My daughter just had surgery on Thursday 3/26 and is having severe nausea to the point where she doesn't want to drink anything. She is also having alot of pain where her stomach is and says it feels like something is stuck in her esophagus like how a large pill feels when stuck. The pain and nausea are unbearable. Is this normal? Any advice?

Is she off the pain meds?

Yes, she's been off the pain meds for at least a week.

I find it hard to understand why they have no upped her to a stronger anti-nausea med. Going back and forth for IV fluids is not addressing the issue. I'd be furious and ready to start calling for second opinions and possibly a new doctor.

I was hoping the pain meds were the culprit but I guess not. I had to refuse pain meds after my sleeve surgery because I remembered how nauseous they made me after my band surgery and it made a huge difference. Hope she gets better

I find it hard to understand why they have no upped her to a stronger anti-nausea med. Going back and forth for IV fluids is not addressing the issue. I'd be furious and ready to start calling for second opinions and possibly a new doctor.

They've given her Zofran and a stronger med, Phenergan. Neither have made any significant difference. I've also talked to her GI Specialist and he called in another prescription for Buspar which is an anti-anxiety med that can also help wtih nausea. So far, not helping.

I was hoping the pain meds were the culprit but I guess not. I had to refuse pain meds after my sleeve surgery because I remembered how nauseous they made me after my band surgery and it made a huge difference. Hope she gets better

I was too LSF, I've tried just about everything.

I don't know if this will help but I was also really sick with nausea, not as long as your daughter but still sick. At one point they gave me everything they could so the nurse had me smell an alcohol wipe and it really helped. Once at home I kept a bottle of rubbing alcohol right by me the first few weeks and would smell it when a wave of nausea hit. It really helped me. I hope your daughter feels better soon

I don't know if this will help but I was also really sick with nausea, not as long as your daughter but still sick. At one point they gave me everything they could so the nurse had me smell an alcohol wipe and it really helped. Once at home I kept a bottle of rubbing alcohol right by me the first few weeks and would smell it when a wave of nausea hit. It really helped me. I hope your daughter feels better soon

Interesting! I'll try that soon.

Day 24 Post Op

Constant nausea continues. The vomiting has stopped. She's barely able to drink anything at all but I force her to take small sips as much as I can. She hasn't eaten. She had one bite of something but couldn't tolerate it. She's also having diarrhea but I can't see how. She's barely taking anything in.

I hate seeing my daughter in this much suffering and I feel so helpless. Nothing has worked. The surgeon says it will just take time but he can't say how much time.

I'm not a nurse, I don't know at what point dehydration becomes serious.

I hate to alarm you but something is definitely not right. She should be back in the hospital and a doctor who specializes in sleeve surgery should probably do an endoscopy to see what's going on. She should also be hooked up to an IV for fluids as well as an eating tube until they figure this out. Too much time has passed for her not to be getting any better. I would get a different doctor involved. As a mom myself I sympathize what you must be going through. As someone who had the lapband 7 years ago and was revised to the sleeve a few months ago- I'm no doctor but feel very strongly that this is not a normal recovery

@@ssourgirl @@LSF

Ok- I am a nurse (30+ years) and I think LSF is spot on. This is not a normal recovery and has gone on too long. Please get another doctor involved. I hope things turn around soon and she starts feeling better.

Thanks LSF. I was in contact with the surgeons office last week. I asked at what point do they consider it a serious problem and at what point do they hospitalize. He sent her for a gastric swallowing study and said that it came back find so they ruled out any physical complications with the surgery. They said basically he didn't think she needed to be hospitalized but he could write the orders for her if I really wanted to do that I don't want to go through that if he thinks it's unnecessary but I'm getting to that point.

He set us up to go for IV fluids last Tuesday. She was still nauseated all week but seemed to be getting some fluids in and seemed to perk up a little bit. But yesterday she started getting worse again.

I don't know if going to another surgeon would help. He is one of the best in Austin. I may have to make some calls though.

@@ssourgirl @@LSF

Ok- I am a nurse (30+ years) and I think LSF is spot on. This is not a normal recovery and has gone on too long. Please get another doctor involved. I hope things turn around soon and she starts feeling better.

Why do they keep telling me this is normal in some patients? They say this happens in about 10% of their patients and they don't have an explanation for the nausea but that it DOES get better. They did a gastric swallowing study and say nothing is wrong. Thank you for weighing in. I just feel like they're treating me like I'm an overreactive mom.

When my surgeon went over the procedure prior to my surgery, he said the the final step he does is the endoscopy to see on camera to make sure there are no leaks etc. it can't hurt to insist that they give her one. This way they will put the camera down into her stomach to see what's going on. The swallow test is just showing that there is nothing blocking liquid from going down

There's also another post from Nprcowboy who also had a lot of post - op complications that went on for months. You should read his postings

Good to know LSF, I'll ask the surgeon about this tomorrow. I'll also look for nprcowboy's posts, thank you!