Describe Your Post-Op Pain

[Bariatric Baddie 18]

So, I thought this might be helpful for neurotic people like me who just don’t know what kind of pain is normal. I know everyone is different but I’m hoping this could help someone.

For me, day 1 was horrible gas pains that were bearable with walking and pain meds.

Day 2 so far has yielded no gas pains, but my bigger incision (my sleeve was laparoscopic and I think the bigger incision is where they actually take out your stomach) is hurting soooo much worse than yesterday.

Is this normal? What is your experience?

Thanks so much!

[Sadiebug 206]

I had RnY so my experience might be slightly different. But my pain was very similar to what you describe. My one bigger incision was also where I had a drain. It was super painful - way more than the rest. Once the drain was removed it was better but that particular one bruised a lot more, took longer to heal and remained painful longer than the rest. That being said, by day 5-7 it was tolerable and then got better every day after that. I did use a hot pack in the hospital and that helped a ton so maybe try that or a heating pad.

[orionburn 1,023]

Won't lie...I woke up from surgery and was like WTF did I just do? The pain was pretty bad and to make it worse I wasn't handling the pain meds well. That was making me sick which likely made things all the worse. Like many it was pain more from the gas than anything else. The incision points hurt but weren't what I would call super painful.

When I developed a spleen bleed on the third day that was pain like I haven't experienced before. The body really gets pissed off when there's blood where it's not supposed to be...lol.

I'm a slow healer so I dealt with pain for the first 2 week. The bad gas pain was only for the first few days. Then it was more of the dull aches/pains associated with surgery afterwards. I envy those that went through their surgery and felt like they could go back to normal the next day.

Despite it all the short term is rough and can be tough to get through, but it's well worth it.

[kaydo 63]

13 minutes ago, orionburn said:

When I developed a spleen bleed on the third day that was pain like I haven't experienced before. The body really gets pissed off when there's blood where it's not supposed to be...lol.

My surgeon nicked a blood vessel to my spleen during the surgery causing this exact pain (splenic infarction) and the pain was so bad I didn't even notice any other pains from the surgery. I was in the hospital for 4 days and getting out of bed to use the bathroom was excrutiating but I did it, and tried to walk the halls a little bit each time as well. It took me almost 2 weeks of round-the-clock Oxycodone to recover from the splenic infarction, at which point my stomach was completely fine. (I'll be 3 weeks post-op tomorrow.)

Edited January 17, 2018 by kaydo

[orionburn 1,023]

3 minutes ago, kaydo said:

My surgeon nicked a blood vessel to my spleen during the surgery causing this exact pain (splenic infarction) and the pain was so bad I didn't even notice any other pains from the surgery. I was in the hospital for 4 days and getting out of bed to use the bathroom was excrutiating but I did it, and tried to walk the halls a little bit each time as well. It took me almost 2 weeks of round-the-clock Oxycodone to recover from the splenic infarction, at which point my stomach was completely fine. (I'll be 3 weeks post-op tomorrow.)

Wow...you're the first person I've come across that had the same thing happen. Doc wasn't positive but felt that's likely what happened. He said the spleen is goofy organ and the slightest brush against it can cause a bleed days later like in my case. I came out of a nap, thought I was having some REALLY bad gas pain, and went downhill pretty quick. They took me to see if I had a leak and did a scan, sent me back to my room, and then moved me down to ICU shortly after. All I could do was rest and wait but was pretty miserable for the next 24 hours. Ended up being in the hospital for 6 days but once I got home I started to get on the mend. From that point on it was residual soreness from the surgery but the pain was manageable.

[jaminator 262]

First 4 days were very painful, but walking a lot made it subside.

[Luisajfc 402]

Well , when I woke up still in the OR Because there was no bed.. I felt all the pain.. I was dyyyying it was painful it was horrible.. I started yelling who ever was there I was in pain.. I couldn’t see well but I know the anesthesiologist was there I remember his blond hair .. he gave me something I pass out .. when I woke up again I was still there in pain but more tolerable. I couldn’t stop rubbing my belly thinking it will help me. It was a horrible experience to be honest. I was fine once I was in the RR connected to my personal pump.

[Creekimp13 5,838]

Woke up with a nagging pain in my shoulder like a pinched nerve. (deferred pain from haital hernia surgery I later learned I had) Incision pain wasn't bad. No nausea or tummy pain. Felt pretty good, actually. My best girlfriend came out a couple hours after I got a room and we walked all over together. Laughing hurt a little. I had a root canal that was way worse.

[MG1776 275]

I was fortunate to have very little pain associated with the surgery. I stopped taking any pain meds the afternoon of the surgery. I only had some complications with bleeding that would cause me to become light headed, dizzy, and faint when sitting up or standing, so my stay in the hospital was prolonged by two days. Once the bleeding stopped, I was up and moving and ready to go home.

[danybx 66]

I'm in pain.. trying to walk is painful. And this is with pain meds. I've had 3 c sections and pushed out one so I have a high tolerance for pain but this is ridiculous.

[GassyGurl 428]

When I woke up in recovery, I wasn't on any pain meds yet. I actually asked, because I had no pain and thought I was on some new amazing drug. When I got to my room, they gave me a morphine pump and I rated my pain at a 2, because I felt like I had to say something higher than 1.

I never really had any surgical pain. Gas pain kicked in after 24 hours and came in waves for the next 3 days. I'd rate those pains an 7 or 8.

My only other issues was a blown iv that was very painful anytime they added anything, and my shoulder was sore for about 24 hours from some sort of injection they gave me. I used the morphine pump prior to them administering any iv meds, but it didn't seem to help much. That's the only part that had me tear up.

If I had to rate my pain from worst to best:
Gas
Blown IV
Injection
Surgical sites


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