Surgery yesterday - confusing nausea and hunger?

[SaraJaneQ 0]

Hey all,

I realize this may sound like a silly post but I am making myself nervous. I had my surgery at 7am yesterday, and went home about 2pm today. Today at 11:30am I got my first liquids post op - they had me drink 6 ounces before I could leave the hospital.

Now I am home and not on their medicines and trying to eat and my tummy is rumbling, which says eat, but my head says I am nauseous, which says do not eat. I was wondering if anyone had this problem in the few days post op? I am about to eat another popcicle - so far that and Jello have gone down ok, but I am terrified of getting sick - the hospital made it sound like it would be awful!

[meschultz 0]

Sara...I know exactly what you are going through I had my surgery on Wednesday and still question if I am hungry, gassy, or if it is nausea..It is rough to get used to the changes our bodys are going through now.. I have sort of figured out the nausea one, but sometimes I get a terrible pain going through my tummy and I totally think it is gas because it has not been so long since I drank some Protein, but who really knows.. I know I dont ha ha.. I just walk a lot and try to avoid the nausea feeling and I make sure to drink what and when they told me.. However I must tell you at about day 3 the Protein shakes start tasting funny and get rather old to drink..

I am glad you can handle jello.. I was hoping I could handle it, but as of right now I can not it makes me feel really sick.. I am still suffering from a slightly annoying pain on my left side whenever I breath in deep and I think it is just because that is the side all the instruments were on.. I know one that is for sure and that is I can not wait to feel better and know what my growling stomach is saying to me.. I hope your recovery goes well.. keep us posted..

[DesertRose 0]

Yes, I had a lot of nausea within the first week after surgery. Not sure if it was due to the drop in blood sugar levels from doing liquids, or if it was the pain meds or what. But, happily it passed within a week. Take care to stick to liquids ONLY for now. Don't watch too much t.v. as the commercials will make you crazy hungry. :crying:

[crzytchr 3]

If nausea is keeping you from consuming what you need, call and see if they will prescribe some meds for it. I went home with a prescription for nausea and if I felt sick, I took it. It worked, I only had to take it 3 times and I didn't get sick at all. Good Luck!

[Elizabethdb 0]

Something that my doctor told me and it worked was to drink warm liquids. Like hot tea and stuff like that. It actually works. They told me that the cold liquids would irritate the stomach during that first week or so and to stay with room temp-hot liquids. After they told me that and I tried it, I could not go back to cold stuff, it would just make me sick and the warm liquids soothed my stomach. Just a little though. The pain in your left side is more then likely the gas they pumped your stomach up with and also the band messes with a nerve that causes a lot of left shoulder pain. Best thing to do is to keep moving and I used a heating pad also. Good luck :crying:

[MacMadame 81]

Anesthesia makes some people nauseous. Also, WLS can give you temporary acid reflux and that often makes people think they are hungry when they are not.

[Tamihott 0]

I was trying to describe this exact thing to my husband. I was having such growling and rumbling in my belly that I thought thats what was making me feel sick. I still have not figured that out. It seems to me that you are doing well by eating popsicles. Unless you are nauseated and vomiting all the time I would just take it slow and increase your intake daily. Just remember these boards are awesome, but if you compare notes we all react differently to surgery and the recoveries are quite varied. Good luck! Tamara Banded 9-24-08

[smsmithart 4]

If it feels like a burning feeling that's normal a lot of us had that ...its your stomach producing more acid than needed to digest so little ..good luck

[Emmica Padison 0]

I was banded on Oct 2 and I'm having reflux & hunger but haven't had more than sips of Water and very little chicken broth. What's WLS? Any suggestions for bloating? I cant' get past bloating. There is no room for anything else in my stomach except occasional tylenol

[SaraJaneQ 0]

Thank you all for your kind responses. It feels sooooo good to know that I am not alone in this.

I am doing a lot better today, although I keep getting this pain in my chest like I need to burp but it doesnt happen. thats annoying!

I am doing ok with my Protein shakes, so I can only hope that things continue to progress.

Emmica - if you are not already, walk! I know you are sore, but it really really does make a difference!

[Tamihott 0]

I am glad that you are doing better today. One of my biggest irritations the first week was the feeling of having to burp, and not being able to. I was hoping and parying I would not alwasy feel that way. It finally went away a few days ago. There is hope! Tamara

[SaraJaneQ 0]

I am even more thankful to have that tidbit of info, Tamara! I was brought up very "ladylike" to avoid burping - can't figure out how to make myself do it. I was thinking maybe it was just me. Good to know it will go away in the next weeks!

[LoneStarLoser 0]

Like everyone has said, we all heal differently and feel things a little different. On the 3rd day after surgery my tummy was growling and began to really hurt. I thought I was going to die. I am doing everything that way I was told by my surgeon, so I didn't know what to do, until I remembered many of the posts' I had read said we would get gas. So I took one of the Gas-X strips and it worked almost immediately. So now whenever I start to just THINK it may be gas, I use one and it has helped me. I had my surgery on Oct 3 and I still have that nagged pain in my left shoulder. It's not unbearable, just irritating.

Lone Star Loser