How painful did you find VSG to be?

[kaykay 1]

My husband is scheduled for sleeve surgery this Tuesday. I'm just kinda wondering what kind of pain level most people experience with this. I know that pain perception and people's experiences differ, but just in general.

[*susan* 1,709]

Hi kaykay, welcome to our forums! I was a revision from the band to the sleeve, so I went in expecting to be in a significant amount of pain after I got out of surgery. However, I was pleasantly surprised in that I found there was very, very minimal pain. I hardly took any of the pain medicine, and when I did, it was more to help me sleep the first couple of nights than anything.

[BeardedItalian48 3]

on a one to five basis five being real bad

2

[kaykay 1]

Thanks for the prompt responses. That sounds pretty promising, but, hey you guys may have a high pain tolerance! LOL!:thumbup::wink0:

My husband had heart surgery at age 51 ( 4 years ago, first and only surgery he had ever had, not counting tonsillectomy as a kid) and did fine with it, but they did a good job with pain control IMO. The pain and recovery was rough enough that it has taken him a long time to be willing to have surgery again though. Just kinda wondering how this might go.

Edited July 24, 2009 by kaykay

[MacMadame 81]

I've had a open gallbladder and two c-sections. This was the easiest by far.

[Finally! 0]

Not really painful. I'd say "uncomfortable."

[Oregondaisy 2,019]

on a scale of 1-5 I would say a 1. I have a very low pain tolerance. There was just no pain.

[kaykay 1]

Wow! I'm surprised. Even though it's usually done laparoscopically, quite frankly, excising a major part of the stomach sounds pretty painful to me.:eek: Glad to hear that at least for you all it wasn't.:thumbup1:

We have personally known several people who have had gastric bypass and a couple who have gotten the lap band, but we don't know any personally who have done the sleeve. My husband rejected the idea of the band from the get-go and thought he wanted the bypass. His surgeon does all 3 and felt the sleeve would be best for him. And he liked the idea of the sleeve best.

Edited July 24, 2009 by kaykay

[Ruthi 60]

It was a piece of cake, low cal, low carb or course

[kaykay 1]

It was a piece of cake, low cal, low carb or course

LOL:lol0: I hope this is typical.:thumbup1:

[Phoenixrising 0]

I had my sleeve done just over a year ago and took no pain meds after the 2d day. Had surgery Friday, stopped pain meds on Sunday. I was able to drink with no problems and moved through the food progression pain and trouble free.

I had no problems with reflux or GERD and need not PPI meds at all since surgery.

Good luck in your journey and here's to a pain free, complication free, trouble free sugery and recovery.

[kaykay 1]

Well, he had his surgery Tuesday. Had a diseased gallbladder removed at the same time. Everything went well and he is doing fine. He did have quite a bit of pain coming out of recovery. When the floor nurse asked him about his pain level, he described it as being a 7. However, it seems that they controlled it quickly and it has been controlled since.

So...anyway, we are at home now and he is on Clear liquids doing well. :001_tongue:

[Malaika 50]

Glad to hear he's home and doing better and hope his pain level has decreased significantly as well.

[fencepost 2]

I'm the husband KayKay is referring to. I joined the forum yesterday. I found the pain level and the recovery pretty bad even comparing to my experience having heart surgery. It's definitely not a walk in the park. After getting out of recovery however the story is much different. I am feeling much better much quicker than my previous experience. Laparoscopic has a lot advantage when it comes to the speed of recovery. I still have had to maintain my use of the pain medications up until this point but my need is diminishing.

I had some complications I believe that may have contributed to my pain issues. One, I had my gallbladder out at the same time. Two, the took me off a medicine called baclofen which I take for a urological condition. It's basically a type of muscle relaxant. You are not supposed to ever get off that medication suddenly but to taper off and to taper onto it. I had aches all over my body, back, arms, stomach, legs etc. It seems when I got home and got back on that medication a lot of those issues went away. It's just a caution for others, you know your medicines sometimes better than the doctors, and you have to hammer home to them that these issues exist or they might let something like this slip through the cracks. I believe that I will be off pain meds. and back to work in another week as I had planned. I was off for months with Heart surgery. My energy levels post surgery are much better than they were then also. I'm very hopeful for what the future brings from this procedure.

Edited August 3, 2009 by fencepost

[BeardedItalian48 3]

I'm the husband KayKay is referring to. I joined the forum yesterday. I found the pain level and the recovery pretty bad even comparing to my experience having heart surgery. It's definitely not a walk in the park. After getting out of recovery however the story is much different. I am feeling much better much quicker than my previous experience. Laparoscopic has a lot advantage when it comes to the speed of recovery. I still have had to maintain my use of the pain medications up until this point but my need is diminishing.

I had some complications I believe that may have contributed to my pain issues. One, I had my gallbladder out at the same time. Two, the took me off a medicine called baclofen which I take for a urological condition. It's basically a type of muscle relaxant. You are not supposed to ever get off that medication suddenly but to taper off and to taper onto it. I had aches all over my body, back, arms, stomach, legs etc. It seems when I got home and got back on that medication a lot of those issues went away. It's just a caution for others, you know your medicines sometimes better than the doctors, and you have to hammer home to them that these issues exist or they might let something like this slip through the cracks. I believe that I will be off pain meds. and back to work in another week as I had planned. I was off for months with Heart surgery. My energy levels post surgery are much better than they were then also. I'm very hopeful for what the future brings from this procedure.

HELLO and welcome!

Having had several surgeries, knee, shoulder, heart cath, hernia, and a boil removed I can honestly say the Sleeve surgery was a piece of cake. I had pain the second day, however, after that I was good as gold. The third day I was in very little pain, and left on Monday! IT sounds like your doc messed up taking you off the pain meds all at once causing you more pain. Plus taking out your other organs causes more pain in itself, I don't think it was just because of the sleeve.