Hey all,

I had my GS done on 6/21/2023, and I feel like I’ve been going through hell ever since.

My surgery went great and the healing process went normally. But the weirdness started happening around 3 weeks post surgery. SEVERE nausea and vomiting 3+ times daily. My Dr has me on Zofran which only works sometimes and I’ve been living my day to day barely eating or drinking ANYTHING. My body REJECTS water (tried all different kinds and temperatures of water, along with different flavorings; nada), and it comes right back up. Food stays down a bit easier but even the thought of eating most things makes me gag. I’m prepared for the backlash on the comment I’m about to make but honestly all my body lets me keep down is Sprite and occasionally some cereal. I know I know, I’m supposed to be avoiding sugar and carbonation. But honestly I’d rather get Sprite and cereal down than throw up water and chicken over and over again.

My Dr says I’m part of the 10-15% of patients who experience severe nausea weeks after surgery, and that it’s something that goes away on its own.. Has anyone else experienced this?? I’m scheduled to get a CT scan on the 9th of Aug. to see what the heck is going on. I’m almost 50lbs down a little over a month past surgery and to be honest I’m a bit worried I’m losing TOO much weight? (TMI?) But I haven’t gotten my period since the surgery (I’m 20 so my period is usually pretty consistent).

Brain fog is real right now!!! I take 30 seconds to process the things people say to me right now and 30 seconds to form coherent sentences. Is this from lack of food? Lack of water? Who knows, but it’s really annoying.

This post is all over the place, but I feel the confusion of this post connects perfectly to where my brain is at right now. I have no idea what’s going on, all I know is my stomach hurts and I’m nauseous and I just want this nightmare to end so I can start LIVING.

Thanks in advance for reading.

What an awful experience to be having! It sucks when you get the rarer reactions to things, its no fun being a medical challenge! Have they tried any other nausea medication? They like to go with Zofran because its what they give chemo patients and for some it works REALLY well. Sadly I always get breakthrough nausea with it. Plus it causes awful stomach pain and constipation for some. I find promethazine works better for me alternating with the Zofran and the scopolamine patches are nice too. So if they haven't tried other meds, definitely ask about it, there are lots out there! I also wear those seasick wrist bands. For me it isn't one thing that works so much as a combo of things together. My nausea isn't from surgery but from iron infusions, they make me violently ill for weeks! But needs must.

The brain fog is probably from dehydration, lack of actual balanced food and nutrients, and sugar fog from the Sprite. Have they checked your electrolytes? Sometimes when those get unbalanced it can make nausea and brain fog worse. Have you tried those vitamin B lollipops pregnant women use? It might help and will at least get some vitamins in you if you tolerate them.

If you are really miserable and have spare cash, I'd find a local acupuncturist to see. Acupuncture has been proven to be effective for chemo nausea so I expect it might work for this too! Good luck with finding something that works! In the meantime keep trying. I know that sounds awful but the more things you try the better the odds are you'll find a few things that will stay down. ❤️

re: menstrual cycles. Very common for hormones to go a bit wacko the first few weeks or months after surgery. It'll eventually stabilize again.

If you are having milk with your cereal and able to keep that down, drink that. Any liquid will count towards your daily hydration needs besides water. Find things your body won't reject within your doctor's food plan and concentrate on those things, no matter how limited it is. For now, at least, till you get further out and past all the nausea. Also, you might need to wait longer than 30 minutes after eating to drink. Sometimes I have to wait an hour or more or else I can't keep any liquid down.

As I was allowed more options to eat, I found out quickly that my tummy wasn't having certain foods. Chicken is a big no for me. Try not to introduce things too quickly. Your body sounds like it's just not ready for most things.

Good luck!

Apparently we have the same amount of stomach acid as before. Its not the most pleasant start to your new you. I had huge regrets. I am on twice daily nausea meds and anti acid nasty stuff called Gaviscon. It does get more tolerable.

Get your bed higher at the head end, I used books. I bought a wedge pillow and learned to sleep higher. For a whole month I had to sleep sitting up.

I was told to eat what I could, I was on about 300 cals a day for months , I survived but my family worried about me. I had so much internal swelling on my stitch line. I though I had a stricture but it wasn't. One lady on here lived on mashed potato and gravy. I had tiny slivers of hard cheese and drank very slowly, coffee made with milk, banana and peanut butter with milk whizzed in my blender and tinned soup, strained. I felt like I was pregnant again, everything made me gag. I never met my liquid goals for months . Then I could and I began to feel so much better. Hang in there. You have joined the unlucky 1% club

Been having the same issues. I'm being checked for low B1 Thiamine as this can affect brain function. Due to me not getting enough down and sometimes having dumping syndrome I presume its malabsorbtion and I haven't been getting enough vitamins etc. I never knew it was so important. I keep going dizzy too. Healing prayers!

Please take no offense, My doctor made me take Prozac for a year because of the mood swings and the way people treat you and the other things that will happen with the drastic weight loss. Perhaps you might think about seeing a psychiatrist. It sounds like a lot of this might be psychological that you can keep sprite down which should bother your stomach but not water. Maybe you're psyching yourself out. That you can keep cereal down but not chicken. I suggest you do at your doctor says and keep trying. You might try Pedialyte, or a mood prescription might be needed, The lack of sleep also is going to affect your body which could be the 3o sec delay because you're going into sleep deprivation. Try to relax and trust your doctor, try watering down your DIET sprite, it might help. Physically I can't imagine any physical cause that would allow you to keep down water, but keep down sprite, no problem with cereal, but can't do chicken. Best of luck

On 8/1/2023 at 4:27 PM, hannah grace said:

Hey all,

I had my GS done on 6/21/2023, and I feel like I’ve been going through hell ever since.

My surgery went great and the healing process went normally. But the weirdness started happening around 3 weeks post surgery. SEVERE nausea and vomiting 3+ times daily. My Dr has me on Zofran which only works sometimes and I’ve been living my day to day barely eating or drinking ANYTHING. My body REJECTS Water (tried all different kinds and temperatures of water, along with different flavorings; nada), and it comes right back up. food stays down a bit easier but even the thought of eating most things makes me gag. I’m prepared for the backlash on the comment I’m about to make but honestly all my body lets me keep down is Sprite and occasionally some Cereal. I know I know, I’m supposed to be avoiding sugar and carbonation. But honestly I’d rather get Sprite and cereal down than throw up water and chicken over and over again.

My Dr says I’m part of the 10-15% of patients who experience severe nausea weeks after surgery, and that it’s something that goes away on its own.. Has anyone else experienced this?? I’m scheduled to get a CT scan on the 9th of Aug. to see what the heck is going on. I’m almost 50lbs down a little over a month past surgery and to be honest I’m a bit worried I’m losing TOO much weight? (TMI?) But I haven’t gotten my period since the surgery (I’m 20 so my period is usually pretty consistent).

Brain fog is real right now!!! I take 30 seconds to process the things people say to me right now and 30 seconds to form coherent sentences. Is this from lack of food? Lack of water? Who knows, but it’s really annoying.

This post is all over the place, but I feel the confusion of this post connects perfectly to where my brain is at right now. I have no idea what’s going on, all I know is my stomach hurts and I’m nauseous and I just want this nightmare to end so I can start LIVING.

Thanks in advance for reading.

Here it is 4 years. I have the symptoms you are having. I like where you say I can eat cerial and milk and keep it down . Besides the chicken and water and throwing up. When you are worried about to much weight loss eat what you want. I hope my waves of symptoms and weight loss goes away.