Hiatal hernia repair

[Meli65 8]

Hi all I was sleeved on 10/6 and also had my hiatal hernia repaired. I have been having a lot of chest pain and also when i swallow my liquids. The only cold thing I can tolerate is sucking on a popsicle. My other liquids pretty much have to be room temp. Whenever I drink flavored water it pretty much burns when it gets to my stomach. Is this normal? I think I still have gas lodged in my left shoulder blade because it is very uncomfortable. I am doing my spirometer every few hours to exercise my lungs. I thought sure I would have lost some more weight by now. I gained 2lbs while in the hospital from all the fluids they pumped into me. I weighed today and I have lost the 2lbs. plus 3 more. Is that about right for this amount of time or not enough? I don't want to start feeling frustrated.

[*Lexie* 1,486]

The chest pain is normal. It just means you're drinking too much or too fast. Take smalls sips. For me, that only lasted a week or so and now I can take normal sized drinks. Every once in a while, I take too big of a drink and feel it in my chest. I was also more comfortable with room temperature at first. You shouldn't consume anything too cold or too hot for a few days/week. Not sure about the burning, I didn't have that.

It gets better really quick, hang in there.

[SCLosingIt 2]

Hi. I'm new to this site but had my VSG 8/14/14. With the liquids, you are doing the right thing with trying different temperatures. You may want to take smaller sips. At one point my sips were just getting the tip of my tongue wet. What really helped me was walking while I drank my Water. I don't mean a stroll. I was moving my legs! The moving helped the Water pass without feeling like someone kicked me in my chest.

May I suggest that you put the scale away. You are three days out from surgery. Standing on the scale every day will do nothing but drive you batty. I still don't have a scale in my house because I am compulsive. I would weigh several times a day if it was right there in my home. In the beginning I just waited until my surgeon visits to find my weight. I was never disappointed. I didn't have that dreaded 3 week stall everyone gripes about. I weighed in the doctor's office during the week 1 visit and weighed again during the week 3 visit. Guess what....the weight was down. No stall.

After a few weeks, I picked Monday as my official weigh in and just plot my weight once a week on a graph. Some people plot their weight once a month. This way I don't get caught up in the day to day fluctuations your body will make.

Before surgery I wrote a list of NSVs I wanted to achieve. This way I could Celebrate something in the event the scale doesn't move from one week to another. Who cares that I didn't lose 1 pound this week because I was able to button a pair of pants that I haven't worn in yearssssss!!!! Just find other ways to Celebrate.< /p>

Edited October 9, 2014 by SCLosingIt

[AvaFern 3,516]

It sounds like what you are experiencing is normal! It was months before I could take more than a sip or two of Water at a time. It feels like the Water is a mouthfull of rocks making it's way down your throat? I'm a year out now and I still can't chug an entire bottle of water like I used to be able to, but I can take a decent 4-5 gulps without feeling anything abnormal. Also, don't worry about the scale yet- you have plenty of time to worry about that after you've healed! Your loss so far sounds completely normal though. Enjoy the process! This time next year you will feel like a completely different person.

[Meli65 8]

Thanks so far for the advice everyone. Believe me I am definetely taking tiny tiny sips. I am most definetely going to put the scale away until my doc appt. next Thursday, maybe this will help me keep my mind off that area for a bit. I'm not too sure what NSV stands for since I'm kinda new to this. I did really well with eating right from the day I began this journey 6/19 and lost 33 lbs. before my surgery. I am fully committed to this new lifestyle and can't wait to see what kinds of new things my future holds. Just praying the pain lessens as the days go by.

[Yasman 195]

NSV stands for non-scale victory. I do weigh myself every day (along with journaling every thing I eat and all my exercise) and i notice that my body goes through stages of losing... i'll hit a new low number, fluctuate around that number bouncing back up a few pounds, back down some, then hit another new low or stall for a week or so before it starts moving again. I'm ok with this. What helps is also measuring yourself every once in a while because usually when the scale isnt moving my body is busy changing shape or working on muscle or something else.

one recent NSV I can claim is losing 2 dress sizes. So, my 40 lb weight loss in 3 months may not be as much weight loss as lots of others can claim, but I'm happy with it. I also have picked Friday as my weekly day to evaluate how well i'm losing and it seems my rate of loss is 1-2 lbs per week which I think is pretty healthy and I'm happy with that, too.

Anyway good luck to you and I hope the burning when you drink stops soon. It may just be some wounded tissue from the hiatal hernia repair and when it heals that will hopefully stop.

[nixgreen 1]

I had a hiatal hernia repair with my VSG and struggled with shoulder pain for around 2 weeks. Even now, 4 weeks out I have shoulder pain if I drink too fast. My advice is to keep on top of your pain meds. Take anti nauseous medication and rest. Let your body heal. The weight will come off. I'm 4 weeks out today and am down 38 lbs.