I am now postoperative day 4 and I am struggling to tolerate anything. When I drink anything, I get very intense pain in the midepigastric region, upper abdomen, and up towards my chest on the left side. It feels like my stomach is full of gas. It's severe enough it makes me stop drinking. This happens with Protein shakes, Water, and everything else. It sometimes occurs with as little as my 15mL of pain medicine. It is intense for ~10 minutes, then begins to decrease over the next 30mins.

I had the VSG and hiatal hernia repair.

Is this common?

I'm worried I am getting dehydrated as its impossible for me to get in my recommended fluids.

I would recommend you leave the protein shakes alone at least until week 2 that alone will upset your new sleeve. Your pain sounds pretty normal to me because I went through this stage and iI was just miserable. My symptoms were at there worst in week 2 up till week 3. You may want to call your dr's office just to check with he or she to determine your pain level, but for me I had to deal with it,and it did get better in week 3. I know it seems like a long time from now but it does get better. You can try some Gas x chewables until you can make it . Gas X really helped me with feeling no gas symptoms.

Gas x helped me a lot too. I'm 29 days post op and the first 4 days were really hard. I could barely get anything down. I had to have a lot of patience and sip things slooooowly. By day 3 I forced down a protein shake made of water and protein powder. Definitely speak with your doctor though he or she should have the best advise for you. Good luck and feel better.