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Pain after surgery

Hey! I'm new to this app and I'm sure this question has been asked a bunch, but I've searched for it and can't find much on it. I have my surgery on dec 14th and I'm wondering how the pain is when you first wake up and also for the next few days? I know it's different for everyone, but just trying to be prepared. I'm expecting something horrific lol. I'm so scared. I've heard the gas pain is the worst. Also, what is the pain like? Is it a sharp pain, ache, cramp, stab, or what? Thanks so much for taking the time to read this!

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It was moderate for me. Gas pain in my shoulder was the majority of my pain. It felt like I was being stabbed every time I breathed. The rest of the pain is general soreness, mostly from muscles and learning how to get out of that damn bed.

First day was crappy, second day was better. I was fine the third day when I was at home. Still had muscle pain, but it's not bad.

Okay so, I'm 2 weeks out and guuuuurrrrrrrl let me tell you.....the worst for me was the vomiting. For me it was pretty consistent because the nausea was so bad. Oh and no one told me this but you throw up remaining blood in your stomach left over from the proceedure. It seems like.common sense but it's scared me to pieces when it happened the first time. The second worst thing for me was the hiccups. They were deep in my chest and stomach and you can imagine how it hurt when I hiccuped. The gas pain wasn't that bad because I had gas X strips. Take those with you. They help like crazy. The pain feels like a sorness. It's really not bad at all. It was the least of my worries. It feels like you've just done a 100 situps maybe. Totally tolerable. After the nausea went away and I stopped throwing up, my Dr gave me something to make my hiccups go away and then I felt pretty good. Also, it gets pretty annoying when they keep telling you to walk but it really does help and it gets fun. I was so bored in that bed, I would.nap and then walk around whenever I wanted and it was nice.

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Edited by MTWilliams

You probably won't have to worry about most of the stuff I mentioned but that was my experience with it. I say you probably don't have to worry because my nurses and surgeon told me I was like in the 2% of people who had a recovery like that. They made me stay an extra day. That you should be aware of too.....if u don't drink enough of those little cups and keep them down. ...they'll keep u there longer.

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  • Author

It was moderate for me. Gas pain in my shoulder was the majority of my pain. It felt like I was being stabbed every time I breathed. The rest of the pain is general soreness, mostly from muscles and learning how to get out of that damn bed.

First day was crappy, second day was better. I was fine the third day when I was at home. Still had muscle pain, but it's not bad.

Yikes. The stabbing in the shoulder does not sound too good lol. I can't deal with soreness and whatnot, but the stabbing/sharp pain scares me.

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  • Author

You probably won't have to worry about most of the stuff I mentioned but that was my experience with it. I say you probably don't have to worry because my nurses and surgeon told me I was like in the 2% of people who had a recovery like that. They made me stay an extra day. That you should be aware of too.....if u don't drink enough of those little cups and keep them down. ...they'll keep u there longer.

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Thank you so much! This helped calm me a bit. I just pray my recovery is awesome! Lol

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Hey! I'm new to this app and I'm sure this question has been asked a bunch, but I've searched for it and can't find much on it. I have my surgery on dec 14th and I'm wondering how the pain is when you first wake up and also for the next few days? I know it's different for everyone, but just trying to be prepared. I'm expecting something horrific lol. I'm so scared. I've heard the gas pain is the worst. Also, what is the pain like? Is it a sharp pain, ache, cramp, stab, or what? Thanks so much for taking the time to read this!

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had my gallbladder out 15 years ago. The only pain I had was the gas pain. It isn't in your stomach, they blow up your abdominal cavity with gas so they can see what they are doing during surgery and that gas is trapped in you. It moves and can hurt in your neck, back, and shoulders. Mine hurt in my right shoulder, it was an achy feeling to me, like I had been beat up.

The BEST thing to relieve gas pain is walking. Get up and walk as much as you can.

That being said, I had ZERO gas pain after my sleeve surgery. In fact, I would say I had zero pain at all. I was in the hospital 2 nights and had a morphine pump (LOVED it). When I went home I had liquid Tylenol with codeine. I used it at night only for about 3 nights to help me get to sleep and haven't used any pain meds since.

There have been plenty of other challenges since my sleeve surgery but pain has not been an issue at all.

Follow your doctors orders and walk. Mine was very mild. Some surgeons can get most of the sir out. I has to wait a bit to get unhook from monitors but walked a lot in the halls and honestly I was expecting far worse.

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Not complaining :) But, I was sleeved on Monday 11/28/16 with a abdominal hernia repair. I had absolutely zero shoulder pain from gas. I've also had absolutely no problems with incision pain. The only pain that threw me for a loop is the abdominal hernia repair muscle pain. I felt like I had done 1000 sit ups in one sitting. I told the nurse at the hospital that I wanted to start walking a couple hours after waking up and haven't held back much at all. Counting surgery day, I'm on day 5 and I have no doubt I can return to my desk job immediately. It took a day or so for the anesthesia groggyness to pass and for for my bladder to wake up so I could pee. They ended up giving me a catheter for a few minutes to drain my bladder. I was able to go well on my own after that experience. Otherwise, I made it through the sleeve part of the surgery without any of the issues I frequently hear about. I've had dental procedures that were much worse than having the sleeve.

Thus, while my experience may not be the norm, it is possible to get through a sleeve procedure with minimal pain problems. Needless to say, I'm a happy camper. (Day 5, down 11lbs).

...Rev

I just had surgery on Tuesday. The pain when I awoke was like someone had kicked me in the stomach an hour ago. By the end of the first day, it was just a very dull ache. The past two days have basically been pain-free.

Walk, like your doctor tells you to do.

  • Author

I just had surgery on Tuesday. The pain when I awoke was like someone had kicked me in the stomach an hour ago. By the end of the first day, it was just a very dull ache. The past two days have basically been pain-free.

Walk, like your doctor tells you to do.

That's what I've been hearing! That it's basically like you did a bunch of sit ups or something. Thank you so much!

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

  • Author

Hey! I'm new to this app and I'm sure this question has been asked a bunch, but I've searched for it and can't find much on it. I have my surgery on dec 14th and I'm wondering how the pain is when you first wake up and also for the next few days? I know it's different for everyone, but just trying to be prepared. I'm expecting something horrific lol. I'm so scared. I've heard the gas pain is the worst. Also, what is the pain like? Is it a sharp pain, ache, cramp, stab, or what? Thanks so much for taking the time to read this!

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I had my gallbladder out 15 years ago. The only pain I had was the gas pain. It isn't in your stomach, they blow up your abdominal cavity with gas so they can see what they are doing during surgery and that gas is trapped in you. It moves and can hurt in your neck, back, and shoulders. Mine hurt in my right shoulder, it was an achy feeling to me, like I had been beat up.

The BEST thing to relieve gas pain is walking. Get up and walk as much as you can.

That being said, I had ZERO gas pain after my sleeve surgery. In fact, I would say I had zero pain at all. I was in the hospital 2 nights and had a morphine pump (LOVED it). When I went home I had liquid Tylenol with codeine. I used it at night only for about 3 nights to help me get to sleep and haven't used any pain meds since.

There have been plenty of other challenges since my sleeve surgery but pain has not been an issue at all.

This makes me feel a lot better. Thank you !!

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Not complaining :) But, I was sleeved on Monday 11/28/16 with a abdominal hernia repair. I had absolutely zero shoulder pain from gas. I've also had absolutely no problems with incision pain. The only pain that threw me for a loop is the abdominal hernia repair muscle pain. I felt like I had done 1000 sit ups in one sitting. I told the nurse at the hospital that I wanted to start walking a couple hours after waking up and haven't held back much at all. Counting surgery day, I'm on day 5 and I have no doubt I can return to my desk job immediately. It took a day or so for the anesthesia groggyness to pass and for for my bladder to wake up so I could pee. They ended up giving me a catheter for a few minutes to drain my bladder. I was able to go well on my own after that experience. Otherwise, I made it through the sleeve part of the surgery without any of the issues I frequently hear about. I've had dental procedures that were much worse than having the sleeve.

Thus, while my experience may not be the norm, it is possible to get through a sleeve procedure with minimal pain problems. Needless to say, I'm a happy camper. (Day 5, down 11lbs).

...Rev

Sorry to hear that you had a rough time. Hope you're doing great now! Good luck on your journey xx

Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

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