Anyone have an easier/fast recovery time after gastric sleeve? My Dr. says most patients only take Tylenol for pain after surgery and need about a week to feel good. However reading everyone’s experience on the forum is making me question this.

I was in hospital for two nights and had IV fluids along with fluid panadol. Once I left hospital I didn't need any panadol, I did use two tablets the morning after I left hospital only because I was catching a plane. It was more a preventive move in case I got sore dragging my case around.

I had very little actual pain, only discomfort around the incision sites. I guess everyone has different pain tolerances.

I had VSG and hiatal hernia repair in November. I was in hospital overnight, had no nausea and no pain. I did take Celebrex in the hospital on a schedule, but stopped it when I went home because I had no pain. I went for a walk around the block on day 2, and walked more distance in the days that followed. It was a super easy recovery. I've had C-sections and other abdominal surgeries and this was the easiest recovery of all of them.

My wife and I had VSG in November and we only took 1 pain pill after our 1 night hospital stay. The most pain that we had at home as about a 2 on the pain scale and it was at the incision sites. Her pain did last a little longer than mine as her clothes touched an incision site, but she handled the pain very tolerably until it was fully gone about 2 weeks later. She didn't take pain meds for that pain as it was more an inconvenience type of pain. We had surgery on a Wednesday and we could have worked from home on Monday if we had chosen as we felt that good after surgery.

10 hours ago, Emilka said:

Anyone have an easier/fast recovery time after gastric sleeve? My Dr. says most patients only take Tylenol for pain after surgery and need about a week to feel good. However reading everyone’s experience on the forum is making me question this.

I did. Sleeve was one of the easiest SX i ever had.... SX on Wednesday and back to my desk job on Monday. I think i took 2-3 pain pill in total. I was up and walking the hospital halls with in hours. Walking is the key

I woke up from surgery with a little nagging shoulder pain (had a hiatal hernia repair with sleeve), but I felt great. Hit the ground running...literally put over a mile of steps on my fitbit same day of my surgery wandering the halls afterward. I could have easily done this surgery as an outpatient and gone home the same day. Many people have a rougher time of it. The starvation level calories for the next month is a little tougher (was for me, anywho)...but this passes and you eventually eat reasonable calories again. It was a very easy surgery for me. I was incredibly surprised. Interesting to note...I have never vomited, not once, since surgery over three years ago. I was so worried about vomiting with an injured stomach. Never happened. Never felt nauseated.

I had mine on the 3rd of February, stayed 2 nights at the hospital. It was a relatively easy surgery. Much much easier than I expected. I didn’t feel the need to take any pain meds at home, I just rested/slept a lot the first day or two at home.

The key is walking as soon as you can to get that gas moving.

Great. Thanks for everyone’s answers. I’m doing mine mid March and I was getting nervous reading all the posts about horrible recovery’s. Hopefully it will be an easy recovery ?

On 02/11/2021 at 21:14, Emilka said:

Anyone have an easier/fast recovery time after gastric sleeve? My Dr. says most patients only take Tylenol for pain after surgery and need about a week to feel good. However reading everyone’s experience on the forum is making me question this.

Hi!! I was sleeved in July 2018. Been in maintenance for a while now. Since 10 mos or so out.
My surgery was uneventful (in a good way) stayed overnight which really didn’t think I needed to. No pain other than from the gas bc it was laparoscopic. Home w no problems. Out grocery shopping four days later. I’m very thankful it was an easy road for me. I also hadn’t ever had any surgery to my abdomen before which made it a clean slate. Also followed pre op diet to a t so my liver would be shrunk and as I was instructed. I feel like It’s important to follow everything your Dr says to do.
I wish you an uneventful surgery as well!!! Welcome to the club!!

This is a hard one to answer. In the big scheme of things, 6 weeks post op, I feel I've had it really easy. No vomiting or nausea, only mild surgical ache, a bit of surgical gas pain for a day.... but at the time it felt really shitty.

Everyone is different, and I know you are probably fed up with reading that. The advice the doctor and dietician give you is super important to follow. That is going to give you the easiest outcome post surgery.

Good luck x

I had a horrible time. I was initially in the hospital for 4 days due to pain and not being able to get anything down. I was home and still in terrible pain. Turns out I had gastritis, which was why I could barely drink water. About a week later I was back in for another 4 days. Pain, elevated liver enzymes (dangerously high), dehydration. I have not vomited but lots of nausea. I had surgical gas pain/gas for almost a week. Rolling stomach cramps. I dont regret getting this but it has been a hard road. Still have incision pain (surgery date 1/11/21) and 2 of my 5 incisions are still open and healing.

My recovery was not difficult. The time i REALLY needed pain meds was mostly the first 24 hours. Before discharge, the nurse gave me a shot of toradol. Amazing improvement!! I was given liquid oxycodone to take home and honestly only needed it a handful of times (mostly when I forgot I shouldn't lay on my stomach) and also felt it was a little more than I really needed so usually just took a half dose.

Right out of surgery I had gas pain in my shoulders which dissipated with walking and a heat pad. About day 3 I had awful gas pains in the morning but after they calmed down I was ok. I left the hospital before my pain med prescription was ready and I didn’t need it anyway. My incision sites are doing ok with no issues. Overall I am having had a fairly easy recovery. You can’t plan for all the unknowns, but the advice to do as your bariatric team recommends is solid.