To girdle or not to girdle, that is the question?

[halfwayinOH 0]

I had my surgery 8 months ago. I have lost almost 80 lbs so far. I was trying to work on my abs before I had a hysterectomy 3 weeks ago. My abdomen is somewhat swollen from the surgery. My girlfriend had the lap band and mentioned that she had been wearing a girdle or some kind of sling to support her stomach. I must have missed that, because I had not been wearing one. Since my recent surgery, I am finding that I feel like I need abdominal support. Can anyone make any recommendations on what type of support to get and where to get it?

[Nanook 2]

CJoyce,

There are a lot of products out there like "spanx" which can come in a variety of pieces depending on what you want supported. I prefer the faux Spanx as it's not as expensive. These can be found in the JC Penncy catalogs, and most woman's size catalogs and on line sites like www.onestopplus.com which combines a few woman's size catalogs together. Anywhere you can find woman's lingerie you should be able to find some kind of support garments. I believe Lane Bryant and Torrid sell them in their stores and I'm sure there are pleny of others that do just thinking of the ones I've actually been to. I rarely leave the house now without wearing one as I knew I'd have extra skin after birthing two babies over 21 years ago and I feel better in my clothes if I'm wearing them. Good luck and I'm sure others can chime in with their faves, Nancy.

[halfwayinOH 0]

Thanks Nanook. For some reason I thought there was some magical post op support system that I missed out on. I can work with this. I am very familiar with Spanx and others, so I am half way there. I appreciate your feedback, it helps me to see that I didn't miss something important. I just need to be a little more diligent in my efforts.

[ThinAli 0]

I was told by the psych eval to where Spanx pretty soon after weight loss(as soon as could be tolerated) to allow skin not to sag and you would be less likely to have a huge apron. Which just isn't a good look especially since we are all still battling with our looks and increasing our self esteem!

[Padanelle 2]

There is a support piece that they put on me after surgery. I think they called it a binder, but I'm not sure. It was a stretch material, kind of like those knee support bands, about 8 inches high, that they wrapped around my middle. I was a bit out of it, but I think it stayed closed by velcros. It actually felt good and supportive while I was weraring it. I think the purpose was to help in the healing process.

[4weightlosssake 8]

I made a post couple of days back on this. For me SQUEEM is the best for abdominal support. It works better than Spanx

[CantB2noty 0]

For whatever its worth, right after my hysterectomy 2 years ago, I couldnt stand ANY pressure on those incisions. I even had to buy granny panties 2 sizes bigger just to not have that pressure on me.... Took about 6 months for that to go away... My advice would be to start with something not so firm and work up.....