Ridiculous Nausea (over a month out)

[SpoonerGirl 1]

I'm brand new, so please forgive me if this is already a topic. I tried to search for answers before posting, but didn't find much.

I'm five weeks post op. Coming home and during the two weeks after surgery, I had no nausea. Week three I had a horrible kidney stone with lots of nausea and vomiting. The kidney stone passed, and I now have lingering nausea. All the time...day and night. The meds aren't helping, and they make me completely non-functional anyway, with the drowsiness. I drink homemade ginger tea at home at night, and during work hours I try my best to drink homemade mint tea and chew ginger gum. However, the nausea still kicks my butt more often than not. I also find that any bending whatsoever, as well as any pressure to my stomach makes me retch, and usually throw up. I've talked to the surgeon's nurse, and she says they won't do a scope to see if I injured anything, because the nausea I'm experiencing is typical at this stage. I haven't been able to find anyone else on other forums or support groups who have had this happen to them.

Am I truly normal, and it'll go away, or do ya'll think that having the kidney stone messed something up in my stomach? Or if any of you have suffered from this crazy nausea this late in the game, I'd love your opinions and/or tips!

[sbg224 318]

Are you on a PPI or just pepcid or zantac, that helped me. I am almost 7 months out and was very nauseous after my knee replacement and the pain meds, but the zofran tablets and the pepcid helped, good luck

[SpoonerGirl 1]

Thanks so much for your reply!! I'm on pepcid chewable. I hate them, and I often forget to take one in the morning. I'm trying to get into the habit of popping one in before I get in the shower.

[CowgirlJane 14,261]

pepcid chewable is not a strong enough antacid in my non medical expert opinion. Most of us were one nexium or proselec during the first 2-3 months post op.

Bummer about the kidney stones - I bet it has made the situation worse! I had intermittant nasuea for probably the first 10-12 weeks post op. Not the puking kind, but the "I don't feel good kind". I couldn't tolerate plain Water... really had to find things that soothed. Also, some food was hard to digest early on. I honestly didn't feel completely human again until about 3 months post op

A couple of possible soothing ideas are to see if you can correlate this to an event - after eating or is it when you have an empty stomach? Time of day, do some foods or beverages make it worse?

I found herbal tea, served warm was a soothing Water substitutue

DGL licorice is sold at Vitamin shoppe, healthfood stores, you kind of suck on it and it coats your esophogus and tummy. It isn't regular licorice. I know it sounds weird but if you put it between your gums and lip... like chewing tabacco, it slowly melts and coats

I avoided steak and a few other hard to digest items until I was feeling better.

Hope you get an answer and feel better soon!

[Babbs 14,681]

A rare complication of the sleeve is damage to the Vagus Nerve, which can cause constant nausea. Talk to your surgeon about this possibility.

[SpoonerGirl 1]

Thanks, CowgirlJane and Babbs for the info and the tips. I'll speak with the surgeon again and see what he (or his nurse) thinks. His nurse is the one who told me I was basically normal and/or imagining things.

CowgirlJane: I have nausea all the time, but mostly on an empty stomach and when smelling medicines and food. Eating said food is fine. Smelling it is another story. And I'm still on soft foods at this point. I'm not up for trying anything adventurous, so I haven't eaten any steak, chicken on the bone, no pork, and nothing fried or tough.

Oh, and if I bend over even a little bit, I lose it. Mostly I am bringing up air, and not actually anything solid/liquid. But I work with students in a university, and I'm sure they don't want to see me gagging or belching uncontrollably while speaking with them... so I really hope it goes away.

I'm willing to try anything, so I'll look into the DGL licorice for sure.

[Amelie2016 116]

Thanks, CowgirlJane and Babbs for the info and the tips. I'll speak with the surgeon again and see what he (or his nurse) thinks. His nurse is the one who told me I was basically normal and/or imagining things.

CowgirlJane: I have nausea all the time, but mostly on an empty stomach and when smelling medicines and food. Eating said food is fine. Smelling it is another story. And I'm still on soft foods at this point. I'm not up for trying anything adventurous, so I haven't eaten any steak, chicken on the bone, no pork, and nothing fried or tough.

Oh, and if I bend over even a little bit, I lose it. Mostly I am bringing up air, and not actually anything solid/liquid. But I work with students in a university, and I'm sure they don't want to see me gagging or belching uncontrollably while speaking with them... so I really hope it goes away.

I'm willing to try anything, so I'll look into the DGL licorice for sure.

How are you doing, Spooner?

[SpoonerGirl 1]

Thanks for checking on me! I've graduated to "normal" foods now. After some of the tips given to me in here, I managed to keep the nausea at bay for the most part, and now it's not bothering me at all. I still chew the ginger gum, and drink the ginger tea, and I've been eating the licorice candies, although not much. Now, it seems the only time I get the hard core nausea is when I bend over or "scrunch" my stomach in any way.

The surgeon said "good call" on the vagus nerve thing. He said it gets overstimulated after surgery, and is definitely the cause of most people's nausea if it lasts over a week or so post op. So I'm good for now, and enjoying making mini meals in my muffin tins, and eating without bringing it all back up!