Advice Needed!!!

[Yoda 0]

Okay, here's the scoop. I was banded 4 days ago. It is 6:30 pm where I am right now and here is what I have put into my mouth today:

8:00 am: medication (teeny pieces swallowed with small sips of water)

8:10 am: 1/2 cup Water with Protein powder (sipped slowly)

11:10 am: 1 single stick nf fudgsicle

1:30 pm: 1/4 cup chicken consomme

Also, throughout today I've had 15 ml of liquid gravol (on two occasions), 2 gas X chewables and 15 ml of children's liquid tylenol...and of course I've sipped on propel all day (vitamin enriched water)

I feel like it should be time for "supper"....yet physically, I don't feel like I can swallow anything....I haven't even been able to sip some Water for the last 2 hrs. I don't know if I feel "full" or if it is something else going on. I feel pressure/fullness (lack of a better term) right beneath my breastbone (beneath one of my incisions...I don't even know if that is my port location...not sure WHERE my port is!). Anyways, this "pressure" is making me anxious....I'm afraid to eat (as I said, I don't think I physically can swallow anything right now).

I don't know what indigestion feels like, so don't know if that is what this is...(but, how could I have eaten enough for that to have happened anyways?).

I'm thinking I haven't eaten near enough...last couple of days I've had only about 300 calories per day (if I'm lucky). Yesterday I got 40 g of protein...today only 20 (at breakfast).

I guess I need to know...is this normal? This pressure/pain thing happening now? Is it "normal" for it to be making me unable to eat (drink)this soon?. Should I be concerned.

I thought I had all this stuff "down" after all the reading I've done in here but now that I'm experiencing this pressure feeling....I'm getting anxious. I think it is the golfball (?) but how is that possible considering what I've oulined above that I've had all day?

Should I force down some supper (ie. Protein Drink?).

I'll stop rambling now. I look forward to any advice; I've grown to rely on this board so much (maybe too much!).

Tks all.

[TrishS 3]

I dont think you should ever force anything down at any time no matter what. You are still healing. each day will be diffrent. if you cant have a protien shake then dont have one. let yourself heal and listen to your body. I really dont know what else to say but dont NOT force anything down. good luck and i hope you feel better soon

[Wheetsin 714]

Sounds familiar. It took at least a week before I ate more than an ounce of food in a day. Most days if I focused on getting more than half a bottle of Water down, I was too "full" to even think about eating anything. I'd try, and do maybe a spoonful of Jello or something before I felt grossly full.

I really had no appetite for... well... well over a month.

[waterlily1072 5]

Don't force anything down. What you are experiencing is normal. Many people respond to the surgery with a lot of swelling. As for not getting enough Protein, a few days or even a week isn't a big deal. As soon as you can get the Protein Drinks in do, 'til then don't worry. Try walking for gas pressure too. And no it's different than the golf ball. I know the pressure you are toalking about. I think it's a combo of gas and swelling, and yes, it feels foreign. Just relax and smile casue as soon as the swelling goes down comes some serious hunger, at least for me it did.

[JanetC 2]

Just a thought... but are you going to the bathroom? If not, you need to be! Not going post-op can really mess with your GI tract.

As for "normal", everyone's experience is different... so I think you're fine. You got some great advice here. Be kind to yourself & when in doubt, call your surgeon's office. That's what they're there for!

[Yoda 0]

Thanks all. About 5 hrs after I first wrote the post, that "feeling" went away....thank god. But, at least if it happens again, I won't be so anxious about it. I'm fine this morning....so we'll see.

Janet: ummmm....errr... re. the bathroom thing...no...come to think of it, I haven't gone in a few days. Yet, I do take benefibre every day...I'll keep an eye!

[JanetC 2]

LOL Yoda, you're adorable! The longer you go without, um, going, the harder it will be -- literally! You might consider a Ducolax suppository (that's what our surgeon gave us). There was a thread on here... I'll see if I can find it, lol.

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=8033 -- gross, but absolutely hysterical thread!

[JanetC 2]

Oops! LOL! Wrong thread, though that one is one of my favs, lol. Try this one instead:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=10405

[iteLnTx 0]

Yoda, glad to hear things are looking up for you. I wanted to add that shortly after I was settled in my hospital room and started on liquids, my doc and his staff advised me to stick with chamomile tea which I found to be one of the best things for me. I drank it religiously. I seldom used the maalox or the pain meds given me after I left the hospital. As a matter of fact, I was out hiking with some family not long after leaving the hospital. Yes I did have some slight soreness from the incisions and I did of course feel the changes in to my stomach area during anytime of consumtion but I took it all well. I just had my first fill and guess what my choice of drink was? I feel great! Thought I would share since reading your initial post reminded me of it all.

[Yoda 0]

Thank you Lety & Janet!

[waterlily1072 5]

My surgeons office suggested milk of magnesia for consitipation, it will get you moving :Banane33: Also, Constipation can make you feel full and slow everything down, it does for me. When I'm not hungry all I usually have to do is ask myself when did I last go.

And by normal I meant that your experiences fell within the realm of what many experience. After all what is "normal"

[StrawartS 2]

The Constipation seems to be the biggest problem, Yoda. Being constipated will also make you nauseated, which will make it harder to get any food down. If you are taking any strong pain meds, like Vicodin or Lortab, you really need to eat with it. It will tear up your stomach and start a never-ending nausea cycle.

If you haven't gone in several days and you're drinking so little Water, I would cut the shit with the puny remedies like benefiber or MOM and go for the big guns. Suppositories are torture, but they work the fastest.