Recovery

[tamarlarae 11]

I've been reading A LOT of people's posts and would like to know the experience of those of you whom have already been sleeved. I know it varies from person to person and definitely depends on pain tolerance but I want to know how bad recovery really is. Not sugar coded, not watered down, and not unrealistic. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself so I really would love the honest experience you've had. I apologize in advance if this gives anyone some sort of PTSD btw.

[Newme48 104]

As you know, everyone's experience is going to be different. There is going to be some pain. Pain from the gas that is used to inflate your abdomen was the worst for me. It rises to your shoulders. It went away after about a day and a half. The only other pain was at my incisions. Ask for liquid pain meds for at home, like Roxicet. It did wonders for me. Please remember to walk as much as you can after your surgery. I was up walking the halls in the hospital and it truly made a difference. I was able to move the gas out of my system so much quicker. Get a small medicine cup. They will have plenty of them in the hospital. Take them home and for a day or two, use that cup for your Water intake. Have a bottle of water by your side and fill it and drink it at least 6-8 times an hour. It really sounds silly but it does work. This was the best decision I ever made and I would go through it all again in a heartbeat! Pain and all. Ask for your pain meds as soon as you feel you need them. If you let the pain become unbearable it will be that much harder to treat. Good luck to you. Congratulations on your decision!

[leeann71 539]

For me, when I finally woke up in my room I was in excruciating pain. I have three children and two of them are twins and I had all of them natural. I will say the pain is right up there with goving birth. There are alot of people who had this surgery with little or no pain unfortunatly I was not one of them. I walked as soon as I could. That does help with the gas. I on the other hand was in more pain from my stomach. I wish you the best of luck. Oh yeah one more thing, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I have lost 52lbs in 4+ months. And remember the pain does eventually go away and so does your weight and most medical problems if you have any.

[yazzy 105]

HI

I am 3 weeks post op .I really only had the gas pain and I walked like crazy in the hospital ,,I never slept all nite just kept walking that my calves were killing me for 4 days..lol.. In the hospital they gave me a pain killer in a drip that you pressed the button when needed.. i did use it but more for tying to sleep and to make me tired cause I was so anxious. I went home the next day and if I used 5 pain pills since then thats alot...I really had that part pretty easy ,

[mokee 588]

When I woke in recovery I was in excruciating pain. I begged for something but whatever that person gave me it did not work. I had no gas pain. It was stomach pain and bad pain inthe incision on the right. I was later told it took him an extra 15 min to get thru some really old scar tissue. This pain lasted at least a week getting better daily. All surgeries have pain, some more than others. The worst I ever had was back surgery and the least was a total hysterectomy which she cut me from one side to the other but a bikini cut and I could get up with ease and I weighed 250 at the time.

[AmandaRaeLeo 2,146]

For me the pain was minimal and I stopped taking pain meds the 2nd day. The nausea/vomiting immediately after waking was the worst part. The pain in my neck and back from throwing up hurt more than the incisions themselves.

[Sannah 258]

The pain for me wasn't bad at all. I came home an took Advil pills and this was enough to keep me comfortable. The worst part for me was getting out of bed and adjusting position at night. This pain was at the incision sites. I found that the heating pad my best friend, because it helped with incision pain.

I rate surgery pain between a three and six( only a six when I moved to get out of bed).

I hope this helps out!!

[SerendipityHappens 1,594]

Waking up from anesthesia was hard for me. Once I was fully aware of my surroundings and what was going on it was much better. My surgery was in the morning. By early afternoon I was walking. I had small bouts of nausea, mostly when I'd walk, but I didn't vomit. The first few days I'd have spasms in my stomach... felt like period cramps but in my stomach instead of uterus! The spasms were not constant and not unbearable, but if I was walking when I got one it was enough to stop me in my tracks until it subsided.

The day after surgery I had my IV removed because my veins weren't cooperating. I had my leak test and was cleared to drink. Drinking was no problem for me and I was able to get myself hydrated. Once I didn't have my IV anymore, I had to take my medications orally. No problem swallowing pills at all. I didn't get any more pain medicine except for a sublingual NSAID that I could take as needed. I took some on the day after surgery and the third day and after that no more pain meds.

On the third day, I had my drain removed.. I felt a little pinch when he was cutting the sutures around it and then he had me take a deep breath and blow out.. Didn't feel a thing as he removed the drain.

Recovery from this surgery went WAY better than I expected. Several years ago I had my gallbladder removed and I felt like I was run over by a truck. Any time I moved I felt like all my organs were going to fall out of my vagina. It was horrible... With the Sleeve surgery, I didn't feel any of that. Yeah, I felt some tenderness and I couldn't sleep on my side and there was some pulling where the incisions were but it was all quite mild compared to my gallbladder surgery.

[Yaya 81]

I was just sleeved Tuesday, 4/9/13. The waking up after surgery was the worst for me. Bad nausea, (I think they ended up giving me three different meds for that!) and the gas pain in both my abdomen and shoulders. (But never vomited, thank goodness.)

That was at 1:30 in the afternoon. After a couple of trips to the bathroom to pee, I felt way better, and by 7:00pm, I took a 20-minute walk in the hall. After that, went walking every time I had to pee.

Back home the next day, still some shoulder pain from the gas, but minimal incision pain, just sort of stung off and on. And only 2 incisions stung, the other 2 I have never felt!

Yesterday, I took out the catheter that was dripping lidocaine to the incision sites because carrying that bag around my neck was bothering me more than the incisions were. I was able to sit down, get up, and walk around normally, including going up and down stairs, and even did a couple minutes on an elliptical machine!

Now, waking up on Friday, the shoulder pain is almost gone, and I still have never yet taken any pain medication. Haven't even filled the prescription.

[Yaya 81]

Oh, forgot about the stomach cramps. They do feel as Serendipity described. I just sort of grit my teeth for a sec and let them pass.

[Chas74 56]

Day 2 after surgery for me and very little pain and no gas pain and im lucky for that. Walk for sure!!

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[sharonintx 1,275]

I had no pain at all and after the 2nd day never took any pain medication. I had no nausea and have never thrown up. My incisions took about 3 weeks to finally start healing and now at the beginning of week 5 are looking pretty good. The only thing that has really bothered me is being tired all the time. It's a lot better now but I'm still not 100%. Others have said that they felt great with plenty of energy after just a couple days so I dunno why I am so tired. Maybe I'm just old:) The heartburn is something I've never had before unless I was pregnant. It's kind of annoying but controllable with Zantac twice a day.

[tamarlarae 11]

Awesome thank you everyone!! Such a whirlwind let me tell you. I'm such a planner and type A personality lol so I am trying to mentally prepare myself as much as possible.