Left shoulder pain after eating or drinking

@marianna1968jt I had thoracic surgery back in 2015. Three loops of my intestines came into my chest bringing my stomach with them. It caused my left lung to collapse and adhere to my ribs. In a previous surgery in 2015 I had a gastric bypass to fix the hernia... one of those loops had come into my chest then, but I was too weak for more surgery, The hernia had been attached to my diaphragm. When the loops came into my chest it caused damage to my diaphragm. So in the 2015 surgery I had a lot of repair done. They had to turn my diaphragm from what my husband told me so they could anchor the hernia again. The thoracic surgeon said I would always have chest pain and not to worry.. I wasn't having a heart attack. I guess the tension on my diaphragm causes the pain which is worse after eating. Especially if I get very full. So I try not to eat too much. It also gets worse with physical activity and when a low weather front comes through. I have shoulder pain too, but it could be from the position they had me in during surgery.. my shoulder has bothered me since surgery and MRI shows a labrum tear. The scarring of my lung can also cause some pain... my ribs hurt still from the surgery.

ZeeGee

Hi ! I'm only 20 and i've been having the same symptoms that you were having and honestly my doctor said it's gastritis and she gave me gastroloc for 2 weeks. I haven't taken the medicine yet but i will in hopes of seeing if these symptoms go away. I also heard that shoulder pain after meals might have something to do with having high cholesterol. I am currently trying to get my cholesterol checked and I advise you to get it checked as well? High cholesterol doesn't have symptoms but it can trigger warning signs of an oncoming medical emergency such as shoulder pain and upper arm pain etc. Good luck!

I have never had abdominal or stomach surgery however I have always had a hiatal hernia. I have not spoken to my physician as unless I have it I do not remember. It only happens at a supper meal when I have a full large meal. I have this for about 10 years. If the pain was to be rated I would say an 8 out of 10. The pain is just there not increasing or decreasing with movement. It slowly dissipates over approximately 1 hour.

I started having that same pain 2 yrs now. It seems to be like gas build up in shoulder. Feels like pleurisy. I want to know what's causing this. I was thinking constipation/ backed up when it first happened. I guess it could be a nerve. I do have neck n back nerve impengments.

About 5 months back I went in after having my first panic attack ever (shortly after experiencing EXTREME heaviness in my chest every day about a month prior). I went to the ER MANY times after this as I've never experienced anything like it before, and they continued to reassure me countless times after tests, x-ray's, so on and so forth, that there was nothing wrong with my heart or anything else, and so they prescribed me anti-anxiety medication (which I have yet to take because the initial stages of the medicine cause severe anxiety and when I tried it I immediately went back to the ER again). Ever since this occurred I've experienced rather nonsevere arm and shoulder discomfort/pain, chest pain, back pain, and jaw discomfort most days if not every day.

Things have MODERATELY cleared up in the past month or so (still not taking the anti anxiety medication as I feel that's not causing the pain, because the pain will come on even when I'm not thinking about it), only experiencing mainly slight chest and jaw discomfort above all else. But a few days ago after eating a relatively unhealthy meal, my right arm was sent into severe pain unlike anything I've felt before whilst just sitting still. It wasn't accompanied by much other than a faintness in my chest. Since then I've experienced severe pain in my left shoulder, very similar to the pain I had felt in my right arm a couple days before, every time I try to eat the slightest meal or even drink water. I woke up this morning after fasting most of the day before due to this, tried eating some toast, and the pain in my armpit and left shoulder was unlike anything I've felt before.

I reconsidered going back to the hospital to get checked up since I haven't been back in in so many months, but because I haven't been taking my anti anxiety medication, they don't believe anything is wrong with me and that it is anxiety, and that I should try taking it for a prolonged period of time before anything else.

I just don't know what to do, and I'm more scared than anything that this is more severe than even I think it is. Does anyone have/had experience with these symptoms before/currently, and did you ever figure out what the cause is/was?

Hi @tlowrey, You may have noticed that I moved your message to this active discussion called "Left shoulder pain after eating or drinking." I did this so you can connect with other members talking about the same pain in shoulder/arm and armpit after eating as you are. Click VIEW & REPLY to scroll through past posts from members like @astaingegerdm @fourof5zs @marianna1968jt @jparks2006 @marlaxyz @cim37343 and many others.

TLowrey, do you keep a journal of what you eat and when to see if it is related to certain foods, activities or time of day? You also mention discomfort in your jaw. Is that a new symptom?

I do not keep a journal of those things as my diet is not the most consistent, but I feel as though with the symptoms I'm experiencing, maybe I should to see if certain foods are causing this pain. The past few days I have definitely upped my intake of carbohydrates compared to my normal intake, eating lots of white bread, pastas, also lots of protein mainly being chicken. The discomfort in my jaw has been an off an on issue ever since I had my panic attack 5-6 months ago, but it seems to be getting worse now compared to when it started (not severe pain, but more discomfort in association with aches and pains in my body, mostly in the chest, arms, shoulders and back).

@tlowrey - Pain is not always coming from the area that hurts. There is referred pain from other parts of your body that you can feel in the chest, back and arms. There could be an irritation of the diaphragm, such as a hernia, or problem below the diaphragm from stomach, pancreas and gallbladder For example. The nerves from these areas are connected to major nerves going up in the chest.
It does not seem to be related to the heart- good!
I think your next step should be a thorough evaluation by an Internist or Gastroenterologist.
Your anxiety probably is caused by your pain.
The ER is unable to do a thorough work up, but they make sure nothing acute is happening to your body.
Was this confusing? Let me know if I can explain things better!

first of all I’m so glad they have a site like this I have been to numerous doctors and they all say the same thing they say all my test come back normal, but every time I eat about 15 to 30 minutes later I have pain radiating through the shoulders lower back neck and ears usually radiating on the left side and under the left rib cage.I noticed the pain mostly at night after dinner time or in a sitting position the first time it happened to me I really thought I was having a heart attack .I went to the emergency room and they said my heart was fine but my blood pressure was super high. it was due to the panic of thinking I had a heart attack

@antman - I don’t know if you saw my post from October 8 discussing the same thing. I have had that feeling that I have a heart attack and went to ER. I had Esophagitis - I had acid reflux for years. I then saw my gastroenterologist who did an endoscopy, took biopsies etc. and prescribed a different PPI for acid reduction than I used to take.
Check with a Gastroenterologist- you may also need an endoscopy.