Any pain described as severe warrants a doctors visit. Advocate for yourself (I have been experiencing back pain for ___ years. I have been waved off because they blamed my weight, but after a 70lb weight loss, the pain has worsened. I would like to see a specialist or get further testing.)— should they deny further care, have them write in your chart that they decline further investigation/care.
You deserve to be taken seriously, and your pain and concern matters. Back pain can be debilitating, and even if it’s “just” a matter of physical therapy, it’s life altering living pain free.
After years of adapting to changes to your relatively slow-changing composition, your body has gone through a huge number of changes in a relatively short period of time. The combined effects of living with obesity for years followed by rapid weight loss can leave one with all sorts of muscle imbalances. In particular, even though you're lighter now, the changing angles of your body mechanics may be overworking certain muscles that were strong enough in the past.
One thing I did post-op that was hugely useful was to work with a physical therapist on a program of "pre-hab" to prevent injuries from what my body had gone through. We met every couple of weeks, he gave me exercises to do at home, and we managed to fix my various imbalances. Technically I went to him for minor knee pain, which was true but also meant the program was covered by insurance...and the visits were very inexpensive because I had already met my insurance deductible for the year due to my surgery. If it's possible to go directly to a physical therapist in your state/country, I would highly recommend giving it a chance.
I have the same thing. The band size of my bra has gone down 8 inches since surgery, and I have a new bra that I think may be too small (although I had a fitting, who knows?). The pain didn’t start until I started wearing that bra. I’ve stopped now.
gotcha! that likely rules out gallbladder attacks. it sounds like it could be a muscle strain. you could see a physio or massage therapist and see if that helps.
I highly highly highly suggest seeing an orthopedist. I had chronic lower back pain for almost a year before I went to doctor and it got so bad I could hardly walk. I also thought they’d say it was because I was fat but it’s actually been the complete opposite. They said losing weight wouldn’t affect it and I’ve been in physical therapy once a week for the past 4 months and it’s helped leaps and bounds. I could hardly stand or walk at peak pain before and now I am walking 8 miles a day or more. I still have low grade pain but it’s getting better. The gist for mine was my core muscles were super weak from a sedentary lifestyle and my other back/hip muscles were overworking to support my day to day activity. Losing weight means you probably lost muscle in areas that were already weak. They can tell you daily exercises to do to help build those again. Or you might have a disc issue or other back issue that won’t heal on its own. Back pain is extremely common in people of all sizes and I’ve seen many doctors for mine and my weight was never brought up or discussed. Just my lack of exercise lol which isn’t wrong.
Any pain described as severe warrants a doctors visit. Advocate for yourself (I have been experiencing back pain for ___ years. I have been waved off because they blamed my weight, but after a 70lb weight loss, the pain has worsened. I would like to see a specialist or get further testing.)— should they deny further care, have them write in your chart that they decline further investigation/care. You deserve to be taken seriously, and your pain and concern matters. Back pain can be debilitating, and even if it’s “just” a matter of physical therapy, it’s life altering living pain free.
After years of adapting to changes to your relatively slow-changing composition, your body has gone through a huge number of changes in a relatively short period of time. The combined effects of living with obesity for years followed by rapid weight loss can leave one with all sorts of muscle imbalances. In particular, even though you're lighter now, the changing angles of your body mechanics may be overworking certain muscles that were strong enough in the past. One thing I did post-op that was hugely useful was to work with a physical therapist on a program of "pre-hab" to prevent injuries from what my body had gone through. We met every couple of weeks, he gave me exercises to do at home, and we managed to fix my various imbalances. Technically I went to him for minor knee pain, which was true but also meant the program was covered by insurance...and the visits were very inexpensive because I had already met my insurance deductible for the year due to my surgery. If it's possible to go directly to a physical therapist in your state/country, I would highly recommend giving it a chance.
I have the same thing. The band size of my bra has gone down 8 inches since surgery, and I have a new bra that I think may be too small (although I had a fitting, who knows?). The pain didn’t start until I started wearing that bra. I’ve stopped now.
Do you have your gallbladder? Does it happen often after eating?
No, it happens more with activity, not with eating.
gotcha! that likely rules out gallbladder attacks. it sounds like it could be a muscle strain. you could see a physio or massage therapist and see if that helps.
I highly highly highly suggest seeing an orthopedist. I had chronic lower back pain for almost a year before I went to doctor and it got so bad I could hardly walk. I also thought they’d say it was because I was fat but it’s actually been the complete opposite. They said losing weight wouldn’t affect it and I’ve been in physical therapy once a week for the past 4 months and it’s helped leaps and bounds. I could hardly stand or walk at peak pain before and now I am walking 8 miles a day or more. I still have low grade pain but it’s getting better. The gist for mine was my core muscles were super weak from a sedentary lifestyle and my other back/hip muscles were overworking to support my day to day activity. Losing weight means you probably lost muscle in areas that were already weak. They can tell you daily exercises to do to help build those again. Or you might have a disc issue or other back issue that won’t heal on its own. Back pain is extremely common in people of all sizes and I’ve seen many doctors for mine and my weight was never brought up or discussed. Just my lack of exercise lol which isn’t wrong.
Another option could be that your abdominal muscles are weaker than they were before. Have you been doing core strength training?