I had my surgery on Tuesday. Today is Friday. I'm home now, I'm walking, I'm taking my meds as indicated. That's all fine and dandy. But drinking water is hard. I'm thirsty, but it's super uncomfortable to drink the water. Part of the issue is that no matter how careful I am, I manage to swallow air. So then I have to wait for those bubbles to come back up so I can take another sip. When will that start to not hurt so much?

took me about 45 days until i could guzzle a big drink of water. Just had to sip until then.

Edited June 8, 20188 yr by jaminator

I still cannot drink straight water and I'm 4 mons post op. I was told it is a texture thing with water and your pouch. Try adding something to it, like a caffeine free tea, flavor additive, lemon, lime, cucumber, ect. It may help. Also try different temperatures of water as well.

You are surprised about pain 3 days after surgery? It's going to take your stomach longer than 3 days to heal... it's all fresh, raw, swollen.... lets try to be a *little* bit more realistic here.

It'll happen... but it's going to take a little while longer.

1 minute ago, Matt Z said:

You are surprised about pain 3 days after surgery? It's going to take your stomach longer than 3 days to heal... it's all fresh, raw, swollen.... lets try to be a *little* bit more realistic here.

It'll happen... but it's going to take a little while longer.

^^^very valid. I mentally blocked the 3 day post op part. Unrealistic expectations will cause more agony than good. You will inevitably be sore for a few weeks. Different foods can cause discomfort. It takes a good 3 months for you to feel "normal" again.

1 minute ago, Matt Z said:

You are surprised about pain 3 days after surgery? It's going to take your stomach longer than 3 days to heal... it's all fresh, raw, swollen.... lets try to be a *little* bit more realistic here.

It'll happen... but it's going to take a little while longer.

They were just asking how long to expect it- which is a normal question to ask. It's very new for them.

I'm 4 weeks out now- and water doesn't hurt as long as I don't take huge gulps. (Though I won't lie, there are times where I'll be walking for a long time and take too big of a drink on accident- it's not terrible but is uncomfortable.) I would say you should notice a little difference (not perfect, but better) around 2-3 weeks. It might be different for everyone- but that's when I noticed that drinking was better. The sugar free koolaid flavoring was my savior. Try experimenting with different water temps. I've heard lots of people say they had to have warm drinks or room temperature- to me I had to have cold drinks. The colder the better. Everyone's a little different. Hope you get feeling better soon!

1 minute ago, AstroCat said:

They were just asking how long to expect it- which is a normal question to ask. It's very new for them.

THANK YOU... I certainly wasn't under the illusion that I was gonna feel awesome 3 days out from major surgery, just trying to set realistic expectations for myself for when things should start to be on the upswing. It's easy for me to watch the healing progress on the outside, but inside not so much. I'm going to experiment a bit with temperatures; I had just noticed that cold drinks seemed to get "stuck" (or cause a spasm or something), so I'll try some other temps.

1 minute ago, AstroCat said:

They were just asking how long to expect it- which is a normal question to ask. It's very new for them.

I'm 4 weeks out now- and Water doesn't hurt as long as I don't take huge gulps. (Though I won't lie, there are times where I'll be walking for a long time and take too big of a drink on accident- it's not terrible but is uncomfortable.) I would say you should notice a little difference (not perfect, but better) around 2-3 weeks. It might be different for everyone- but that's when I noticed that drinking was better. The sugar free koolaid flavoring was my savior. Try experimenting with different water temps. I've heard lots of people say they had to have warm drinks or room temperature- to me I had to have cold drinks. The colder the better. Everyone's a little different. Hope you get feeling better soon!

I'm well aware of what the question was, and my answer is still 100% accurate. With everyone being totally different... the only safe answer is "in a while"...

Drinking was a major hurdle for me, much worse than actually eating solids. I am six weeks out and still have bouts of pain when i drink, but I would say that around the three week mark is where I started to see some improvement.

And @Matt Z dude, you are going to make me piss myself laughing liking all your own posts!

3 minutes ago, YeahOkay31 said:

And @Matt Z dude, you are going to make me piss myself laughing liking all your own posts!

I'm testing something out... having issues with notifications and emails. Liking my own helps me track. Rather than wait for someone else to maybe like something. But it doesn't effect anyone else so, not sure why it matters.

5 minutes ago, YeahOkay31 said:

And @Matt Z dude, you are going to make me piss myself laughing liking all your own posts!

Yup

1 minute ago, Matt Z said:

I'm testing something out... having issues with notifications and emails. Liking my own helps me track. Rather than wait for someone else to maybe like something. But it doesn't effect anyone else so, not sure why it matters.

Oh wait, I missed the wagon on that one. Why are you liking your own posts? LOL I mean, if I were you, I'd like them too...

Oh, it doesn't matter at all! It just made me smile. Reminds me of one of those FB memes "of course I like my own posts, I'm awesome."

Edited June 8, 20188 yr by YeahOkay31

Just now, YeahOkay31 said:

Oh, it doesn't matter at all! It just made me smile. Reminds me of one of those FB memes "of course I like me own posts, I'm awesome."

Agreed. I'm also glad there are guys like Matt who are very active on the site. There aren't many of them out there.

21 minutes ago, AshAsh1 said:

Agreed. I'm also glad there are guys like Matt who are very active on the site. There aren't many of them out there.

Thanks Ash! Wish I could shoehorn more hours into my day to dedicate to this site and helping folks out! Not every answer is going to be a winner, and too many people don't want the honesty, but that's what I got, so that's what I give.

For taking in air while drinking you need to adjust how you take in fluids, which for me was tough after decades of doing it one way. I'm 3 months out and still will take in air if I'm not careful. What I do is take the water in my mouth, exhale through the nose and swallow. My wife would giggle as I drank, but I have got it down to where almost no one notices. Good luck.