I have no clue, but I hope it gets better.  I can't imagine having to endure one pain in order to relieve the other.

I get that to! I had laparoscopic surgery when I was 19 to correct an abnormality in my stomach. Every once in awhile I will get the sharp shoulder pains just like with the surgery. Eventually it goes away and I haven't yet found anything that helps it. My doctor explained that it is caused by irritation to the phrenic nerve (by the gases) in the diaphragm which can cause referred shoulder pain. For some reason some patients have reoccurring irritation following laparoscopic surgery for unknown reasons.So basically I have no good advice. Hope it feels better soon though!

Oh man, I hope this gets better soon and someone can help!

Just had a thought. Maybe the pain pills are causing an ulcer which could cause inflammation which could be causing the referred pain into your back. It is also possible that if you are having irritation and inflammation in your esophagus from the pain pills that the referred pain could be going into your shoulder mimicking the laparascopic pain. Heartburn, irritation and inflammation of the stomach and esophagus can cause great amounts of pain including referred shoulder pain. I would suggest using an anti-acid prior to taking your pain pills or request a medication like Carafate that coats the esophagus and stomach in order to protect it from the medication.

I am not a doctor. So it would be best to ask your doctor but that was just my thoughts.

I could totally see how this could be the case. Back in April when we almost lost my grandfather (BTW, that was another case of hospitals making things worse, so my cousin who was a nurse @ another hospital had him transferred to hers) he thought he was having a heart attack. But it turned out to be some wicked serious ulcerations in his stomach and they were caused by his pain meds. (He told me that his hip had been hurting really bad and he figured that if one pill was good, two would be better.) All that to say, it might be something worth checking in to. 

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Elle said ...
Just had a thought. Maybe the pain pills are causing an ulcer which could cause inflammation which could be causing the referred pain into your back. It is also possible that if you are having irritation and inflammation in your esophagus from the pain pills that the referred pain could be going into your shoulder mimicking the laparascopic pain. Heartburn, irritation and inflammation of the stomach and esophagus can cause great amounts of pain including referred shoulder pain. I would suggest using an anti-acid prior to taking your pain pills or request a medication like Carafate that coats the esophagus and stomach in order to protect it from the medication.

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I know gallbladder pain can refer to your shoulder...particularly your right shoulder. With thanksgiving upon us, the fatty foods would exacerbate that!

Just a thought...

 Thanks Elle! That actually makes a lot of sense. Pain pills of pretty much any kind really irritate my stomach. It doesn't help that I have endo on pretty much all my digestive organs, so my stomach is pretty irritated anyway when I'm on my period. But it makes sense that the pills (even just the ibuprofen) could be exasperating it to that point.

It was just so weird because I've never had it travel to my shoulder like that! As you probably know, that shoulder pain is awful because there is very little you can do about it. So weird...

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Elle said ...
Just had a thought. Maybe the pain pills are causing an ulcer which could cause inflammation which could be causing the referred pain into your back. It is also possible that if you are having irritation and inflammation in your esophagus from the pain pills that the referred pain could be going into your shoulder mimicking the laparascopic pain. Heartburn, irritation and inflammation of the stomach and esophagus can cause great amounts of pain including referred shoulder pain. I would suggest using an anti-acid prior to taking your pain pills or request a medication like Carafate that coats the esophagus and stomach in order to protect it from the medication.

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 Thanks annie. I'll see what I can grab...

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annie said ...
If that is what's going on, try zantac 150 (or ranitidine-generic equivalent)...it provides relief pretty quickly

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 Thanks Mama M! I was hoping someone in the medical community would chime in, since I'm like 3000 miles away from my doctors right now!

I actually read about issues with the gallbladder causing this kind of pain last night, and was thinking that was a possibility. My last surgery my doctors said that my gallbladder was looking pretty bad from endo, and they even thought about taking it out then, but decided to just wait and see if it got worse. But my shoulder pain is pretty much in my life shoulder, not my right. That's where it was after both my surgeries too. Pretty localized to the left.

I am getting pain on the lower left hand side of my rib cage when I take deep breaths too, but I don't know what's there. Either way, I think it's got to be at least partially from my stomach being pissed off and enflamed from the endo right now, and the pain pills not really helping that situation. Thankfully, I'm feeling a little more functional today (and walking upright again!) so I should be able to make it through the day without taking anything. Hopefully that will help, and then maybe I can start working on some more natural (and less stomach irritating) pain relief with my acupuncturist and naturopath when I get back...

I had just never experienced this outside of surgery before though. So very weird!

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Mama M. said ...
I know gallbladder pain can refer to your shoulder...particularly your right shoulder. With thanksgiving upon us, the fatty foods would exacerbate that!

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I definitely second the suggestion of Zantac.... it's what I've been on and it helps.... if that doesn't work my other thought is that maybe the pain pills and/or endo are causing some bowel upset in the form of constipation and/or gas and it's backing up... I know I get back and shoulder pain when that gets too bad for me... and I treat it just like surgery gas.... heating pad on the shoulder.