Hey everybody, I was sleeved a week ago and have a quick question for all you experts out there... My lower left incision hurts like a SOB... in fact, I've been taking my Lortab religiously because of it! At my post-op follow up yesterday I told the doctor about it and he told me that that incision will probably hurt more than any of the others because they have to separate the muscle more there to make room to remove the stomach that they cut away and also told me that I should be at LEAST alternating liquid tylenol with the lortab at this point... so I DID try that during the day, which didn't feel tooo bad, but it's around 3:45 AM now and I've been woken up by the pain in my tummy! Do you all think I'm just being wimpy? IDK, it worries me that after surgery I was so sick to my stomach I was wretching and felt like poo, maybe I tore some of the internal stiches? Oh, I hate waking up with something to obsess over! I'll call his office in the morning, but I Just wondered what you guys think....

Thanks.

We all feel pain differently. You have to work fairly hard to tear any of the stitches/staples you have. (Which is why we're restricted as to how much we can lift for several weeks.) My guess is that your pain med(s) wore off in the middle of the night, you turned in bed, and BLAM-O...pain. If you still feel as if you need the stronger pain med, then by all means get it from your Dr. Just make sure to alternate it with the Tylenol as he directed. Lortab can be habit forming if you use it too long, so keep that in mind too as you ask for more of it.

Also...Lortab contains Tylenol, so make sure you're not taking more than 4 grams of it per day. (Lortab usually has about 325mg of Tylenol in it...1000mg per gram.) Ask if maybe you can take a liquid Ibuprofen, since it's an anti-inflammatory, and MAY control that type of pain better than plain Tylenol.

I had the same thing. It will last about 2 weeks and get better each day in that two weeks. Take your pain meds when it starts to be too much. I would go without during the day and take it at night when I was going to bed. Hope you feel better.

Yep. It is completely normal. That is the incision where they brought the stapler through and where they took the stomach out. It was excruciating for me too and I could not figure out why others had almost no pain. My doc did an extra stitch there to prevent some kind of hernia. It took a LONG time to go away - as in, I have only been pain free for the past 5 days and I am nearing the 4 week postop point. After 2 weeks I got to where I only used the Lortab at night, but I definitely still needed it up until five days ago. Now it is gone completely and I am starting to feel pretty awesome, but it was rough for a while there. Much rougher than I expected. It will resolve. Hang in there!

I had the same pain that everyone here is talking about. But by day 13-14, it got worse. When I had my 2 week post op visit/nutritional class, I mentioned that I was in worse pain than what I had been. They asked me if I had more active than the rest of the post op days. And I actually had been much more active because I started having some energy and just feeling better in general. They said it was perfectly normal. I'm now 20 days post op and it still hurts but mainly when I bend or sit.

Also, I had found out at 8 days post op that they actually cut through about 2 inches of muscle. Then they use some type of gadget to stretch that area to get the stapler and your stomach through. Ouch! I'm so glad I didn't hear about this until after surgery.

YEP! same thing happened to me! not from vomiting, but I sneezed really hard one day and then for like 2 weeks I was in PAIN!!

dr. said i tore internal stitches and it would be fine. it burned really bad and i had like stabbing pain in there that would come and go. it hurt so bad!

you will be fine. just take your meds if you need them.

hugs,

kelly

Thanks everyone! I appreciate your replies so much! This website is such a Godsend! It's nice to know that I'm not the only one to experience this crappy pain! If it weren't for that one spot, I'd be feeling so much better today!

Thanks again everyone!

Yes, that spot burned like fire for a few days for me whenever I would move a certain way.

Don't worry about the stitches, though. If you had ripped them, you would be showing symptoms of a leak. Just keep your eye on it and watch out for a fever. You should be fine in a few days.

Good luck with everything

I've been having the same pain. And I also have an indention there as well. Anyone know why? I'm just having more pain than I expected from this. If I don't take the Lortab, I can barely move. But if I'm lying down, no pain. Only when I move.

I"m only 3 days post op. Hoping this goes away soon.

That is the incision that hurts the most for me too. but mine is tolerable. my wife tells everyone that I have a high pain threshold. I guess I do. I don't know but it just doesn't hurt bad enough for me to complain about it.

What was the most painful for me was when they removed the drain. that was not pleasant at all. :tsk:

I've been having a lot of pain at my largest incision site as well. I called the dr's office today to see about getting more lortab in case I have trouble over the weekend. They told me that they don't refill prescriptions over the weekend. They asked me if I've had a BM since surgery, and I told them I had not. I fessed up to not having taken the milk of magnesia they told me to take the night I went home from the hospital and the morning after. They told me that could be the cause of the intense pain I was feeling in that particular spot. So I sucked it up and took the milk of mag. and had it worked very soon afterwards. Low and behold my pain has gone in that area! I don't think I'll need any more pain meds at all!