Well I was banded on April 16, 2009 and I do not know if what I am going through is normal. First of, I still feel pain in the gut, but mostly in the lower left quadrant of my abdomen. Every once in awhile I will feel a sharp pain there, but it seems that there is always at least a dull ache there. Also I feel a tightening feeling every so often after a swallow, but not all the time. I am also feeling somewhat nauseated and have a series of dry heaves every few hours. I am sooo miserable!! and hungry! I want to cry!! I keep wondering if I made the right choice because all this pain! I was NOT given pain meds and told to take tylenol, but that barely offers any relief...Can I take hydrocodone? I am afraid it will upset my stomach.

I was banded on the 16th as well. I am still very sore and bruised but have been able to get around. The sharp pain you are feeling is most likely gas (they fill your belly with gas during the surgery to make room to work). The day after surgery, I walked an hour (broken into 15 minute increments. Yesterday, I did the same thing...I promise that if you're active you will find relief soon. You can't sit on the couch. The gas will have no where to go. Take it slow, but get up and move. You made the right decision. I would avoid the pain meds. They will make you tired and will mask the pain, not resolve it. Good luck to you!

JJ-- The pain on your left side is likely where your port is located. They stitch it to your abdominal muscle so it'll be tender there for a little while. You're stomach is also really swollen from the surgery so the swelling plus the band create some restriction which is probably what's causing the tight feeling. Take smaller sips of liquids to help with the dry heaving. As the swelling goes down over the next few days this will probably go away. Hang in there because it will be worth it in the end

Well I was banded on April 16, 2009 and I do not know if what I am going through is normal. First of, I still feel pain in the gut, but mostly in the lower left quadrant of my abdomen. Every once in awhile I will feel a sharp pain there, but it seems that there is always at least a dull ache there. Also I feel a tightening feeling every so often after a swallow, but not all the time. I am also feeling somewhat nauseated and have a series of dry heaves every few hours. I am sooo miserable!! and hungry! I want to cry!! I keep wondering if I made the right choice because all this pain! I was NOT given pain meds and told to take tylenol, but that barely offers any relief...Can I take hydrocodone? I am afraid it will upset my stomach.

Call your surgeon's office and request pain meds. Unless you are allergic, I can't understand why it wasn't prescribed for you. I only took mine for 5 days, mainly at night, but I would've been angry if I were told just to take tylenol if I needed something stronger. I was prescribed liquid lortab and only took about 1/3 of the prescription, but I DID need what I took. If you are still hurting tomorrow, call and see if they will prescribe a liquid pain med for you.

Also, make sure you are consuming the liquids you are supposed to. It should help you with the nausea.

Call your surgeon and ask for pain meds...It's ridiculous to be in pain. What you are feeling is normal but once you get some relief you'll feel much better. I was on roxicet for a week and I needed every bit of it. While some people don't have pain there are many of us that had a tremendous amount of it...and you shouldn't feel like a baby because you need relief.

I agree that you should call your surgeon. To withhold pain medication is almost malpractice, honestly. Describe your symptoms; you shouldn't be nauseated and dry heaving either.

I had the lower left side pain and it was not near my port, which isn't very common so it was scary...but it got better each day and went away entirely around week two. It's also normal to feel something when you drink too fast or a bit too much.

To reiterate what everyone is saying - call your doctor and demand pain medication. I had a tough recovery, and I needed every bit of my roxicet (hydrocodone and acetaminophen). You had surgery - you're supposed to be given pain meds. Heck, they give it out for minor oral surgeries.

Good luck...you're on your way towards feeling better soon!

I forgot to mention, as someone did above, that while some nausea is normal from anesthesia you shouldn't be dry heaving. A lot of people don't know that pain can cause those symptoms as well. Don't feel bad about having to advocate for yourself. If you don't feel comfortable calling your Dr. then have someone call for you. I can't stress enough that every patient/surgery/recovery is different. I remember feeling terrible that so many people were up and running around pain free. That just wasn't me...and I do have a high threshold for pain...32 hours of labor...gallbladder/bile duct surgery...back surgery. I thought that it would be a breeze for me and it wasn't. In fact, after I had a weeks worth of roxicet the Dr. put me on liquid codeine as needed. The walk it off advice wasn't what I needed. You do need to get up and move around and that will relieve the gas pain and get things working but only you know the extent of the pain that you are in. Feel better!

I just met with my surgeon on Friday and his nurse,I was told by them dry heaves and nausea are bad and to come in because it could be the position of the band,slippage,or the fill. I hope this isn't the case for you and I hope you feel better soon.

I agree that you should call your surgeon. To withhold pain medication is almost malpractice, honestly. Describe your symptoms; you shouldn't be nauseated and dry heaving either.

I agree your doc should have given you pain meds. Call in the morning and tell them to call a script in to your local pharmacy ASAP.

And just so you know, you are 4 days out and it will start to get better everyday.

Most people posting appear to have had a pretty good recovery after surgery but, as for you, it was not such a fun ride for my partner, who was banded on the 9th April. She did ok for the first day or two (and only nights were difficult) but then she started experiencing extreme bloating and had not been able to keep anything (not even water) down for two days from the nausea and heaving. She had been trying everything (simethicone preparation, walking, massage, yoga positions, etc, etc) to help but nothing made much difference. She really had gotten into a very bad cycle where the gas leads to nausea, the nausea leads to retching, the retching means she can't keep fluids down, she hyperventilates to try to avoid retching but this means she swallows more air, she gets dehydrated and tired, which means she is not walking so much, so the gas is not escaping, so she ends up with more gas pain ...

We saw her surgeon on Friday who checked everything out and reassured her that everything is ok with the band and that the gas problem would eventually pass (when pressed for how long - he replied it varied across people). Lisa is apparently an "air-swallower" (evidenced by the fact that she did a lot of burping before the procedure). It is harder to burp once the band is in and it is this that is causing her extreme discomfort. He also gave her a Maxolon shot. Our surgeon has a recovery room at his rooms so we sat in there until the shot took effect and she was able to swallow sips of Water. In the afternoon, as well as keeping water and fluids (electrolyte fluids) down again, she took some Phenergan and more Maxolon (in tablet form) plus some charcoal tablets. On Friday arvo she was finally sleeping while I had everything crossed (even my eyes!) that she'd be feeling better after a sleep.

That night Lisa had her first night without heaving and it was heaven (for both of us!). On Saturday she was back to nutritious fluids (soups, Protein drinks, etc) and back to walking, so by last night she was feeling her old self. So all is good here again.

The moral of the story - if you are heaving, get a Maxolon shot (or something similar) quickly - don't let yourself get into the vicious cycle my partner found herself in.

I am happy to report most of me feels better...no gas (I don't think), or really serious pain other that in my port incision site...It is much redder than the other incisions and hurts ALOT, even just getting up. Coughing is a nightmare!

I also feel this strange constriction in my lower chest once in a while.

HEY THANKS FOR ALL THE ANSWERS...I DON'T FEEL SO ALONE ANYMORE!!

I was banded the same day and I am having the same weird pressure below my breast area maybe its constriction I dont know but I cant drink much fluids I am trying but its tough. Good luck I hope things get better soon.

i had surgery that same day...and used pain meds until today. Today is the first without. Still feel kinda of nauseated...