High Anxiety

[rdoerfler 0]

:tt1:Can anyone who has had the lapband surgery, tell me how painful the surgery/recovery of surgery was? I have never had any sort of surgery before and I'm a little apprehensive. I'm scedule for lapband surgery on May 15th. I'm excited but leary at the same time. Also, can you tell me when and if after surgery, will I be able to eat regular food? I know that in the beginning, after surgery, I have to be on a liquid diet and then on a soft diet (pureed/mashed foods). I hope I won't have to eat like this for the rest of my life. Thanks for your input!:smile2:

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

Pain....I personally never took any pain medication (not even liquid Tylenol). That's probably NOT the norm so don't expect that, even though it could be like that for you. Most people have discomfort/pain for a couple of days. I won't leave out that there are a few who do have more pain, but just like me having none bad enough to medicate not being average, neither is that.

Different doctors have different schedules to return you to "normal" food. I was on Clear liquids for a couple of days and then anything liquid I wanted for 8 more. Then to mushy food. After a week of mushy food, I started adding some regular food every day. By the end of the second week of mushy food, I wasn't eating anything "mushy" except for soft scrambled eggs for Breakfast. Now, two months out, I can eat anything I want except for things that just don't go down right .... soft bread (toasted stuff is fine), a tortilla like would be around a burrito (in a quesadilla, grilled, a tortilla is usually fine). No white rice, too sticky, does not go down at all. And sometimes things you can eat early on sometimes cause stuck episodes later on. Makes every day an adventure:tt2:. I'm kind of surprised you didn't get any food information/dietary guidelines from your doctor/nutritionist. Since you didn't, I would ask for printed information about their dietary guidelines so that you can have them on hand to reference.

[rdoerfler 0]

What is a stuck episode like? Have you ever gotten sick and vomited after your surgery?

Pain....I personally never

took any pain medication (not even liquid Tylenol). That's probably NOT the norm so don't expect that, even though it could be like that for you. Most people have discomfort/pain for a couple of days. I won't leave out that there are a few who do have more pain, but just like me having none bad enough to medicate not being average, neither is that.

Different doctors have different schedules to return you to "normal" food. I was on Clear Liquids for a couple of days and then anything liquid I wanted for 8 more. Then to mushy food. After a week of mushy food, I started adding some regular food every day. By the end of the second week of mushy food, I wasn't eating anything "mushy" except for soft scrambled eggs for Breakfast. Now, two months out, I can eat anything I want except for things that just don't go down right .... soft bread (toasted stuff is fine), a tortilla like would be around a burrito (in a quesadilla, grilled, a tortilla is usually fine). No white rice, too sticky, does not go down at all. And sometimes things you can eat early on sometimes cause stuck episodes later on. Makes every day an adventure:tt2:. I'm kind of surprised you didn't get any food information/dietary guidelines from your doctor/nutritionist. Since you didn't, I would ask for printed information about their dietary guidelines so that you can have them on hand to reference.

[Stephanie1972 0]

I was just banded 2 days ago. Thursday was icky. I felt so groggy and tired and sore. I slept when I got home from surgery for 7 hours...stayed up for 1, then went to sleep. Yesterday I was extremely sore and still groggy. I was pretty comfortable sitting, but not getting up and sitting down. I did have a heating pad by my side which gave me a lot more comfort. I also walked 60 minutes yesterday which I think helped today, because I feel great today. Still soreness, but not nearly as much. I exercised 70 minutes today....low impact, but still. I took 1 pain pill the day of surgery, that was it for me...I think the more you force yourself to exercise after the surgery, the quicker you will recover. From my understanding, the recovery is NOTHING compared to bypass surgery. And as I've been told, it's a few days of discomfort/pain, for a successful rest of your life. You pick. :-)

[inri09 0]

banded 3/3/09. Surprised at how easy the surgery was. Not much pain at all, more of discomfort at most. I played racquetball 1 week post-op. took about 5 days to start to feel back to normal. able to eat normal foods so far, had 1 fill. Can eat quesidilla etc... but many report not able to eat bread etc... I did get stuck feeling after first fill from eating too fast. Wasn't terrible, but don't want to repeat if possible. Will learn to slow down and chew better, especially after a fill. Good luck.

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

Stuck feels like a large rock stuck in your esophagus. Your first instinct is to drink something .... small sips.....but even that can feel sort of stuck on top of whatever is already stuck. Be very careful. Standing up very straight seems, for me to make it a bit more comfortable and with the exception of only one time, with continued small sips of Water it finally moved. The one time it didn't ended in a PB (productive burp). That's when you body says whatever it is isn't going on down, so you start salivating like crazy and then up it comes. Some people have thought they were having projectile vomiting the way it comes right up and out your mouth. It's not mixed with stomach acid, you don't really heave, and once it's out, it's a relief. Most people who have had a PB said they were eating too fast or didn't really chew their food well enough....so watch out for that!

[carbgrl 0]

I'm 5 days post-op. I'm still having pain and discomfort. Especially, sitting down, laying down and getting up. I can't bend over either. I'm taking pain meds a couple of times a day. I'd never had surgery before so, I was terrified! :tt1: The surgery itself was not bad at all. I was really surprised. The whole next day I couldn't believe I'd really had surgery (except for the pain & discomfort). I was surprised by the swelling & bloating. I wasn't expecting that. Overall, it's not bad. It is major surgery so, some pain should be expected.

Good luck with your surgery.

[ParrotheadCathy 0]

They do introduce gas into your abdominarl cavity to give the surgeon more room in which to work. That has to be absorbed to be removed from the body.

[Emilie1 3]

The pain for me was not that bad, but I have a hight tolerance for pain. I would suggest moving as much as possible after surgery. The more you lay around the more sore you will be, at least that is the way it is for me. As for being stuck, I have felt that a few times, but have never had to pb. It is very uncomfortable, but has passed in a few minutes. It usually happens because I eat to fast or did not chew well. Good luck on your journey.

[Donnainva 0]

I was so anxious about all the same things you are that I canceled the surgery last year! I totally understand where you are coming from.

I had the surgery on 1/14/09 after all and don't regret it at all.

Same as you, I had never been in a hospital for anything and never been under anesthesia before either.

I just read and read all I could about the surgery. I wrote down questions for my surgeon and if I thought the PA could answer them, I'd email her instead. I had questions for the surgeon the day of surgery and for the nutritionist the next day before I went home.

I had an Ask Your Surgeon About Pain Relief with ON-Q PainBuster® On-Q Pain relief ball (I suck at posting links, sorry) and my surgeon didn't quite put in in right. If it would've been put in right I would've had no pain at all, instead I was very uncomfortable all night. The next day when they took it out (right before I went home) I felt much much better.

The hospital I was at was crowded that day so I had two roommates and they were both male. I was not happy about this at all, but it's not something that you have to worry about, I just wanted to bitch about it again!

The mushy stage, liquid stage are all temporary, you can get thru it.

Treat it like a new way of eating, not a diet. Keep your head on right and you will be just fine.

ask as many questions as your surgeons office will answer.

[itschoice 0]

My recovery was a bit hard but it was well worth it. Once I was able to start to eat regular food I began eating like normal. Just a lot less. That is why I chose this WLS over the others because of thing like dumping syndrome that can happen with other types of WLS. I want to be able to eat what my family eats and still lose weight. However, I do follow the Protein first, veggies second, and carbs last rule.

[NiceWillSuffice 0]

There's no pain in the surgury, you wont even know it happened. You go to sleep then wake up and thats it.

After they hook you to pain meds, no prob. Just be prepared to sleep alot the first 24-36 hours.

After surgery I have not had any pain..just discomfort. There are a few times I strained or moved funny and it hurt but there is nothing throbbing. I take a partial dose of the pain med each night.

I'm functioning really well. Been shopping, supervised yard work with my family and even helped a little. Walking fine, sleeping fine. Was banded Tues (4 days ago).

Everyone is different but if you are having Anxiety take some Zanex the week leading up...thats what I did (for other reasons).

:thumbup:

Can anyone who has had the lapband surgery, tell me how painful the surgery/recovery of surgery was? I have never had any sort of surgery before and I'm a little apprehensive. I'm scedule for lapband surgery on May 15th. I'm excited but leary at the same time. Also, can you tell me when and if after surgery, will I be able to eat regular food? I know that in the beginning, after surgery, I have to be on a liquid diet and then on a soft diet (pureed/mashed foods). I hope I won't have to eat like this for the rest of my life. Thanks for your input!

Edited April 19, 2009 by phattat