My surgery was May 19th, I woke up in recovery in intense pain and throwing up. By the time I got to my room I felt fine. I had no pains meds after that and was up and around quickly. Walked all over the hospital the next day and even drove myself home. I only took pain meds once after coming home. The lack of being able to eat any thing of substance by day 5 had me weak and really in pain from hunger. I finally ate some yogurt and felt better. I have progessed from there. I have had no foods get stuck and no throwing up since recovery. I had my surgery on a Thursday and went back to work on the following Wed, with no restrictions and I do manual labor, so I am quite active.

The past few days I have been in a great deal of pain. My belly buttton sometimes aches, to the left of my port I get sharp pains through out the day, especially the more active I become. Also I get a great deal of pain whenever I bent down from my port area. Now when I bend down it feels like I am nausea , my stomach contents seem to roll around, it is very unsetttling, and even painful. I have lost almost nothing and I know I can eat far to much.

My doctor is different then most in that she requires us to only ever eat protein, that you can cut with a knife. NOTHING ELSE. She is insane, I feel like crap eating all this meat. I am so ready to give up. I feel like such a loser that I had to resort to a lap band to lose weight and it has done nothing for me. Not to mention I physically feel terrible most of the time. I have always had a high pain tolerence, so all this pain I am now starting to experience has me very worried..............

Who is your doctor? She sounds completely unaware of what a healthy diet is. By all means I'd change the diet, ASAP. There is nothing wrong with Protein but you do need other macronutrients and micronutrients from other foods. Is it possible for you to see another doctor?

Also from all of the physical activity you may experience more tenderness near your port site. Maybe go back to your doctor..or a new one?

Doing manual labor at one week post op is probably too soon. My Dr. said no manual labor, gym workouts... for a month. I bet that all the activity you are doing is causing the pain.

Did you get the lap band materials from tthe lap band company from your doctor? The general diet is protein first, protein most and protein last, which doesn't have to be meat but can be cottage cheese, yogurt, protein shakes and bars, tofu, fish, eggs, beans... The idea is to limit grains but not eliminate them entirely. Some fruits and vegetables daily are important. I am sure on this site there is other general diet info. Did you meet with a nutritionist? I hope a nutritionist would not recommend meat only.

If you haven't been losing weight yet do not worry. Many people don't lose and actually gain weight until they have had a few fills.

Hang in there, remember, you are only a couple weeks post op.

Joan

Keep in mind that your surgeon is just that, a SURGEON, not a dietician. The purpose of asking you to eat only protein is that it is more solid and will keep you fuller longer. However, man should not survive on meat alone. For good nutritional advice, I would seek a professional who is qualified in that area

I am having the same pain. It is the worst pain ever. I had surgery on 24 May and I am so swollen so badly my pants pre-surgery wont fit...even the lose ones. I am almost in constant pain when I am standing. The doctor says it is my port and has placed me on ibuprofin for swelling/pain. I have to have pain killer in my system 24 hours a day. I hate living this way.

I have contacted my insurance company for a second opinion. I want this band out!!

Good luck and I pray you will feel better soon. Feel free to email me and maybe we can be of support for one another.

Deena

My surgery was May 19th, I woke up in recovery in intense pain and throwing up. By the time I got to my room I felt fine. I had no pains meds after that and was up and around quickly. Walked all over the hospital the next day and even drove myself home. I only took pain meds once after coming home. The lack of being able to eat any thing of substance by day 5 had me weak and really in pain from hunger. I finally ate some yogurt and felt better. I have progessed from there. I have had no foods get stuck and no throwing up since recovery. I had my surgery on a Thursday and went back to work on the following Wed, with no restrictions and I do manual labor, so I am quite active.

The past few days I have been in a great deal of pain. My belly buttton sometimes aches, to the left of my port I get sharp pains through out the day, especially the more active I become. Also I get a great deal of pain whenever I bent down from my port area. Now when I bend down it feels like I am nausea , my stomach contents seem to roll around, it is very unsetttling, and even painful. I have lost almost nothing and I know I can eat far to much.

My doctor is different then most in that she requires us to only ever eat Protein, that you can cut with a knife. NOTHING ELSE. She is insane, I feel like crap eating all this meat. I am so ready to give up. I feel like such a loser that I had to resort to a lap band to lose weight and it has done nothing for me. Not to mention I physically feel terrible most of the time. I have always had a high pain tolerence, so all this pain I am now starting to experience has me very worried..............

I am having the same pain. It is the worst pain ever. I had surgery on 24 May and I am so swollen so badly my pants pre-surgery wont fit...even the lose ones. I am almost in constant pain when I am standing. The doctor says it is my port and has placed me on ibuprofin for swelling/pain. I have to have pain killer in my system 24 hours a day. I hate living this way.

I have contacted my insurance company for a second opinion. I want this band out!!

Good luck and I pray you will feel better soon. Feel free to email me and maybe we can be of support for one another.

Deena

Deena,

I sure hope you are feeling better soon, I know what that pain is like. I too have times of wanting this band out

, but with some of the feedback I am going to try to stick it out at least until I see my surgeon again or another

. It sounds as though your pain is far worse then mind. I hope things get better and please let me know how things turn out for you. Your in my thoughts

Michele

Thanks to everyone for your comments, I don't feel quite as bad about things now. I have thought about seeing another doctor and I will pursue it now. I did see a dietician from the hospital , but she has only worked with gastric bypass patients, so she was of little help. And frankly there is a huge difference between a dietitcian and a nutritionist which is what is I need to see. I know how important the protein is, and that there is so many other forms of protein besides meat. The doctor is the one who said protein I can eat has to be something I have to cut with a knife, chicken , beef , pork or fish, I could easily get by on all the other forms of protein. She is a piece of work and I would NEVER recommend her.

OMG! While I realize that we are all different, if I may offer my take-You are being very hard on yourself. I tried that bit of not taking my pain medicine because I do not like taking any type of medication period. I realized quickly that it was a big mistake on my part. I was advised to take the pain medicine-from my doctor's office and some helpful people on this site. I listened and it was smooth sailing from there. For the first several days after surgery, my activity was limited to short walks to get rid of the gas. I am generally the type of person that has the tendency to put family, job and practically everyone first. I kept being warned that I had surgery and needed to take it easy. While it was not easy for me to keep still at home or at work, I had to force myself to finally treat ME as if I mattered. I gave myself permission to be selfish and took it easy. It was so hard to do, but in the end it was worth it. That bloating that you talked about went away after a couple of weeks. I was banded April 12th and at my second post op appointment, I lost nothing. My doctor said that it was okay, because I was healing. I can now say that 30lbs are gone as of my surgery according to the scale at home. I am refusing to change the clicker until I confirm it at my next appointment on the 17th of June. That will be when my doctor will offer my first fill. I said all of this to say that it dies get better. We take similar and slightly different roads. You will be fine. Just remember that this band is not a miracle, but a tool. Get to know you and that relationship with food, being FULL, etc. Please hang in there and do not be so hard on yourself.

OOOPS! I saw this after my loooooong post. I am so happy to hear this.

Thanks to everyone for your comments, I don't feel quite as bad about things now. I have thought about seeing another doctor and I will pursue it now. I did see a dietician from the hospital , but she has only worked with gastric bypass patients, so she was of little help. And frankly there is a huge difference between a dietitcian and a nutritionist which is what is I need to see. I know how important the Protein is, and that there is so many other forms of protein besides meat. The doctor is the one who said protein I can eat has to be something I have to cut with a knife, chicken , beef , pork or fish, I could easily get by on all the other forms of protein. She is a piece of work and I would NEVER recommend her.

Shellylycz - a few things stand out:

1. I hate to tell someone not to follow ther surgeon's advice, but I would never advocate eating solid Proteins immediately post-op. In fact, your surgeon is the first I've heard of who ecourages it - let alone requires it. A graduated eating plan is part of a healthy recovery. You're still going to be swollen and I personally think it's irresponsible for your surgeon to have you eating the way you are. You're 3 weeks out which, IIRC, puts you around the thick liquid/mushy stage. You can go a little while without gobs of Protein. I would suggest trying foods like strained or blended "cream of" Soups, refried Beans, eggs, tuna salad, hummus, etc.

2. You should not be doing manual labor at this point, regardless of how good you feel.

3. Post pain post-op is normal. Many people find that it feels its worst around 3 - 6 weeks out, when they will develop stabbing pains, odd sensations when bending, lower tolerance for sleeping on their sides, etc. This is fairly normal and should go away within a few weeks. I think mine lasted about 3 weeks.

4. Belly button pain could be a referred pain, or it could be the site of a tiny incision from your surgery. (I had my GB removed under lap and was 3 days out before I realized I had a belly button incision).

5. If your surgeon is crazy, why did you have surgery with her?

I don't know about the "stomach contents rolling around" feeling you have. Is it nausea? We do feel things differently with our bands. My analogy was that it felt like having two stomachs: an upper and a lower.

My surgery was May 19th, I woke up in recovery in intense pain and throwing up. By the time I got to my room I felt fine. I had no pains meds after that and was up and around quickly. Walked all over the hospital the next day and even drove myself home. I only took pain meds once after coming home. The lack of being able to eat any thing of substance by day 5 had me weak and really in pain from hunger. I finally ate some yogurt and felt better. I have progessed from there. I have had no foods get stuck and no throwing up since recovery. I had my surgery on a Thursday and went back to work on the following Wed, with no restrictions and I do manual labor, so I am quite active.

The past few days I have been in a great deal of pain. My belly buttton sometimes aches, to the left of my port I get sharp pains through out the day, especially the more active I become. Also I get a great deal of pain whenever I bent down from my port area. Now when I bend down it feels like I am nausea , my stomach contents seem to roll around, it is very unsetttling, and even painful. I have lost almost nothing and I know I can eat far to much.

My doctor is different then most in that she requires us to only ever eat protein, that you can cut with a knife. NOTHING ELSE. She is insane, I feel like crap eating all this meat. I am so ready to give up. I feel like such a loser that I had to resort to a lap band to lose weight and it has done nothing for me. Not to mention I physically feel terrible most of the time. I have always had a high pain tolerence, so all this pain I am now starting to experience has me very worried..............

Hi there

I have had pain on my lower left side since surgery.Please don't give up! You can do it! Suggestion to you is you can try and eat what I have since the pre-op diet when we had to eat protein and all the green vegetables that you could eat.Six cups of vegetables for the three meals and protein.My protein shake I get it from my clinic ,but I ran out and I bought the vanilla protein with a green leaf on it,you can buy it at Loblaws.or Wal-mart.its about $62.00.I ate Mary-Janes chicken nuggets with no breading,I buy them at Wal-mart as well they are 10.99 a box and five of them are a good meal with salad.I ate a lot of tuna,salmon,cottage cheese ,chick peas,kidney beans,green beans,cucumber& cottage cheese,green peppers,bock choy,broccoli,chinese cabbage,my favorite meal was green salad with tuna drained and rinsed off-I added was 1/4 cup of cottage cheese and then I added my vegetbles to that with no salad dressing.and hard boiled eggs.We wern't allowed to eat any fruit,grains or breads.It was very successful for me.I lost 14 pounds before surgery and have gone back on the same diet for the next two weeks.It has worked for me.I also had to put a cloth of my side where the pain was constantly paining and used a rub for pain and then it finally went away.I don't know what it was ,but it was very sharp shooting pains.Good luck and let me know how you do.Also drink your eight glasses of water and I also took Gas X strips when I got the sharp piains as well and they work and I carry them with me at all times.