What pain meds work well for Gastric bypass patients?

Posted by aprilarlady @aprilarlady, Mar 24, 2017

Good Morning. I am a gastric bypass patient 13 years out from surgery and maintaining my 150 lb weight loss. I have chronic daily pain from arthritis, degenerative disc disease, cervical herniated disc(s), torn meniscus, labral tear in my hip and recurring tendonitis in various places. I take Hydrocodone/Apap 10mg/325 4 times daily for pain since as gastric bypass patients we are not supposed to take NSAIDS. I get very little relief from this. It is in pill form. Does anyone else that is a weight loss surgery patient have this issue and find that it is due to malabsorption and/or anyone taking pain meds in liquid form get better relief?

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@parus

At the risk of being scoffed at-the weather has been playing havoc with my body. Barometer all over the place and all I can do is roll with thus. Botox injections for TMJ did not help :(. Unsure as t whether to try another round. $360 out of pocket is a risk on a fixed income.

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@Parus Your right as the weather does have a big deal on our bodies when the humidity and dew point where high I hurt . That's probably here as when I felt o.k. it was in the 70,,s but a couple of days ago weather changed that's it thanks for reminder

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Hi
I am going to try to attach an article about using NSAIDS after WLS.
Hope this helps answer the question.

http://www.obesityhelp.com/articles/can-patients-keep-taking-nsaids-after-bariatric-surgery

Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

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Hello I am a 38 year old female who is about to celebrate 5 yrs post op from the gastric bypass. 3 years ago I had a tummy tuck in which I almost died due to being septic. They kept me in the hospital and pumped me with antibiotics. Shortly after recovery I started having bad headaches. These headaches kept getting worse. Finally 2 years later I started seeing a pain specialist who gave me narcotic pain meds which did help. After being on them for a year the federal government began cracking down on pain specialists and my dr was forced to take me off of them but leaving me in pain and with no answers. Finally I went back to my weightloss surgeon and explained everything to him and he believed that the antibiotics from the tummy tuck messed up my natural flora which caused an imbalance of many of my bodies systems. So he told me to take probiotics and fiber. I have been on this for a small period of time but do see a difference in pain. I hope this helps.

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I had my surgery at Mayo in 1998, lost 130 # in 10 months, have gone up and down 5# periodically when stressed. I was on antidepressant regimen prior and after surgery noticed meds weren't working as well, had them adjusted and increased enough to cover nonabsorption and have remained stable. I have had several episodes of quickly decreasing Hgb and Hct requiring subdural B vitamins monthly and Iron infusions weekly, once for over 2 years to reach Hgb of 10. To date those are the only nutrients my internist and hematologist have dealt with though they tell me to get more sunshine as vitamins D is low. I've been blessed with pain not playing any part in my health problems until 2 yrs ago when everything hurt, I can't take showers as the water pressure is too painful! Hematologist says it's Fibromyalgia and Internist doesn't believe in Fibro so imagine he thinks psychsomatic. I come from an addictive family and want to stay away from opiods or addictive Rxs though I tried Gabba with no noticable improvement. Internist says get more exercise, I religiously do resistance and cardio 30-45 min daily, crying the entire time and it only seems to make it worse. I sleep 18-20 hours a day, hard enough I don't hear the phone or an alarm. Any suggestions? Is Fibromyalgia real? I had what was referred to as pernicious anemia BEFORE I HAD THE SURGERY (first Dx age 15). Then they said it was Chronic Fatigue Syndrome followed by an unacceptable Epstein-Barr titre. I am house bound and fear bed ridden isn't far away! Has anyone tried DMSO? Marijuana? Sorry so long, I'll learn to do better.

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@dandi

I had my surgery at Mayo in 1998, lost 130 # in 10 months, have gone up and down 5# periodically when stressed. I was on antidepressant regimen prior and after surgery noticed meds weren't working as well, had them adjusted and increased enough to cover nonabsorption and have remained stable. I have had several episodes of quickly decreasing Hgb and Hct requiring subdural B vitamins monthly and Iron infusions weekly, once for over 2 years to reach Hgb of 10. To date those are the only nutrients my internist and hematologist have dealt with though they tell me to get more sunshine as vitamins D is low. I've been blessed with pain not playing any part in my health problems until 2 yrs ago when everything hurt, I can't take showers as the water pressure is too painful! Hematologist says it's Fibromyalgia and Internist doesn't believe in Fibro so imagine he thinks psychsomatic. I come from an addictive family and want to stay away from opiods or addictive Rxs though I tried Gabba with no noticable improvement. Internist says get more exercise, I religiously do resistance and cardio 30-45 min daily, crying the entire time and it only seems to make it worse. I sleep 18-20 hours a day, hard enough I don't hear the phone or an alarm. Any suggestions? Is Fibromyalgia real? I had what was referred to as pernicious anemia BEFORE I HAD THE SURGERY (first Dx age 15). Then they said it was Chronic Fatigue Syndrome followed by an unacceptable Epstein-Barr titre. I am house bound and fear bed ridden isn't far away! Has anyone tried DMSO? Marijuana? Sorry so long, I'll learn to do better.

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@dandi
Welcome!
I am so sorry for what you have going through.
I had my sleeve surgery almost 2 years ago.
I've lost 90 pounds but gained 5 pounds and I've remained there. However, I do go up and down another 5 pounds (10 pound total).
I have not reached my goal. Still need to go down around 15-20 pounds.
I attribute most of this weight fluctuation due to all the meds I take, including steroid shots and oral meds, anti-anxiety and a host of others.
I was diagonsed with Fibromyalgia over 20 years ago.
It was actually diagnosed by my dentist who also diagnosed me with TMJ. It is not unusual for them to go hand in hand.
Anyhow, there are many doctors who do not believe it exists.
I believe these people are closed minded because you cannot actually SEE Fibro or test for it.
It is diagnosed by symptoms and the elimenation of other ailments.
You are NOT losing it with regards to it.
I also come from a parent who abused prescribed medication.
I have always been VERY careful with things like opioids. I always take less, if at all.
When the Fibro pain became more than I could bare, I did a few things that helped me for a long time, until I aged and developed other things like osteo-arthritis, etc.
The first thing I did was diet (it was before I had WLS).
Next, I started to exercise daily which was just walking. I was so out of shape, my hubby had to drag me by the end of the walk. Soon, I could not only do it myself, but I also started working out on a treadmill and with weights.
I also did something I was trying to avoid, take meds. I took 10mg of Amitriptolyne (spelling?). It was a VERY low dose. It helped me to get into the deep sleep.
Aquatic PT, chiropratics and theraputic massage rounded off my treatment.
Within a month, my horrific pain reduced to a small inconvenience, once in a while.
Hope this helps!

Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

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@dandi

I had my surgery at Mayo in 1998, lost 130 # in 10 months, have gone up and down 5# periodically when stressed. I was on antidepressant regimen prior and after surgery noticed meds weren't working as well, had them adjusted and increased enough to cover nonabsorption and have remained stable. I have had several episodes of quickly decreasing Hgb and Hct requiring subdural B vitamins monthly and Iron infusions weekly, once for over 2 years to reach Hgb of 10. To date those are the only nutrients my internist and hematologist have dealt with though they tell me to get more sunshine as vitamins D is low. I've been blessed with pain not playing any part in my health problems until 2 yrs ago when everything hurt, I can't take showers as the water pressure is too painful! Hematologist says it's Fibromyalgia and Internist doesn't believe in Fibro so imagine he thinks psychsomatic. I come from an addictive family and want to stay away from opiods or addictive Rxs though I tried Gabba with no noticable improvement. Internist says get more exercise, I religiously do resistance and cardio 30-45 min daily, crying the entire time and it only seems to make it worse. I sleep 18-20 hours a day, hard enough I don't hear the phone or an alarm. Any suggestions? Is Fibromyalgia real? I had what was referred to as pernicious anemia BEFORE I HAD THE SURGERY (first Dx age 15). Then they said it was Chronic Fatigue Syndrome followed by an unacceptable Epstein-Barr titre. I am house bound and fear bed ridden isn't far away! Has anyone tried DMSO? Marijuana? Sorry so long, I'll learn to do better.

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Parnitious amenua is not good. But maybe it was ok and my mom had other things wrong. I stay away from naturalist as they blame you via your mind all the time. I would like to see them with all your issues. I feel so sorry for you. Have you been to Mayo?

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@oregongirl

Parnitious amenua is not good. But maybe it was ok and my mom had other things wrong. I stay away from naturalist as they blame you via your mind all the time. I would like to see them with all your issues. I feel so sorry for you. Have you been to Mayo?

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I originally had an ileojejunostomy (one of the 1st WLS and the one which killed the most patients) I had that taken down and a more modern procedure done at Mayo in 1998 by Dr Star or Sarr.

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@grandmar

@dandi
Welcome!
I am so sorry for what you have going through.
I had my sleeve surgery almost 2 years ago.
I've lost 90 pounds but gained 5 pounds and I've remained there. However, I do go up and down another 5 pounds (10 pound total).
I have not reached my goal. Still need to go down around 15-20 pounds.
I attribute most of this weight fluctuation due to all the meds I take, including steroid shots and oral meds, anti-anxiety and a host of others.
I was diagonsed with Fibromyalgia over 20 years ago.
It was actually diagnosed by my dentist who also diagnosed me with TMJ. It is not unusual for them to go hand in hand.
Anyhow, there are many doctors who do not believe it exists.
I believe these people are closed minded because you cannot actually SEE Fibro or test for it.
It is diagnosed by symptoms and the elimenation of other ailments.
You are NOT losing it with regards to it.
I also come from a parent who abused prescribed medication.
I have always been VERY careful with things like opioids. I always take less, if at all.
When the Fibro pain became more than I could bare, I did a few things that helped me for a long time, until I aged and developed other things like osteo-arthritis, etc.
The first thing I did was diet (it was before I had WLS).
Next, I started to exercise daily which was just walking. I was so out of shape, my hubby had to drag me by the end of the walk. Soon, I could not only do it myself, but I also started working out on a treadmill and with weights.
I also did something I was trying to avoid, take meds. I took 10mg of Amitriptolyne (spelling?). It was a VERY low dose. It helped me to get into the deep sleep.
Aquatic PT, chiropratics and theraputic massage rounded off my treatment.
Within a month, my horrific pain reduced to a small inconvenience, once in a while.
Hope this helps!

Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

Jump to this post

I've been doing a strong 30 to 45 min of exercise daily for over a year and I cry throughout and go back to sleep following. Do you sleep 16 or more hrs daily?

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Hi ! I just found this group and wanted to let you all know some info about me and I’m dealing with so much of the same things as many of you. I’m 30, had the surgery at 22 and had losts of complications with stomach being too small and lost 100 lbs in 3 months . Had gallbladder removed 6 weeks after my gastric.... I was 318 lbs day of aurgery and today I’m 145-149, I don’t stress my weight because I think I look good and I know a lot of the tummy is extra skin. But at my smallest I was down to 128 lbs and my whole family was terrified I was going to die but I thought i looked great? Anyways fast forward to 2012 when my back started to hurt all the time my upper back between my shoulders like I’m being squeezed by a giant. my hands go numb and feet too, my ribs hurt so bad I can’t wear a bra, anything on my hips that’s too tight makes my back hurt too?? One day I try and stand up and can’t feel my legs or even my bladder.. I could t push to pee and was rushed to the ER Spent a week there got every test under the sun done a full body mri.. cat scan even spinal tap and nothing was coming up.. they did mental evaluation and said I was fine there too??? Thy discharged me with a walker and said to practice standing and slowly walking at home .... so I did and I got it back but it’s still been hard to walk and not feel like I’m going to fall over on bad days . My hips and back hurt so bad all the time!!! In 2014 I got pregnant with my first full term baby and pregnancy was hard but not awful .. I was very anemic and needed iron transfusion.. I went to pain management since 2012 with not much help. Butran patches and tramadol didn’t help at all. Gaba also made me feel yuck! Baclofen also did nothing. I kept seeing my pain doctor and in 2016 got pregnant with my second baby and had an awful pregnancy. Extreme pain . Constant iron infusions in fear id go into labor and bleed out. My teeth also at this point started getting pretty bad and no dentist understood why .. even asked me if I did meth! By month 8 I could hardly walk and baby was in birth canal the last 6 weeks of pregnancy 🥴. After I had him with in 6 months all my teeth fell out or broke out. I had to get all my teeth pulledd in April and just got dentures 5 weeks ago! No I’m 2012 I was diagnosed with EHLORS DANLOS SYNDROME to which they blame everything wrong with me on the fact. So here I am on my 4th pain management dr who finally gets that I’m not able to function and have a 1&3 year old and he put me on MS Contin 15mg every 12 hours that’s not working at all and 10mg Norco every 6 hours that’s not working at all... I see hi m again next Friday.. what should I ask him for for chronic pain. I can’t live like this anymore . I’m losing my mind. I can’t even lift my kids !

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@dandi

I've been doing a strong 30 to 45 min of exercise daily for over a year and I cry throughout and go back to sleep following. Do you sleep 16 or more hrs daily?

Jump to this post

@dandi
Good Morning!
At that time, I was able to build up to working out 1 hour a day. I mixed weights and cardio. Sleeping 8-9 hours was no problem.
Today, I am thrilled if I get 3-4 hours without interruption.
I know it is not healthy, but if I wake up to use the bathroom or turn, that's it for me. My pain starts to kick in and I can't get back to sleep. I try to avoid pain meds and I cannot take NSAIDs, so all that I can take are x-tra strength Tylenol.
Ronnie (GRANDMAr)

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