I am only 4 days post op but I keep having horrible stomach pains any time I swallow anything. This includes little sips. I'm trying to drink my Protein shakes and my Water and it gets hard when every time I take a sip I get this pain in my stomach. I'm also so nauseated that the thought of drinking anything makes me sick as well. Did anyone else encounter this problem? If so, did anything help?

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Please please please we are not doctors. When in doubt go to the ER.

I just want to know if anyone ha experienced the same thing. I'm wondering if it's just gas pain from all the excess air.

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I'm a little over 3 weeks post-op now. I know for the first several days after surgery, it was very hard for me to drink. I had to take tiny sips because if they were too big, it would hurt like crazy....but not so much in my stomach, it was in my esophagus. It would feel like it was just sitting there or getting stuck, which is totally normal in the beginning. So if its really your esophagus that you are having pain in, then that is pretty normal. You are just swollen and will get better. It got much easier for me to drink at about 5-6 days out. I never had any pain in my stomach itself when drinking though.

I agree with @ there are no doctors here......when you describe something as "Horrible pain"....it sounds like you need to be having a discussion with a physician..so if you are truly in horrible pain you should either call your surgeon, or go to the ER. Pain is such a subjective thing there is no way anyone can tell you if they experienced the same thing,,,,

Good luck to you and I hope you feel better very soon.

If you are really concerned, I would say call the on-call dr and ask, BUT having said that - I recall Day 5 being the absolute hardest day. After that, the swelling goes down and it should get better. In the meantime, you have to do your best to stay hydrated. Not being hydrated can make you nauseas. So what I did was take a medicine cup (or even a shot glass) and fill it with Water and then set a timer on my phone for every 5 minutes and literally take a very tiny sip every time the timer went off. My medicine cup was 1 ounce, so I would take 3 to 4 sips taking 15 to 20 minutes to drink one ounce. I did that for several hours and then took a break and then started again. I know this sounds crazy but I stayed hydrated and it helped and if I just couldn't drink every 5 minutes, I set it for 7 minutes and tried. Don't force yourself but just keep trying. I promise the worst is almost behind you and the swelling will go down soon and it will get better quick. If you are too nauseas, ask the dr to prescribe Zofran (generic only) ODT (which melts under your tongue). it helps tremendously but know that it doesn't work if you are not hydrated. If you get to the point where you cannot drink at all or cannot hold anything down, please be sure to call the dr.

Hang in there!! HUGS!!

I just want to know if anyone ha experienced the same thing. I'm wondering if it's just gas pain from all the excess air.

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Yes, I experienced the same thing. I'm waffling about going in for fluids. Day 9 of it.

But you should let your surgeon know. Did you have a swallow test done?

I did have a swollen test done and everything was fine. I actually just called and talked to my surgeon and he said everything I'm experiencing is to be expected as long as I have no fever. He said it should calm down in the text three days so here's to hoping.

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Hi - I had surgery Aug 30. You're so soon after your surgery, if you're following all the rules about what not to consume, and you have such bad pain, definitely call the doctor that did the surgery and discuss with them. I'm a little uncertain about how knowledgeable ER docs are about bariatric surgery and related problems. I had a less than satisfactory experience going to the emergency room when I was rear-ended a week after surgery. When I told them that I'd just had a gastric sleeve, the emergency room doc palpated my abdomen, said it didn't seem distended, and encouraged me to get in touch with the bariatric surgeon...so I don't know if the average emergency room doc would have a clue about problems related to bariatric surgery.

The worst pain that I've had since the surgery was pretty scary, but I figured out that it was related to eating/drinking foods that irritate my stomach lining. E.g, there's a reason for the no caffeine rule, even in very tiny amounts! (I thought coffee that was only 10% caffeinated might be okay; evidently not for my healing stomach). The pain felt like there was someone using a pick axe in my stomach, and the pain would build up and radiate throughout my chest. I theorized that it might be acid related, and the pain did respond to baking soda/Tums (chewable). While the pain was there, it seemed that consuming anything - Water, liquid Protein - would make it worse. But now it's fine. I am avoiding *all* caffeine, and am keeping the Tums close by, in case something else irritates my stomach.

Don't know if "pick axe" in your stomach describes the pain you're having. But my first suggestion is call your surgeon's office ASAP. My doc has a nurse practitioner who is very helpful with post-surgery questions.

However, if you aren't able to get any liquids down at all, that can quickly become life-threatening due to dehydration. And in that case, the ER may be necessary to get hydrated. Since it's the weekend, hopefully your surgeon's office phone has some instructions on their answering machine about who to contact if you're having problems when their office is closed.

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Sorry, I just saw your post saying that you have already called your doc, so that's great! I like the suggestion above about frequent tiny sips. That's what I had to do - tiny, tiny sips at first.

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I am only 4 days post op but I keep having horrible stomach pains any time I swallow anything. This includes little sips. I'm trying to drink my Protein shakes and my Water and it gets hard when every time I take a sip I get this pain in my stomach. I'm also so nauseated that the thought of drinking anything makes me sick as well. Did anyone else encounter this problem? If so, did anything help?

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GI to ER...my friend had the sleeve and 3rd week she was still unable to swallow ...nausea,pain and she was dehydrated...went to ER and severe swelling causing blockage to small intestine ...needed surgery so please go in and check...don't wait. Luckily she is fine now and doing well 16 weeks out.

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I did have a swollen test done and everything was fine. I actually just called and talked to my surgeon and he said everything I'm experiencing is to be expected as long as I have no fever. He said it should calm down in the text three days so here's to hoping.

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Hopefully it gets easier with time. I will add my surgeon checked me earlier this week so I know it's not an emergency situation.

Best of luck

I'm a little over 3 weeks post-op now. I know for the first several days after surgery, it was very hard for me to drink. I had to take tiny sips because if they were too big, it would hurt like crazy....but not so much in my stomach, it was in my esophagus. It would feel like it was just sitting there or getting stuck, which is totally normal in the beginning. So if its really your esophagus that you are having pain in, then that is pretty normal. You are just swollen and will get better. It got much easier for me to drink at about 5-6 days out. I never had any pain in my stomach itself when drinking though.

Yep! Same with me but it got easier to get down after my third week, otherwise I was miserable and losing too much weight because was staying down.

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I am only 4 days post op but I keep having horrible stomach pains any time I swallow anything. This includes little sips. I'm trying to drink my Protein shakes and my Water and it gets hard when every time I take a sip I get this pain in my stomach. I'm also so nauseated that the thought of drinking anything makes me sick as well. Did anyone else encounter this problem? If so, did anything help?

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My wife just under went the sleeve surgery,now she is experiencing the same thing.More insight please?

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I did contact my surgeon and they said it's normal to feel that way at this stage. Everything is still healing. They told me if I didn't start feeling better in the next few days to give them a call back but that feeling has now pretty much gone away unless I drink too much at once. It's all about taking very small sips.

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Glad you are feeling better now. Hope all is going smoothly now.

For others reading this - I had similar - for the first few days I struggled with keeping enough Fluid down. Even if I took a small sip, I would get a few minutes worth of cramping pains so it was just all a massive effort. I ended up back in hospital for iv fluids for 24 hrs but it settled shortly after that and I'm fine now.

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