Going from a band to a sleeve on OCT 6th and I am starting to freak out a bit. My main reason for doing the band in 09 was that NO CUTTING was being done other than lapascropicaly. Soooooo anxious about what the pain factor will be in regards to being sleeved? The idea of my stomach being CUT and removed to 20% is hard to comprehend. Truth?? Can you feel your stomach afterwards? Can you feel the staples? Does it hurt to take your first drink? Pain on a scale from 1-10? Gas Pain? What was worse? Fearing what pain I will be in post op

It wasn't that bad at all. Having a C-section was a lot worse. It would have been even better if I didn't have a large hiatal hernia repaired. That was what hurt the worst. I took Dilaudid 2 mg every 2 hours for the 1st 2 days(I'm allergic to Vicodin and Percocet) and then just one every 4 hours for the 1st 6 days (each day I slowly tapered down) and Valium went from 3 times a day to just taking it at night now. The Valium helped everything to relax in my diaphragm region. It was a HUGE help! I plan on taking the Valium until it runs out (only 5 left). Besides that it has helped me to sleep easier. Now I am just taking Extra Stength Rapid Release Tylenol in the morning and at night. Just stay on top of your pain. Don't let it get ahead of you. Oh and gas pains from surgery.....walk, walk, walk. I walk about 3-4 times a day. It is about 1/4 mile every time. I never did have any gas pain from surgery, every. Walking is your best friend for eliminating that gas!

Edited September 19, 201411 yr by Jodi_S

Agree pretty much with most of the above, I just wanted to say that not every doctor uses a drain for this procedure. Mine didn't.

You have to get up and walk around as much as possible, as soon as you possibly can after the surgery. That is the only thing that will get rid of the gas pain.

The actual stomach itself doesn't hurt at all and never did for me (I am 12 days out). The large incision has been pretty uncomfortable. There is a stitch placed deep inside there to close the abdominal wall. This will pull and cause pain when you try to use your abdominal muscles (which is almost all the time you are moving around).

A heating pad helps SO much with both gas pains (if any) and incision pain. I am still using it part of the time.

Bottom line, not super easy, but not nearly as bad as you might think.

Edited September 19, 201411 yr by woo woo

I'm getting Sleeved on hte 6th of Cotober....the same Doctor took out 15 inches of my colon back in March. I asked him if I would have to go through what I did hten, he said definately not. That it will not be as painful....so I figure I'm good, but I have a strong pain tollerance...have three kids all natural birth. Everyone is so different

You don't feel the part of your stomach missing at all nor do you feel the staples. I myself experienced gas pain and at some points mildly severe incision pain but I just popped a single Tylenol split in half and I was good. I tried to stay away from the pain medication (Dilaudid) that I was prescribed by the NP unless it was intolerable pain, which I never had. Once I left the hospital I just stuck to Tylenol and the Compazine medication that was prescribed for nausea. The nausea was honestly probably the worst part for me next to the bit of incision pain I experienced. My advice would be not to freak out no matter how scary you may be making this up to be in your head, trust me, you'll be fine. My Mother and myself went through the same procedure together (same day) and we're both doing fine now having just switched over to the pureed food stage.

Edited September 19, 201411 yr by JustSomeGuy513

Thanks so much for all your responses. It sure helps by reading every ones wls post op pain tolerances I guess I am "preparing for the worst, but HOPE for the best" in pain control. I do have a high pain threshhold tolerance. My main concern is that I have to fly home with a connection in Toronto,ON to the closest airport near my hometown, and then sit in a car for 3 hours to drive home. Yes, I live in rural Northern Ontario. My hubby is coming with me, thank goodness!! LOL

why not be kind to yourself and hubby and stay over in a nice hotel or motel the first day? or just go halfway and stay over? no need to make it difficult! but dont have a hamburger on the way love sara

Thanks so much for all your responses. It sure helps by reading every ones wls post op pain tolerances I guess I am "preparing for the worst, but HOPE for the best" in pain control. I do have a high pain threshhold tolerance. My main concern is that I have to fly home with a connection in Toronto,ON to the closest airport near my hometown, and then sit in a car for 3 hours to drive home. Yes, I live in rural Northern Ontario. My hubby is coming with me, thank goodness!! LOL

I agree with Sara. I had a short (2 hour) flight from San Diego and then a 5 hour drive home. I made it about an hour into the drive before deciding I was too tired and ended up staying at a hotel. So glad I did, because I felt so much better the next day and even got in some grocery shopping (for cream Soups, broths and drinkable yogurt. ) before heading home.

I have had my gall bladder removed and a C section and thought both were a walk in the park and didn't use pain meds for either. (Pain meds make me vomit so I avoid them if I can) I sure hope you're all right that this is easier. (I was ready to cut my own gall bladder out to stop the pain of those horrible attacks, wouldn't wish that on anyone)

Since my surgery is on Wednesday, I will know soon enough and can tell you all what I think. My surgeon is pretty cool, they feed a thin wire into one of your incisions and it has several ports that releases local anesthetic to your abdomen for three days. Once the medication bag is empty, just pull the wire out and toss it.

I'm going to expect it to suck and hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised that it's not that bad.

For me, the fatigue was worse than the pain. Here is a "heads up" fo the gas pain: I asked my surgeon what he does for pain management and he said that before he closes up the biggest incision he extracts as much of the gas as possible. Thank goodness, because I did not have any gas pain at all.

The biggest incision was sore for about three weeks, but that was it. Another suggestion for pain prevention is to prop youself up in bed or sleep in a recliner for a coupke of nights to make it easier to rise. I have a lift recliner because of spinal issues, and it really came in handy post-op.

I was also a band to sleeve revision 14 mths ago. My band was easy peasy compared to my sleeve. I had a rough recovery. It took my dr an extra 30 mins to dig my band out of my stomach, leaving more sore than expected.

Everyday for about 12 days I felt like I had been hit by a truck. The gas was bearable with walking and Gaviscon. I also had an allergic reaction to Reglan, ending me in the ER on day 5 with what I thought was a leak.

While the first month was rough (I was literally starving, 4 weeks on liquids and I didn't cheat once), it's a bleep on my radar of life. I can hardly remember it now. I had buyers remorse those first couple weeks. But my hubby reminded me daily that the band had to come out anyway, why not just add the sleeve and have it be just a little more painful. It woulda hurt either way.

So, so, so glad I did it. I'm now less than 15 lbs from goal and I don't regret it at all. not trying to scare u at all. Sorry if I did. Just telling u my experience...

Good luck!

Thank you all for your responses--- they really helped me! I'm getting sleeved this Friday.

I was blessed to not have the dreaded gas pains, Yes! I was so worried about that. I had those gas pains after my c-sections and I had such tremendous pressure in my bum hole that I wanted to cry. My tummy just felt like a bad tummy ache. You know, like a stomach virus. I just ask for meds and it went away. I did not have a drain and my incisions did not hurt at all. Well, my big incision does hurt a little if I do something strenuous (spell check).

It will be okay. I was worried too and it turned out fine.

I never felt my stomach or the staples. The worst pain was from gas. I was also sore because I only had a week to recover before work. I felt any pain I went through has been worth it since I have been losing weight.

On day 11 I still have significant pain. It is the internal stitches used to close my abdominal wall. Nothing else hurts. You feel no pain in your stomach, at least I don''t. Surgeons don't all do this surgery the same way and we are all in different shape and ages.

The pain was definitely not as bad as expected. I had some gas pain right when I woke up, but not for long. I was lucky I didn't have nausea. I didn't have any sensation of pain in my stomach, just on my left side where the larger incision was. Felt just like a stitch you would get from running. Now I'm not a weak sister, but I used my pain pump to stay comfortable as possible in the hospital, no shame in that. The better you feel, the more you will be able to get up and walk. After I got out of the hospital, I was taking hydrocodone/apap for a full ten days, but I didn't exactly take it as easy as I should have. Your stomach muscles will be pretty weak, and very easy to strain, which I did. In hindsight, I probably should have taken another week off from work. Coming back to a full 40 hour week was tough, especially being on my feet the whole time.

I guess my unsolicited advice would be to take ad much time off as you can...not just because of discomfort, but to adjust to a new way of living. And be honest with your doc about your pain. There is no reason to "tough it out," and everyone has a different experience in terms of severity and duration of pain.