Post surgery questions.

[JerseyJoeN 1]

Hi everyone. I'm new here and just had surgery on March 27th. In general, I feel great. I can get outside and walk the entire neighborhood, which helped dramatically with reducing the gas pressure and discomfort.

I've read a lot about stomach gurgling. Everything I put in my stomach causes gurgling. I'm on a clear liquid diet for the first week and following it to a tee. Swallowing very slowly and small amounts but my stomach begins to gurgle immediately. I'm also experiencing what I think is mild dumping. Within 10-15 minutes I'll have to pass gas and then have a small amount of diarrhea. Should I call the Dr. or does this happen at first due to the swelling?

Having researched post surgery experiences, it looks like some of my gurgling can be attributed to my acid reflux. I'm getting some pressure in my upper back too and noticed when I crush up my medication (generic Protonix) that goes away. I also feel hungry very often but read that could be the acid reflux. The medication is not lasting the entire day. I wonder if I should discuss this with my surgeon and get something stronger or time-released?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Joe

[JerseyGirl68 1,172]

Hi! and congratulations on your surgery! I had a ton of gurgling the first week or two. And passed a lot of gas. Bowel movements did not get "normal" for about two weeks. You have no solids in your system, and are flushing out all the anesthesia and meds still. By all means give a call to the doctors office to ease your mind, but it sounds pretty normal to me.

I've read from several folks here that certain PPIs worked better for them than others.

Best of luck to you!!

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

So your stomach is roaring.....LOL Mine was horrible at this....so loud.......I would suggest that you call your surgeon about your protonix not working all day and he can suggest something to help..... Ask him/her also about gas and diarrhea. Everything sounds like your doing really good. Make sure to drink a lot of Water and focus on Protein overall....... CONGRATS!

[KatieOkieDokie 171]

I have not had surgery yet, I go next Monday. However during my nutrition class my nutritionist told us that the gurgling is normal and to expect it. It has something to do with your digestion. She also told us to expect diarrhea while on the liquid diet since the only thing we are taking in is in the form of liquid, it's going to come out liquid. Which makes sense.

I have also seen a lot of posts on here about acid reflux being an issue. Making you feel hungry when you're really not, it's just the acid in your stomach. I would talk your surgeon about this. I think most people can get buy with OTC meds they just take them twice a day instead of once. But that is still something you may want to talk to your dr. about.

[Georgia 2,908]

I used to have regular massages and would die from embarrassment when the masseus would say something like" Man, you must really be HUNGRY,". Lol. Almost three years out STILL gurgles.

[JerseyJoeN 1]

Wow! Thanks everyone. I have a call into my surgeon mainly about the reflux. I want to see if there's something stronger or time-released that he recommends or maybe supplement the generic protonix with OTC Zantac?

Now that I know that gurgling is very common, I feel a bit more relaxed and I think it even eased up a bit. Could have been a little nerves exacerabating the problem? Probably.

This isn't an easy journey, but I know it'll be well worth it!

[North25guy 4]

Talk to your Doctor, but in one of my pre-op classes, I'm pretty certain they mentioned the time release pills won't work like they used to. I think they said that with people with gastric sleeves or bypasses, you pass the time release pill through your system too fast for it to be used completely. Instead of a time release pill, I wouldn't be suprised if you have to take something twice a day until your stomach fully heals. Make sure you talk to your bariactic doctor and not your PCP about this.

[schristine1375 7]

I had my surgery on march 25 and I too have been having acid reflux. Would love to hear what your dr tells you. I go to my follow up on Thursday.

[JerseyJoeN 1]

I had my surgery on march 25 and I too have been having acid reflux. Would love to hear what your dr tells you. I go to my follow up on Thursday.

I called the surgeon's office and left a message for him about it. He called me right back and told me that it's very common for up to the first month to have worse acid reflux than when you started. I asked him about timed released or additional OTC meds and he confirmed, as North25guy said, that timed released are no good. I asked him about supplementing with my current medication and mentioned Zantac 150 and he said that would be perfectly fine. I've always tolerated Zantac and Prevacid in the past but can not take Nexium at all. It gives me IBS, which I sure don't need now, right? lol

I drove for the first time and picked up some flavored waters (zero sugar), more decaffeinated tea bags, sugar-free jellos and the store brand of Zantac 150. After that, I went for a 40 minute walk around the neighborhood. It's almost 60 degrees here in NJ, gotta take advantage of it!

[LINDANACK 15]

Hi Joe; I have had stomach girggling for 3 and a half months now, and it's painful. I have asked the doctor repeatedly for help and he did put a camera down to my stomach but that revealed something not connected to the constant girggling. After all the checking the doctor came to the conclusion this was all in my head, hence, the reason for coming to this forum. Here we can find others who are having the same problems and hopefully, we will find solutions. I stopped losing after I started eating solid foods. I've gone back to Protein Shakes, and I'm trying to get back to puree foods. That is the ONLY thing that helps the girggling. I cannot tolerate any food. I've tried every food except lettuce, Nothing feels good on my stomach. Frankly, I'm afraid of the future, no food enjoyment, and no weight loss, and food has become untantillizing, not a good prognoses. I'm in the process of getting my insurance to find me some relief and soon. This is not fun anymore.