KK150

A tip for everyone suffering with the major gas pain and burping: The specialist at the Health Food store recommended I drink Fennel Seed tea for my gas pain and burping (pain from the gas is still killing me and I'm permanently burping). They suggested I add a bit of fresh ginger to the tea as well. I bought both on the spot even though I never heard of Fennel Seed tea. before. Hand on heart, the pain eased even after I drank just 1/2 a mug of tea and I feel that it generally helped me out . I'm on my second cup this evening to help me through the night. I'm not sure how much of that tea you are allowed/supposed to drink in any given day but the stabbing gas pain is mostly gone for now. Mind you I still feel somewhat bloated but the stabbing pain in my stomach/shoulders has definitely subsided. Hope someone else find it useful...

Question: what is the average size of the main incision? I had my bandages removed today (surgery was on Oct 15) and was surprised (read: shocked) to see about 1-1.5 inch scar across my belly button. For some reason I expected all incisions to be 1/4 inch or less, similar to my secondary incision around liver area or 2-3 similarly small incision I had with my laparoscopic surgery for torn meniscus. Is this a typical scenario?

Linda, Gas X, digestive tea (or something with sena that people generally take when they have bad constipation) and prune juice (you can get them in cans or glass bottles in any store) really helped me. Hope some of this works for you. It definitely gets easier. Hang in there...

I’d like to join with my thanks to everybodycontributing to this site. It’sproving to be an enormous moral support to me. (I got banded on Oct 15). You are right – since I discovered ityesterday I check it like my Facebook account. I feels very reassuring and calming to me to know that thereare all these wonderful people out there going through the same thing I’m goingthrough and providing honest feedback and detailed advice on all these issueswe are experiencing. Without you Iwould have no clue where to turn for advice (assuming I would even feel comfortabletalking about it). Million thanksto the site creator and everyone contributing to it…

Hi, I can completely sympathize with yourstruggle with drinking Water. I used to be a big water drinker (I couldeasily drink 12-16oz of water in several gulps when thirsty) but drinking 12oztakes time now. Even an average gulp gives me terrible burps for 10minafterwards. Last night I was feeling dehydrated so I drunk 2x 12ozglasses of water between 9-11pm. I felt so gassy and burpy I resorted towalking in circles around my apartment for 15 min while rubbing my belly to getbetter. It might be early days for both of us (I got banded on Sat, Oct15) so we are probably going through adjustment phase. Have you triedjust sipping water? Does it help? I'm trying that trick today - gassiness and burping as not as bad butI still feel thirsty, probably old habits. Drinking Muscle Milk Light (Protein shake) definitely felt more comfortable then the other shakes. It kept me full for longer as well. Let me know if you learn anynew ways to get the right water intake without pain and gas discomfort. How long does it take for the gas to leavethe body? Or better said, how longit takes for this gas to stop hurting this much? Good luck….

I was in a similar situation to you whereby my whole family lives far away (Europe!) and I did not feel comfortable advertising to the whole world that I'm having lap band surgery. i actually went to the hospital and came home by myself. I've been told that 99% of people recover incredibly quickly (you even surprise yourself!) so I'm sure you'll be fine as well. I would strongly suggest staying in hospital overnight as having nurses and doctors around you would give you some reassurance that if something goes wrong they are there to assist. Once you are past 24hr (i.e. 24hrs post surgery) you'll probably feel no worse then when you are recovering from a cold. By 3rd day you can pretty much do your usual things (go to shop, go for a walk, have a shower, clean your house, etc.) but you might get tired quicker then usual and that shoulder pain might still bother you. In my personal experience having moral support for the the first 12-24hrs would really help. I had my surgery on Sat afternoon @ 1pm and stayed at hospital until tomorrow morning 10am. The day of the surgery was horrible - pain, discomfort, incisions hurt, unbearable shoulder pain (from gasses pumped into you during surgery) grogginess from anesthesia, and in my case a major dose of self-pity why/how did I allow myself to get to this point, why am I inflicting myself so much pain, I want all of this to disappear, etc. Luckily you start feeling much better 6-9 hours post surgery so these thoughts disappear. Woman next door had a friend with her most of the time who provided moral support throughout the evening and that really helped. Even listening (really eavesdropping) on their conversation helped me. By 9-10pm, I was off IVs and started feeling generally better. I started walking a few steps around 9pm and by 11pm I was doing laps around the hospital ward. No major problems sleeping, particularly if you get painkiller for shoulder pain. By 9am tomorrow morning I was itching to go home. I live in New York City so @ 10am I was already in taxi on the way home. Once at home I went for @ 2hrs nap and then for 2hrs slow walk along the Central Park. Interestingly enough you feel minor pain around your incisions (particularly when you stretch or when you are getting in and out of bed) but you don't feel pain of the band, no pain walking around the town, etc. They don't recommend lifting anything >10lb (even if you feel you can do it easily like I did). I stocked up on protein shakes but forgot water and multivitamins so I had to go out and buy some. I carried about a gallon of water and 2-3lb of various multivitamins home with no issues. Having friends stop by or call for moral support worked wonders. On Monday afternoon (surgery was on Saturday) I went back to hospital to pick up liquid painkiller and on a way back found myself in a subway station with 6 long flights of stairs to climb in order to get out (escalators broke down). While I was able to get to the top OK I felt a real shortness of breath when I got to the top but no pain. (Anesthesia and hospital stay really affect how much you can breath in the days after surgery!) Once I recover my breath (I had to sit down for 3-4 min) I realized that I climbed equivalent of 5-6th building floors 48hrs after the surgery. From that point I new I'd be good as long as I take it easy and do what I can. Hope this helps. Any queries just let me know. Good luck! PS. All my self-doubt and despair about the surgery disappeared within 24hrs. While the day of the surgery was horrible I would still recommend it to anyone needing it.

I had a surgery on Oct 15th and the sporadic pain in my left shoulder is still there. Prune juice and digestive (constipation) tea really helped with getting my bowel moving (incl passing of gas) which relieved the pressure on diaphragm and subsequently on my shoulder. Until I discovered prune juice and digestive tea, the pain was almost unbearable. Try to do whatever you works for you to get your bowel moving and gas out of your body as that's that main cause of pain (or so I was told at the hospital). Good luck!