Wrenna

Have they ruled out ulcers? Is the pain in the middle of your upper abdomen, or more to one side? It's possible (no idea how common) to have stones in the bile ducts after gallbladder removal. Another possibility is Sphincter of Oddi dysfunction, but I think that presents more as attacks of intense pain rather than a crampy type pain. I'm kind of leaning towards ulcer though, since you mentioned that the pain was worse in the morning when your stomach is empty.

My energy levels are through the roof. Yesterday, I got over 20,000 steps for the day without trying because I can't sit still. A year ago, anything over 5000 steps was an active day for me.

I had sushi with rice at around 3 months post-op (with my program's approval!). I had zero problems with it, but even at almost 9 months post-op, I can still only eat 3-4 pieces at a time.

So I was pretty unlucky with the nightmare complications. Two weeks after my bypass, I needed emergency surgery because internal adhesions caused a complete blockage. Two days after that surgery, I was getting my second emergency surgery for the same issue. They also decided to place a g-tube in the bypassed part of my stomach for drainage, and I had to have that for three months. Right after that, I would experience random attacks of intense pain and we finally, finally think we figured out why (sphincter of oddi dysfunction). That being said.... ...I would do it all over again in a heart beat. At no point did I have any regrets. Yes, it sucked having to get two "bonus" surgeries, but it was a minor blip in the road. The random pain episodes sucked, but now that we know the issue, there are things I can do to prevent it from happening. Compared to how life was before my bypass, I feel SO MUCH BETTER. My blood pressure is normal, my joints don't hurt constantly, my energy levels are through the roof, I run and kayak and hike regularly... and then there's the 'vanity' aspects too - every store carries my size, I love shopping for clothes because they look good on me now, I'm not hyper-aware of my size constantly... the list goes on. I really did not release how miserable I was being obese until I wasn't. It's surgery! I don't think it's right for everyone, and I think people should be aware of the potential for complications... but those complications are pretty rare, and it's still the gold standard for long term weight loss.

Oh, me! I actually started running before surgery and did a ton of 5ks and 10ks, but ended up with a labrum tear after over-training (...and the 80+ lbs of extra weight I was carrying didn't help). I started back up after surgery and I'm currently training for a half-marathon in September. I strongly recommend a Couch To 5K program - there are several companies/apps, but they're all pretty much identical. You start off with short running intervals alternated with walking breaks until you're running 30 minutes at a time. There's a reddit community dedicated to C25K and everyone is really supportive. If you've never run before, the very first C25K run is a HUMBLING experience, but I promise, it gets easier. The great thing about running is that you improve really quickly; it's such a massive confidence boost.

I'm three months out from mini bypass and had a Thanksgiving dinner with friends a few days ago. My plate was about a third turkey, and then a bite or two of everything else. It worked out really well - I felt like I was able to enjoy the meal along with everyone else. I didn't bother tracking that meal because I religiously track everything else, and I knew that if I missed my protein goals or went over my calories that day, it wasn't going to be by much. We're also having our own (very toned down) Thanksgiving and I'm planning on doing the same thing - a decent serving of turkey, and then a taste of everything else. It helps that I'm still pretty food... ambivalent? and that I'm not really interested in sweet things since the surgery.

So I've had three surgeries in three weeks (mini gastric bypass, plus two emergency surgeries for bowel obstructions due to internal adhesions from the gastric bypass...). I'm a stomach sleeper and planned to sleep in a recliner if necessary, but after the first surgery, I was fine propped up with extra pillows for a couple of days, and then within 4 days, I was sleeping on my stomach again. Healing from the last emergency surgery is taking much longer (I don't think I was meant to be cut open THREE TIMES), but I was still able to sleep in bed the first night home (3 days after surgery), as long as I was propped up. It wasn't so much pain, but more that the swelling from the surgery seemed to press more on my stomach when I wasn't flat on my back.

Exactly. I had pretty severe gas pain - it felt like a knife under my ribs, and the drugs did NOTHING. The nurse said that the only thing that would help was walking and time. Fortunately, it was only bad the first day. Sitting up helped, as well as taking deep breaths. Aside from the gas pain, it wasn't that bad. I never bothered filling my prescription pain meds, and had stopped taking anything by the fourth day.

So it has been a week since my mini bypass and I feel.... great! The first three days were HARD. I was so confident about my pain tolerance and how good I would feel after surgery, so it was a huge shock. The gas pain was no joke, although I think the worst part was just how icky the various drugs for anesthesia made me feel. I was able to manage my pain with regular tylenol the whole time, it was just this constant I Don't Feel Good sensation that wore me down. Last night I was able to sleep on my stomach again, and I'm finally feeling hunger, which I am actually thrilled about, because I had such strong aversions to anything but water in the beginning that I was dreading having to eat. I am still noticeably more tired than usual, but I think once I am consistently hitting my protein goals, I will be just fine. Last day of liquids!

How long did it take everyone to meet their protein goals? I am 4 days post op and STRUGGLING. I'm hitting my fluids no problem, but I'm getting maybe 20 grams of the recommended 60 and it's starting to stress me out. I have no desire to eat anything, so I'll force myself to choke down a small amount of soup... and then I feel so icky and stuffed that the thought of eating that particular thing again makes me incredibly nauseated. I'm only on liquids for 3 more days after today, and I'm hoping that moving to a wider variety of foods will make it easier to hit my protein because right now, it's yoghurt and protein shakes... which I never want to see again in my life.

Hi! Newbie here! I've been lurking forever but couldn't bring myself to post because I just KNEW that something would happen somehow and I wouldn't be able to get my surgery, but... I had my final pre-op testing a couple of days ago and everything went great, so here I am! It's very weird to go from "I'm scared to get my hopes up so I won't even think about the surgery" to realizing that my surgery is on Tuesday and I need to start getting ready. I'm in Norway so my surgery is covered by the national health care system, but there was a whole process I had to go through - visit with an obesity specialist, a nutritionist, mandatory group classes... it seemed impossibly long when I first started, but wow, it has really flown by.