My date has been changed to May 14 and I am starting to wake up in the middle of the night thinking of the possible pain. I am a true wussy! I hate pain, but I don't mind discomfort. Off to get my upper GI appt tomorrow.

Everyone has a different e experience regarding pain..I see alot of people who had mild/ almost non existent to people who had a bad pain. I personally was in pain the first 2 nights. I was given the iv that I control, alot of nausea medication, morphine, Tylenol with codeine and regular Tylenol drips. Nothing was working. Im over a week out and im fine..definitely worth a few days of discomfort

Teach, As we've talked about before, it's worth a little discomfort to save our lives. My pain wasn't bad at all. My thighs hurt worse than anything else and that was only because I kept trying to use my legs when I got up rather than my stomach muscles. Once I realized that my stomach muscles were intact, that improved and the pain wasn't bad at all. I took pain meds the first day/evening in the hospital and that was it.

As Urbanddecay said, everyone's pain threshold is different, but the pain is worth the amazing results we get!

I had my gallbladder taken out in May of 2011. The pain was AWFUL. I took pain pill for what seemed like forever. Naturally, when my surgery was scheduled, just like you, I was afraid of the pain. I didn't want to relive how I had felt before. Honestly, though, while I felt tenderness and swelling was apparent, it wasn't as bad as you might think. A good hospital/surgery center is going to keep you well medicated and help ween you off an IV drip. I had an IV drip until the end of the very first day after surgery. Then they gave me liquid- which I thought was way worse than any pain. Because you can't take pills right away, you have to take the most awful tasting medicine (in my opinion). The first week after my surgery, I stayed with my mom, and she just about had to force feed it to me LOL but I'm a wimp when it comes to taste.

Being nervous is natural, so I won't tell you not to be (I bawled the entire check-in process right before they gave me like...3 doses of some medicine to calm me down).

I'm 3 months out, 60 lbs down and I have NO regrets. There are bumps in the road and certain things you have to get used to, but really, I am so happy with my choice- as is most everyone on here!

Good luck! It will all go well! You'll LOVE it!

I was having the same issues. My surgery date is tomorrow. About three weeks ago I asked my surgeon to prescribe me something to sleep because of the anxiety. He prescribed Ambien and what a tremendous help it was. I slept like a baby. I still woke up occasionally with anxiety, but at least it wasn't 3 or 4 in the morning, more like 6 am so at least had more sleep! Tell your doctor about your anxiety and don't be afraid to ask for help, medical or otherwise.

Thanks everyone. That make me feel a lot better. I keep having that swing thought " Well, I could try Atkins again instead of the surgery!" it is good to hear it is worth it!

It is worth it. I was surprised that I did not have any more pain medication after the 1st day in the hospital. There was discomfort with the gas they put in you but other than that it was fine. You will do great.

If I was sitting, lying or walking there wasn't much pain. Most of the pain happened for me getting in or out of bed, getting in or out of chair... but it quickly would pass to a dull ache. But at 7 weeks after surgery I am very happy to have gone thru it!

Just remember if you are in pain let the staff know!

I felt bruised on the inside, but I mostly felt pain from the sutures. It also didn't help that when I woke up from anesthesia I freaked out! I started thrashing and moving about and it really didn't help my surgical sites. There seems to be a wide spectrum in pain for people, but it seems most everyone gets a pain pump after surgery. Hit that thing a few times and you wont care whats going on! Good luck, go get a massage, and relax!

It's worth every moment! Right when I woke up from surgery it hurt the worst. I was almost in a panic, but not really from the pain, just from being dopey and disoriented from the anesthesia. They get you on pain meds really quick and you're so out of it that's it's not really that bad. I didn't have a catheter so getting up to pee every 2 hours ALL NIGHT LONG really sucked, but the pain was just like abdominal soreness, like I had done too many sit-ups. I had a morphine drip the first day and the second day they gave me liquid vicodin every 4 hours (and boy did I watch the clock and hit that call button when it was time!). After I got home I continued with the liquid vicodin and even had to refill my prescription, but the pain was totally manageable. And yeah, I'm a giant wuss, too.

It's worth every moment! Right when I woke up from surgery it hurt the worst. I was almost in a panic' date=' but not really from the pain, just from being dopey and disoriented from the anesthesia. They get you on pain meds really quick and you're so out of it that's it's not really that bad. I didn't have a catheter so getting up to pee every 2 hours ALL NIGHT LONG really sucked, but the pain was just like abdominal soreness, like I had done too many sit-ups. I had a morphine drip the first day and the second day they gave me liquid vicodin every 4 hours (and boy did I watch the clock and hit that call button when it was time!). After I got home I continued with the liquid vicodin and even had to refill my prescription, but the pain was totally manageable. And yeah, I'm a giant wuss, too.[/quote']

Thanks Dramagirl. This forum has helped me be gun ho and ready to go!