Left-Side Pain After Bariatric Surgery

Sharp stabbing left-side pain under the rib cage is very common at early and late recovery stages (even 6+ months post-op)

Left-side pain that takes your breath away is often described by our patients as if someone were stabbing their left side with a knife.

Сause.
It is referred most of the time to the damage of the rectus abdominal muscle and abdominal nerves that are either cut or stretched during surgery. Those nerves do heal, but it takes time (nerve tissue is known to be the slowest to heal). And since every person has anatomical differences when it comes to the pelvic nerves’ location, for example, surgeons do not always know where exactly the nerves are. And their cutting or damage is often inevitable.

With time your symptoms may change; this indicates that your nerve is healing. A common example is how you may experience weakness, then numbness, then tingling, and then burning pain.
Also this infamous stabbing left side pain can be caused by entrapped nerves. This happens when our body develops scars in response to trauma and the scar tissue “squeezes” abdominal nerves. Remember that the surgery is performed mostly on your left side, this is where most of the damage to the soft tissues is done.

Triggers.
Left side pain can be triggered by exercising, especially when using your abdominal muscles or stretching trying to reach something high up. Over the counter pain relievers and muscle relaxants usually help, and this type of pain goes away on its own, could take a day or several days.
For more detailed information on the cause of this type of pain, we recommend the following article:
https://www.verywellhealth.com/can-abdominal-surgery-cause-chronic-pelvic-nerve-pain-2564576
Finally there can be other more serious reasons for the left side pain such as colitis, pancreatitis, constipation, gas, diverticulitis, etc., such pain will usually be accompanied by other symptoms like fever or tachycardia, nausea, vomiting, etc. This is when you should seek medical help.

Remedy.

There is not much you can do during such episodes but lie down and rest, and try the following methods:

Tylenol. The first recommended dose is up to 1,000 mg, followed by 500 mg every 4-6 hours.
Any nerve injury recovery is always very slow and a neuromodulator such as Lyrica is a good option that you could try. The recommended dose is 75 mg capsule at night before going to sleep.
Applying a heating pad can help lower the pain.

This type of pain may bother you on and off for several months post-op or up to 1 year. Eventually it will become more and more seldom until it goes away completely.

Disclaimer: this information is prepared for educational purposes only. Please always consult your surgeon or primary care physician before taking any medication or to obtain correct diagnoses of the cause of your pain.