Median Arcuate Ligament Syndrome (MALS)

Lol sorry just copied and pasted lol. I’m almost 45 yrs of age. Yeah waiting to see what the doc wants me to do. I will update when I hear back. Stent was one thing my doctor said or a bypass. So not sure which one would be best for the long term. Thoughts? Thanks

That’s a tough question- I personally think a stent is a good choice unless your doctor has reservations. A stent is not so invasive.

I believe my Vascular Doc said the stent would be less invasive. And to keep the option for down the road for the bypass. However, which one has the better upside in being permanent for the long haul. I heard stents can cause blood clots to even blockages over time. Having my age and somewhat of okay health a bypass would be something I think my body could handle if it remedy’s my issue. However, if the stent is just as good and less invasive then I would say I’m good with that.
But I will definitely ask as many questions as possible before proceeding. Thanks again, and I will post what my doctor thinks that she wants to do.

My vascular surgeon said same plus- if there was a problem pacing stent they would have to go to open correction with bypass.
To prevent blood clots I took an anticoagulant for a certain amount of time- don’t remember how long.
Another point- once you have bypass, there may be a need for repeat surgery. The less surgery you have, the less risk for scarring, adhesions and hemorrhage. This is what I learned.
Who knows- I may still need a bypass if my stent crumples up, for now I’m good.
Nothing is easy! 🙂

Sounds good. I will find out next week in what the plan will be. More than likely a stent would be in order. Appreciate the insight.

This is the vascular surgeon's recommendation. Thoughts?

It confirms that there is a significant stenosis and recommended angiogram with stent placement.
Sounds good!

Hello- I would really like advice and knowledge about how people deal with the pain and other symptoms? What treatments is surgery does not work? Do people typically work? Is a feeding tube typically in future? Are there any success stories?

Just a little update, needing to vent... I am 7 weeks out from open MALS surgery and overall, my recovery is going well. But I have had some things happen the past week that have freaked me out a little. First, starting Wednesday morning I woke up sick to my stomach. Not exactly nausea, more like vague discomfort, and this happened again Thurs and Sunday. My first thought was maybe it's the ibuprofen. I have been taking 2-3 ibuprofen over the course of the evening to get my aches down close to zero so I can sleep. I tried sleeping on my side, but that was the morning the stomach discomfort started, so I'm on my back again. It's not exactly like what I experienced with MALS though, as with MALS I felt nauseous and had the sharp pain on my right below the ribcage. This stomach upset seems to be relieved simply by drinking water and waiting a bit, which is atypical of MALS pain. I went ahead and saw the doctor yesterday and he put me on an acid blocker and diclofenac topical ointment for pain.

Last night was okay, but I woke up early in the morning with brief flashes of sharp pain up in my chest on the right side, so that freaked me out too, even though again it's not in the same spot as the MALS pain. It feels like it's more in my diaphragm and related to breathing in deeply. MALS was the opposite, always relieved by holding a deep breath.

Everything else is going well, so I'm hoping all I have is gastritis from taking too much ibuprofen too long. My flexibility is really coming back thanks to physical therapy, and overall I have less pain than during my MALS flare ups. I think what I've realized though is that I basically have PTSD. Every time I feel a new pain or my stomach feels off, I wonder if the surgery failed for a 2nd time. Or I worry that I was misdiagnosed and it's something else. I'm trying to remain optimistic and reminding myself it's still fairly early in recovery. I'm waiting for that 3-4 month mark to really assess whether the surgery worked. I also am reminding myself there will be other options should the MALS come back, and I will keep fighting for good health.

The pain in the chest close to the diaphragm probably is due to irritation of diaphragm, since the ligament was attached to it.
I was given Gabapentin, which worked well.