Hey everyone!

I'm scheduled for my bypass on Feb 14. So far I've lost 8 lbs on the pre op diet and I'm on day 3 but was dieting pretty hard-core the week I got on my preop. lol it's going well but I get food anxiety about stupid stuff though like what if I ate too much lettuce and get kicked out of ketosis? I know it's so irrational and I've done keto and the nutrition/macro dance of anxiety in the past. I figure as long as I'm losing weight and eating less than 6 grams of carbs a day, my liver is hopefully shrinking.

Anyway, I'm trying not to overthink things. That's been helping me so far. They say when you overthink you create problems that weren't there in the first place. Definitely feel like that applies to following a crash diet.

Well, with surgery approaching I'll be relieved to not deal with this feeling of emptiness. This is probably going to be one the most challenging parts. I can't help but wonder though and I have terrible medical anxiety, what does it feel like when you wake up from surgery? And in the couple of days post op?

Are you:

Sore in your stomach?

Can you feel your stomach and intestines?

Is there a burning sensation?

Are you zoned out on pain killers or you can go without them just fine?

Do you get gas pain right away?

Is it hard to move around?

Just wanna know your experience after surgery, hospital and getting home.

Thanks for the advice as usual. Love this community!

Sore in your stomach?

Along the left side.

Can you feel your stomach and intestines?

No

Is there a burning sensation?

No

Are you zoned out on pain killers or you can go without them just fine?

I wasn't given any! Just paracetamol IV.

Do you get gas pain right away?

Absolutely

Is it hard to move around?

Not especially. You've just had GA and surgery so you're sore and groggy but I could get up and walk to the bathroom after a couple of hours holding my IV stand.

Thanks! Totally understand if it's TMI but it is lower GI or upper GI gas or both?
Do you have to go to the bathroom a lot after in the hospital?

when I woke up all I really felt was nauseated, so I let the nurses know and they put Zofran in my IV line. I don't remember being in any pain. Actually, I never felt any pain. I didn't want to use my morphine pump in the hospital because I really didn't hurt anywhere, but the nurses said I should anyway so it would be easier to get out of bed to walk (my abs were pretty sore - and were for a few days after I got home, too. I didn't hurt while I was lying down - or sitting up - or standing - but the transitions from one to other (e.g., lying down to sitting up) were hard on the abs. I felt like I'd done 1000 crunches).

they sent me home with pain meds, but I never opened them. I never felt nauseated, either - that was just my first day in the hospital (and the Zofran helped a lot). As I said before, all I remember was sore abs that only bothered me while I was trying to transition. I can't remember if I had gas pains or not. I just remember the abs.

I couldn't feel my stomach or intestines and still can't. I didn't feel any different than I did before surgery. In fact, at first I wondered if they'd even done the surgery!

I felt really really out of it when I woke up after my bypass, much worse than when I woke up after my sleeve. But the sleeve surgery lasted 26 minutes and the bypass was nearly 3 hours (it went long because there was an issue where they couldn't use the stapler to close the pouch and had to suture by hand). I felt absolutely miserable for a day or two but then started feeling a little better every day. Within a week or so I was feeling much much better.

I don't know if I would say my stomach was sore, externally anyway. I had some weird twinges inside but that went away after about a month.

I don't know what you mean about feeling my stomach or intestines, I didn't have any weird sensations other than the twinges every so often.

No burning senations.

They prescribed me Percoset, and I got ten of them to take home, I only took four, and two of them were just to help me fall asleep for two nights, I didn't need them anymore after that.

I had gas pain after the sleeve, mostly in my shoulders, from the air they pumped in during the surgery. I don't believe I had any this time.

It wasn't terribly hard to move around. They had me up on feet shortly after I woke up after surgery, and then they woke me up every two hours to walk a few laps in the hospital hallway. They recommended doing the same when I got home. I didn't do it that often but I was able to get around OK, albeit very slowly for a few days.

Good luck!

How long did you stay in the hospital after your bypass?

Thanks!

You will have noticed people have a lot of different experiences. Some stay in hospital a day some two or 3 days. Some need opioid pain meds for 3 or 4 days but others don’t after 2 days. Some only experience more general discomfort. Some have a lot of gas pain but others very little. Some are constipated for days. Others have diarrhoea. Some move about pretty easily while others struggle getting up & down with their pulled muscles & internal sutures. Some have an energy drop & are fatigued for a couple of weeks. Others are fine & are back at work after a week.

A lot of it depends on you & how you recover & respond to the surgery, anaesthetic, etc., whether your surgery was straight forward or if they have to do other things like a hernia repair. Also surgeons do things differently.

Have a chat with your surgeon & ask them about what their patients generally experience & what you can expect.

If you follow your plan, eat the foods you’re allowed & meet your goals (protein, fluids, carbs, etc.) you’ll be fine. You won’t throw yourself out of ketosis eating lettuce but I get the uncertainty & wanting to ensure you don’t make a mistake. Don’t be afraid to ask your dietician for a more defined diet if you will feel more comfortable about your food choices, portion sizes etc. And if you struggle to eat or can’t tolerate certain foods to begin ask them for alternatives.

All the best.

1 hour ago, fourmonthspreop said:

How long did you stay in the hospital after your bypass?

Thanks!

One night

10 hours ago, fourmonthspreop said:

Thanks! Totally understand if it's TMI but it is lower GI or upper GI gas or both?
Do you have to go to the bathroom a lot after in the hospital?

Both and neither. They inject the cavity with gas to properly operate and it feels horrific. It goes quickly with walking though.

Sore in your stomach?

When I first came out of surgery, it felt like someone was trying to blow up a balloon in my stomach behind my stitches. That feeling lasted for the most of the rest of the day.

Can you feel your stomach and intestines?

No.

Is there a burning sensation?

No, just a ton of soreness.

Are you zoned out on pain killers or you can go without them just fine?

I went without pain killers, which the nurses seemed to indicate was rare/unusual. But I also had no complications from my surgery, so who knows.

Do you get gas pain right away?

My gas pain was about having the gas bubble right underneath my stitches.

Is it hard to move around?

Moving around was not a problem for me -- I was able to walk around the hospital floor pretty easily (but slowly). I was most comfortable sitting in the hospital recliner -- it was getting up out of the recliner that was very hard. I had surgery on Monday morning and it wasn't until Tuesday night that I could get out of the recliner on my own. It wasn't until Friday that I could wipe myself after defecating.

They inflate you with air during surgery, and the 'gas pain' should probably be divided into two:

- The immediate pain (immediately after until 12h)

- The lingering pain (12h to 7 days)

I was probably not well-deflated and under-medicated coming out of surgery; I was in a ton of pain, but once I got up and moved around (and trust me, that was hard on a 9.8 on a 10 pain scale), it helped a lot. It was two-three rough hours.

The lingering gas was annoying, but not really painful, for me.

I'm not saying this to deter you, I'm saying if you're one of the people who experience pain immediately after, ask for more pain meds right away and get up as soon as you can. It helps!

Reported for surgery at noon on Thursday, surgery at 1.30pm, out by 8am Friday morning.

Sore in your stomach?
no, I had a nerve block in my stomach which they say is sort of like an epidural I didn’t know I was getting it so it was a little odd when I woke up and couldn’t sit up

Can you feel your stomach and intestines?

I couldn’t feel anything, the nerve block was pretty good I think

Is there a burning sensation?

not for me

Are you zoned out on pain killers or you can go without them just fine?

i woke up on pain medication but slowly reduced it down to just Tylenol because the pain wasn’t bad

Do you get gas pain right away?

I never did get gas pain and assumed that they didn’t use the gas on me but I asked at my follow up and they did. Not everyone gets gas pains they said

Is it hard to move around?

yes, because of the nerve block it felt like I did about 1000 sit ups. I had to use the bed rails to pull myself up to a sitting position. It wasn’t painful just numb (for lack of better word).

I was supposed to stay two nights but had such an uneventful recovery I went home the next day. Same thing at home. I was able to drink water and walk around okay. I did get a bit dehydrated (I guess I wasn’t sipping as much as I thought because of such tiny sips) and they sent me to get fluids as an outpatient. I probably could have waited it out now that I know that the sipping got easier and easier for a little bigger sips but I was afraid and I called when my urine was dark. Better safe than sorry though. I never did get nausea or dizzy or any of that because I was proactive.

Edited February 9, 20224 yr by ShoppGirl

I was woozy and needed help so walk at first. I was “out” 6 hours for surgery because the hiatal hernia repair was very difficult they said. I walked every hour during the time I was awake. I drank things even when I felt nauseous. The nurses gave me meds for nausea. The pain was minimal but I’m not a sensitive person. I drove myself home the next day. The hardest part at home was getting out of low seats. It helps to sleep sitting up, or at an incline for a few days or weeks if you had GERD. Keeping up the fluids and walking often helps all the other issues.

I had asthma complications with the anesthesia so bring your meds from home, and speak up about your needs while in the hospital because once you leave no one will help without a full work up in the ER. So, if you have moderate to severe asthma, ask for intravenous steroids or intravenous vitamin A to help you get over stuff dripping into your lungs while “out.” Ask for what you need for your health!

Hey everyone!
I'm scheduled for my bypass on Feb 14. So far I've lost 8 lbs on the pre op diet and I'm on day 3 but was dieting pretty hard-core the week I got on my preop. lol it's going well but I get food anxiety about stupid stuff though like what if I ate too much lettuce and get kicked out of ketosis? I know it's so irrational and I've done Keto and the nutrition/macro dance of anxiety in the past. I figure as long as I'm losing weight and eating less than 6 grams of carbs a day, my liver is hopefully shrinking.
Anyway, I'm trying not to overthink things. That's been helping me so far. They say when you overthink you create problems that weren't there in the first place. Definitely feel like that applies to following a crash diet.
Well, with surgery approaching I'll be relieved to not deal with this feeling of emptiness. This is probably going to be one the most challenging parts. I can't help but wonder though and I have terrible medical anxiety, what does it feel like when you wake up from surgery? And in the couple of days post op?
Are you:
Sore in your stomach?
Can you feel your stomach and intestines?
Is there a burning sensation?
Are you zoned out on pain killers or you can go without them just fine?
Do you get gas pain right away?
Is it hard to move around?
Just wanna know your experience after surgery, hospital and getting home.
Thanks for the advice as usual. Love this community!

i has my RNY Nov 1, 2021, the first two things that jumped out when i woke up is, had to pee so bad and wanted to throw up! Being groogy i held it and told the nurses needed to pee. After that all i thought about was the feeling to puke. My pain was minimal. Good luck!

How long did you stay in the hospital after your bypass?

Thanks!

i stayed 3 days because of shortness of breath.

I had a very easy recovery. I had a slight sore throat (lasted about 3 days) and a bit groggy when I woke up (slept through it after they woke me up), both due to the anesthesia. I went home the following morning and slept through day two, comfortably. My stomach felt like I did a bunch of sit-ups but I didn't have gas pains because I chewed mini Mylanta gas tabs. No nausea, was able to drink water with no problem. By day 3, I was already working as usual from my desk at home.

Good luck!