seems like no surgery in my imidiate future thank God...
 
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