My Medical History

In 2008, when I decided I just didn’t like being overweight anymore (2 lbs shy of 300 lbs.), I started researching doctors and surgeries and made the plunge. I wasn’t sick, although I do have a lot of allergies, but no high blood pressure, no diabetes, no pain, just fat and I hated it and when I learned I met the criteria for bariatric surgery and that my health insurance would cover the cost, it seemed so easy.

I had Gastric By-Pass (Roux-en-Y) in July of 2008.

AND, I lost over 165 lbs., although the last 10-15 lbs. keeps fluctuating, but that part is okay with me.  Since this surgery, I do get the hiccups on a regular basis, which no one has had an explanation for.  I did everything I was supposed to do, regular doctor checkups, taking vitamins, making certain to get enough protein, many small meals throughout the day and not just a couple of big ones, etc. but, I’ve had many, many complications since then, that so far, there are no answers for.

*Incidentally, my sister-in-law had the same surgery, exactly one week before mine. Prior to her surgery, she had high blood pressure and diabetes, which both resolved after she lost the weight.  She had a different doctor and the only difference between our surgeries was the drain.  She received one and was actually upset when she came to visit me in the hospital and learned I didn’t get one.  She questioned my doctor during her visit and he told her he was “trying something new.”  I’m still not sure if this caused any of my problems, but she has had no complications at all.

In late winter, 2009, I had severe right side abdominal pain, ended up in the emergency room, and learned I had developed a kidney stone.

          For myself, this was painful, but not a huge deal.  I passed it after four

days, and everything else went back to normal.

In Spring of 2009, I started having severe abdominal pains (higher than the

kidney stone pain, under my ribs on the right side, but close to my

belly button), right after eating.  This would happen once or twice, every couple of weeks, it was intermittent, not constant.

But, when it happened, it would be so bad I would be doubled over and in tears lasting from anywhere to just a half-hour to more than three or four hours.  Occasionally I would vomit or pass gas and it would subside a little. I don’t burp, have never been able to, just the once in a blue moon time, it does it on its own.  Because I had a lot going on personally, I tried to ignore it, figuring I had eaten too much or it was just severe dumping syndrome, even though I hadn’t had any sugar, but by the end of June I finally ended up in the emergency room again and the doctor told me I was having a gall bladder attack.  After a CT Scan, they stated I needed my gall bladder removed (cholecystectomy), since my gall bladder was infected with stones. My same bariatric surgeon performed this surgery in July, 2009. He also repaired a small, internal hernia, at the same time, that I was not even aware of having and I didn’t have any symptoms from it.

Within two weeks, all of the same symptoms returned.  

It felt as though I was still having gall bladder attacks, even though it

was removed.  I also started having severe bouts of insomnia, which has remained consistent, along with muscle cramps in my legs and feet, especially at night.  But, when I mentioned this to any of the doctors, including my surgeon later, they acted as though it wasn’t a big deal.

My bariatric surgeon was “out of town” or “unavailable” every time I called, so I tried several other doctors, only to be referred back to him.  I’m still not totally clear why, but it seems once you have had gastric bypass, no other doctor wants to treat you, so if you’re considering bariatric surgery, make sure you really, really like your doctor.  Needless to say, I returned to my original surgeon, since I didn’t think I had a choice, even though he treated me as though it was all in my head or as though I just wanted pain medications, which is so not the case for me. I don’t like taking any medications, never have, probably never will.

After test on top of test, my doctor decided I needed Exploratory Surgery to look for Adhesions (Scar Tissue). This surgery was performed in October of 2009.

Supposedly, I did have some adhesions, which he removed, although I have no way of confirming this.  I do know, it’s pretty common to develop adhesions after any abdominal surgery and once you have it, there is no guarantee they won’t come back, it’s a vicious cycle.

Unfortunately, this all happened right in the middle of our country’s recession or depression, whatever you want to call it and since I had been off work since the end of June, I lost my job as well as my health insurance.  This doctor was nice enough, to do one complimentary (free) follow up visit, which was in early November and for a short time, it seemed it was better.

By January of 2010, it started again.  Still intermittent, approximately once every two weeks, sometimes more, sometimes less.  All the same symptoms, severe pain, occasional vomit or pass gas. Sometimes I would eat and it would feel like the food got stuck, or that I was already full after only having a couple of small bites.  I also had alternating constipation and diarrhea (two or three days with no bowel movements, then explosions, then it would start all over again). The insomnia and muscle cramps continued too.

I still didn’t have a job, no health insurance, so I didn’t think I had anywhere to turn.  I had no pain medication during any of this time either, which meant it was true suffering.

Over the next months, I tried changing my diet and doing research on my own. I thought my symptoms fit for Celiac Disease, IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), Lactose Intolerance.  So, I ate less fats, more fiber,  I cut out milk products for a while and tried eliminating bread too, but nothing helped.

I took antacids, gas relief medications and even tried pro-biotics, thinking something would help and that it had to be me.

In January of 2011,---still with no job or health insurance,  I developed another hernia.

Upper abdomen, right side, right next to my belly button and by the incision from my exploratory surgery.  This one pops out when I cough or sneeze,  or move the wrong way. It only hurts when its out and I learned how to push it back in (reduce it), on my own.  This isn’t advisable, since you can end up with an obstruction, but I still had no health insurance and didn’t think I could go to the doctor.

By May of 2011, my pain symptoms progressed, from once or twice a

month, to once or twice a week (severe pain, occasional vomit, sometimes this is undigested food or a greenish/clear liquid, or pass gas, alternating constipation and diarrhea).  I decided it couldn’t wait anymore and I was in too much pain, so I called my original surgeon’s office, assuming I had to see him anyways, since no one would help me before.

Because I still didn’t have health insurance, the office manager referred me to a different facility, which offered financial assistance, and where my doctor was an attending physician.  Even though I was seeing residents (doctor’s still in school), my surgeon was supposed to be overseeing everything they were doing and still in charge of my case.

I saw several different residents between the months of May and August, and unfortunately, there was a lot of confusion. 

Keep in mind, during all of this time, the residents were not allowed to write prescriptions, so I was not taking any pain medications, just  an over-the-counter medication to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) 2 times a day.  One performed an EGD, another sent me for blood-work, a CT Scan, another sent me for an upper GI/small bowel series.  However, all tests kept coming back negative.  They did tell me I had chronic gastroenteritis and wanted me to see a specialist (which was not covered by the financial assistance), but they still wanted to perform the surgery to fix the hernia.  During this time, I learned my original surgeon didn’t have any idea what was going on and had assumed I had already had my surgery for the hernia.  When he finally got involved, they scheduled my surgery for the beginning of August, but totally ignored all of my other symptoms and were only worried about the hernia.  My doctor insisted on seeing me in his office, stating he needed to coordinate everything; but once I arrived at his office, it appeared he had no idea who I was, and he laughed at how large my file was.

I was so upset, I left his office crying, and because I felt I couldn’t trust him anymore, I cancelled the surgery.  No one deserves to be treated like that and if your doctor is treating you as if the pain isn’t real, as though it’s all in your head, or that you’re only looking for drugs…FIND A NEW DOCTOR.

During this interim between doctors, I started getting some other symptoms as well:   I would get a headache, get light headed, dizzy and extremely shaky, while also sweating. 

Because of a conversation with a friend, whom is a nurse, I bought a blood glucose meter and started checking my blood sugar regularly.  During the episodes, when these symptoms happened, by blood sugar would be extremely low (in the 30’s).  I started drinking orange juice when this would happen and the symptoms would go away.  However, then it would rise to extreme levels too (over 400), in which case, with no medications to treat it, I would take a nap and hope it went back down.

Also, the abdominal pain started to be on both sides under my ribs.  The right side hurts after eating, and the left side hurts occasionally for no apparent reason, although when it starts on that side, the area actually get hot to touch, like a heating pad is on the inside of it (my cats love it and want to lay on me).  And, when its severe my upper back or shoulders actually feel like they are burning and the pain radiates all the way down my arm too. 

By the end of August, 2011, my husband, whom had been laid-off as well, finally found a new job and we obtained health insurance. 

Not knowing where to turn, I made an appointment with a gastroenterologist, making certain he was through a totally different hospital system.

He was very nice, listened, and although he referred me to another bariatric surgeon, he actually believed me and prescribed some interim medications (an anti-spasm medication and some pain meds for me to take when it was severe) to ease the symptoms a little. They didn’t truly help, and I only took when extreme, but it was comforting to know someone cared.

In September, 2011, I saw the new surgeon, whom took over my case (especially since I received a certified letter from my original surgeon terminating me as his patient and the facility that offered the financial assistance is now expecting full payment).  I had to retrieve all of my medical records for him to review, which took some time.

Since I had the copies, I also reviewed my medical records, even though some of it I didn’t truly understand. However, I learned I have a hiatal hernia as well. No one told me this either, and I’m not sure if this is contributing to anything, but I will be talking to the new doctor about this too.

By the end of September, I was still waiting for the new surgeon to review my records and the symptoms progressed further. 

After spending an entire weekend, with the severe pain becoming constant and constant nausea, occasional vomit with bile, a strange metallic taste in my mouth and a fever, I ended up in the emergency room again. They performed an ultrasound of all of my abdominal organs, which unfortunately didn’t reveal much except a lot of abdominal gas, blocking out my pancreas and making it hard for the ultrasound tech to find my spleen.  They did more blood work, a urine test, which returned normal,  and sent me home with more pain meds, some anti-nausea medication and told me to see the surgeon and the gastroenterologist within one to two days.