Ok, so last night i was feeling a little less than ideal, but this morning was the worst. This is day 8, and the pain was as bad as ever--felt like i was going backwards. I guess it was gas, in my abdomen and shoulder, which was weird cuz my shoulder was never really hurting prior to today. I called the surgeon's office, and they called me like 3 times throughout the day to check on me, which was nice. They said it sounded typical, but to let them know if it got any worse. Sucks, cuz i was all excited abt advancing to soup and yogurt, and barely had anything today because i was n so much pain. I basically slept all day and had one trip to the bathroom. Doing better now, but wow, what was that? Anybody else have what felt like a setback at this point post op? Thanks for reading...

Golden Raisin,

I totally know what you're going through. I'm about a little more than a month out and for two weeks I just felt horrible. Everyday I felt like I was regressing. I had HORRIBLE shoulder pain and abdominal pain at the site where the stomach was removed. Even now, I still have horrible stomach pain at that site that will take my breath away. I've had barrium swallows, X-rays, MRI's and everything and there is no hernia, or any other complication but I'm told that this one site heals the slowest and hurts the most because the large scope is placed there and that is where all of the pulling, tugging, cutting, etc is done. I found myself sleeping the days away and really hated it but I will say sleep a lot, rest a lot and do as little as possible. Give yourself time to heal and invest in Gas-X strips or chewables. The shoulder pain is just bad gas. That's common for weeks to even a few months out.The carbon dioxide that they put in your stomach during surgery takes time to be absorbed into your blood stream - and until this excess gas is absorbed by the blood you're going to have bad gas which will cause horrible pain. My shoulder pain stopped a couple weeks post op. Happy healing & welcome to the loser's bench!

Wish you the best!

Thanks, Tai. The sleeping really seemed to help today...

Thanks, Tai. The sleeping really seemed to help today...

It really does... and speaking of sleep.. I think I'll take a little nap myself. Lol

Night-night!

Goldenraisin214,

You are not alone here, I had surgery on 01/25/2012 I thought I was doing so well. All this week I have been feeling bad tired, sluggish, weak, heart burn not being able to sleep at night and not really being able to eat or drink and then what I do eat feels like it is getting stuck, I vomitted yesterday for the first time without alot of food being on my stomach and then to top it off I only had 2lb weight lost. WTH!!!!!!!

You are not alone, I had the same kind discomfort the other day...I started on cream soup and OMG my shoulder and my back hurt worse than ever, but I took a gas x and walked around my house and (this may be to graphic but we're all family) My great aunt told me to put a pillow on my stomach and lay with my butt to the ceiling and face down in the bed and rock..and after about 5 min..Great Release!!!!! After that I slept like a baby Today I did something different I took a Gas X about 15 min before I ate and after I was finished eating and so far no gas...I have been resting a lot, and I am taking full advantage I want to heal and get as much rest as I can

We will get through this...Operation Sexy 2012 in full effect!

Be sure to stay hydrated! Nearly 50% of WLS patients have NAFL (non-alcoholic fatty liver) -- which should resolve itself with weight loss. However, this usually results in a sluggish liver which is not comfortable. liquids and exercise help the liver through this process, make sure you are getting 64-80oz minimum of fluids/water intake every day. When you don't get enough, it can increase pain in other areas of your body. The liver is a giant filter for your blood and right now in breaking down fat your body is releasing more estrogen that it has to process. Plus, it's now trying to break down the fat stores in the liver itself. That's fun as it can spike at the worst times like in the middle of the night. Most likely your abdomen pain is a result of gas and/or incisional healing. Everyone here has great advice for that -- Fiber, GasX, etc. And as much as you may not like it, exercise does WONDERS!!! Sometimes when the diaphragm is in pain, it will reference in your shoulder. Remember, they had to retract/shift your liver around and fill you up with a lot of CO2. It can take a while for that to go away. And if you did have a fatty liver, they most likely took a sample with a needle to make sure you hadn't advanced to cirrhosis, etc. stages.

I found my shoulders hurting a lot too because I was sleeping too much, and hunching over a lot to protect my belly. That plus the fact that all my bras don't fit leads to horrible posture. Trying some mild stretching and perhaps take some liquid children's tylenol for the pain. GOOD LUCK!

Ok, so last night i was feeling a little less than ideal, but this morning was the worst. This is day 8, and the pain was as bad as ever--felt like i was going backwards. I guess it was gas, in my abdomen and shoulder, which was weird cuz my shoulder was never really hurting prior to today. I called the surgeon's office, and they called me like 3 times throughout the day to check on me, which was nice. They said it sounded typical, but to let them know if it got any worse. Sucks, cuz i was all excited abt advancing to soup and yogurt, and barely had anything today because i was n so much pain. I basically slept all day and had one trip to the bathroom. Doing better now, but wow, what was that? Anybody else have what felt like a setback at this point post op? Thanks for reading...

Get to feeling better soon! Also, you don't have to rush it if you're not ready. Take your time, I did. I moved very slowly through the stages and usually only did one meal a day on the next stage and kept the rest Protein shakes and mushies. *hugs*

Excercise is good and will make you feel totally brand new but just 8 days post op I wouldn't recommend it. I'm a month out and still am only doing walking because I still have swelling and severe pain at the incision where my stomach was removed from. I would recommend to only excercise & start you work out after you've had your evaluations with your surgeon. They usually tell you not to work out anyway until your 4 week visit. I know at my week visit he told me I needed to be resting more and doing too much too soon will prolong healing.

Thanks for all your suggestions and encouragement, guys. I'm pretty sure i'm dehydrated, or well on my way, so today's goal is to get down as much as I possibly can. I have the gasx strips and hubby is picking me up some liquid tylenol later today. I did have some success yesterday with the old school butt in the air pose too, BbM!