Recovery time

[steph1084 4]

I am in the process of getting insurance approval for gastric bypass. How long is needed to be off of work? I work in an office and would really only like to take a week off. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and I don't like pain meds but I'll take them for a few days. I just need to get back to work ASAP! Any insight?

[KDM74 186]

I also work in an office. I took 2 weeks off and am working 2 weeks from home right now. I was still pretty uncomfortable by the beginning of week 2 and I'm glad I took it off completely. I also still get very tired in the afternoons so I'm glad I working from home now. But, if I had to go back after a week, I could have.

[Djmohr 6,965]

It really isn't so much about the pain as it is about getting used to the new food plan which sounds easy buy it initially makes you feel very tired and lethargic.

I had an excellent recovery with absolutely no complications at all. I was off all pain medications the day after I got home from the hospital.

I was very tired and lethargic everyday for the first 4 weeks. I could have gone back to work at two weeks but would have wanted to sleep under my desk every afternoon! LOL!

I was also on a very strict diet compared to some others I have read about.

Week 1 Clear liquids only - focus was to stay hydrated

Week 2 full liquids - this is where we added Protein shakes back in but I could barely get a whole shake down in one day

Week 3 and 4 - puréed foods (my least favorite part of the plan) I lived on cottage cheese, yogurt, Protein shakes)

After week 4 I was allowed soft foods - this is when my energy level started to really pick up and could make it through a whole day without napping

Week 6 I went to Las Vegas for 10 whole days and was actually back to my normal self.

My nutritionist, surgeon and Bariatric nurse felt that I had sailed through my recovery.

Not sure about others but just trying to give you a real picture.

By the way, I have an extremely high tolerance for pain. 5 spine surgeries made this surgery look like having a tooth filled.

I wish you all the best, please don't rush yourself! Allow your body and mind time to get used to this whole new world! You deserve it and the outcomes are so incredible.

I am down 110lbs in just 8.5 months and feel fantastic. All comorbitities are in remission!

Good luck!

[Daisee68 2,493]

I was going to say the same thing as @Djmohr. I am 17 days post op and go back to my desk job tomorrow. I have been working from home for the last week pretty consistently and just monitoring emails the week before. While pain level wise, I may have been able to go back, I am very glad I waited the 2 weeks due to getting used to new habits - getting up and moving at least every 2 hours, sipping Water every 5 to 15 minutes, figuring out how to make Protein shakes taste better and what the heck I was going to eat once I could convert to pureed foods. I started some foods on Friday and I was terrified I would be sick. So far I have not been, but remembering to not drink 15 to 20 minutes before, eating very tiny bites very slowly over 20 minutes and then no drinking for 30 minutes - that was hard. I am anxious about how to keep that all in check as I return tomorrow. I am very blessed with a very flexible job (though it is an hour drive away), so I likely will only work maybe 6 hours the first few days and ease in to it. (I left the house yesterday for about 5 hours of errand / shopping, etc. and I was pretty exhausted when I got home - though I only needed a brief rest before I felt better.)

All to say - everyone is individual. My dr said I could go back at 1 week if I needed to, so if you have to, you will survive, BUT if there is anyway you can take 2 to 3 weeks, I would strongly encourage it.

[julias1119 27]

I will be going back to work tomorrow at exactly 1 week post-op. But I will only be working a 5 hour day at a desk job.

[patriciaxoxo 3]

I have a desk job and I went back to work in a week. Honestly I felt like I could have went back sooner. Everything for me went really well. I took pain meds like 3 days and I'm a big baby. Long story short I had a great experience and virtually no pain. I did do a lot of walking before surgery and as soon as I was able to get up and walk in the hospital I did. I walked a lot in the hospital and when I got home. I feel like it really helped with recovery. (I'm about almost a month out and feel like I'm almost 100% back to normal other than my eating habits)