Post-MALS surgery

Hi! My now 16 year old daughter had MALS surgery 15 months ago. Seemed to show some improvement but now she is in pain again. Not sure what to do. So frustrating! We happened to run into the surgeon a while a back and mentioned the pain to her but she did not offer any advice. Do we go back to surgeon or pediatric gastro doctor? I am just not sure that in my local area that either are really experts in this. Even my personal gastro doctor acted as though MALS did not exist. My daughter is getting is getting increasingly frustrated and depressed. Thanks!

@stephcaggiano - did your daughter have a follow up CT angio to see if celiac artery is patent?

She had a follow up something????? I don't think it was a CT but an ultrasound? They were looking at the velocity in the artery. It was improved but still not normal rate. Now I just found a support group and they are suggesting it could be nerve issue now and not vascular. I am going to go to GI next week to see if we get new CT scan. They also suggested a block to test to see whether nerve issue or not?

@stephcaggiano - her symptoms might be from still lower velocity of blood flow. A specific CT angio would be very helpful. Pain could of course also be nerve pain. At surgery nerve ganglia are removed- but, there still could be nerve pain.

Thanks for your help! Are the nerve ganglia always removed?

@stephcaggiano - I am not sure, but my surgeon told me he was doing it.

i am 3 weeks post Mals surgery and still in pain. my dr has scheduled a CT scan to make sure nothing else going on. what else could it be? i have pain in my belly button and on the right side where they did nerve block . i havnt been able to sleep through the night. i wake up every 2 hours with pain.

I had my surgery almost a year ago and since my surgery I'm having a hard time keeping food down. I get server cramps and diarrhea and vomiting. I've had numerous tests and they all come back normal. They diagnosis with IBS and put on numerous types of meds. No one can tell me why I'm having this issue and I was wondering if anyone else is experiencing this issue. I have headaches and I have no appetite.

This must be so frustrating and painful. Is it possible to get a second opinion from another doctor? I know sometimes doctors act offended by this but it's your body. Insurance is always an issue, too, whether they will pay for a second opinion. I had bouts of nausea, vomiting, extreme abdominal gut pain, then diarrhea 3 - 4 days every month. After endless tests and wrong diagnoses, they determined it was caused by strictures in my intestines, presumably from radiation I had 30 years ago. Apparently, doctors figured out this was a long-term side effect. I had surgery for two strictures in January 2020. I was used to taking Imodium before the surgery but, wow! Uncontrollable diarrhea. They tried a lot of meds on me and what works best is Lomotil up to 10 pills a day. I am taking Nortriptyline which is a depression med but it also acts as a good anti-diarrheal med. I have had every test known - CT, ultrasound, upper endoscopy, colonoscopy, internal and external ultrasound, blood and urine tests, a 72-hour fecal collection test (kept in freezer in bag - a particularly fun test). I have gone for dietitian visits at my request. I have been told to have a low sodium (also have stage 3 chronic kidney disease), low dairy, low fat, and low fiber diet. After nearly every BM my rectum and about six inches up my colon are in bite the blanket not to scream pain. It burns like a fire. They say, take a sitz bath. Yeah, I will get right on that at my workplace. I am going to start to add fiber because I am beginning to think they really don't know what they are talking about. Patient, heal thyself. They aren't telling you why you are having this issue because they don't know themself and don't want to look ignorant in front of you. I hope you aren't losing too much weight. My husband's theory is women should always have a little extra padding in case they get sick they can have some to lose without becoming even more sick. Wishing you all the best and that you heal from this.

Thank you for you comments and yes I'm loosing weight and my family is getting worried. You are correct about them not knowing what's wrong. I've had all the test you stated and they are still clueless. I will add some extra fiber and hopefully thst will work.
Hope you are doing better