Has anyone experienced weird sensation in neck, shoulder, under left chest and occasionally numb arms through the night??

[pferries31]

I suffered from achalasia, went through the oesaphgetomy operation 5 weeks ago where they replaced my oesaphgus with my stomach. First question is how long should I take to recover? And secondly I get weird sensations in my neck, shoulder, under my left chest and occasionally down my arms, does anyone know what this could be?

[DaveChuter]

Hi,

Recovery is different for everyone, allow 6 - 9 months for getting back to your normal.

My surgery was 6 years ago and yes I did get weird sensations in neck, right shouder and chest, Even now if I sleep on my right side, my arm and chest go numb sometimes, I still have an area around my ribs with no sensation or feeling.

It is due to the surgery, quite a few nerves would have been cut and while some may recover or re-route themselves in time, others may not.

It will get better over time, but please do speak to your CNS and / or consultant if you have any concerns.

Main thing is to not to worry, 5 weeks out is still early days yet in terms of recovery.

Kindest regards,

Dave C

[pferries31 in reply to DaveChuter]

Thanks for your reply dave, very much appreciated!

realised it's goin to be a long recovery.

Hope you keep well

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No need to worry about these things.Its normal part of recovery.Occasionally I still get those things and I am 16 months post op!!.You are very early in recovery.My surgeon said it could take 18 months to properly recover and I feel I am just getting back to normal.So dont worry It will get better

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Some of the shoulder problems may be caused by a prolonged period with your arm/shoulder pushed into an awkward position for a number of hours to give the surgeons space to do the operation, but this does depend on exactly what method they used. I agree that it does sound like nerves complaining about being 'rearranged'.