i was banded with a hernia repair friday 6/19 at 7:30 am. I still have a significant amount chest and shoulder pain. I am concerned because the chest and neck pains are worst when i try to drink liquids. after drinking small amounts of liquids about 1/2 an hour later my mouth will begin to water and i have excessive saliva in my mouth that i have to spit out. i am so sick to my stomach that i have no desire to drink anything, i was prescribed something for nausea however i feel like if i take it i will vomit. anyone have any suggestions? i am beginning to doubt my decision to have the surgery

Have you been walking? They emphasized walking a lot....to help with the gas pains. Also, I'm not a Dr. but I would recommend small sips of water and liquid Advil. I read somewhere that Advil may help more than the narcotic pain killers that are prescribed to us. I tried it and it helped a lot. If you don't feel better, call your Dr. I called the day of surgery because I was in so much pain. I really wish they would be realistic and tell you that you will be in serious pain...rather than making it sound like you'll only have a little discomfort. I also talked to a friend that had the lapband and she said she was in a lot of pain for about a week. Good luck!!

This is not my surgeon, but I found this online and found it helpful....

Phoenix AZ Lap-band surgery - Post-op support

I am 3 days post op. I know the day after surgery I had pretty bad neck pain (all the way around the whole neck...when I would lay back it felt like I was choking). Initially I thought it was from sleeping on my back (Im a stomach sleeper). But it went away the next day and I think it was gas. I don't have shoulder or chest pains, but I think a lot of people do from gas (in fact some people say it is the worst part of surgery for them). Walking definitely helps. If you are really concerned then you should definitely call your doctor so he can either give you some reassurance that what you're feeling is normal, or so he can see you. Good luck!

I would only drink tiny sips. Sounds like you still have a lot of swelling in there and may pretty closed off. Tiny tiny sips only. Then wait for a while to see if it goes down. If not, then you are probably swollen shut and may want to call your doc to avoid dehydration.

As for the pain, that sounds like pretty normal recovery pain to me. I agree with the walking. Walk any time you have that pain and it should back off.

Call your surgeon's office first thing in the morning. I had the band w/a hernia repair on 6/08. I had a lot of the same symptoms as you. But, 4 days after the surgery, I started dry heaving. It was very painful. I called my surgeon, they wanted me in that day. Turns out that when they put the band in, they prime it w/a fill to make sure it works properly. Well, the surgeon left me w/a partial fill. Between the swelling and the partial fill, my stoma completely closed up. Once the nurse unfilled it, I had almost instant relief. They made me drink 8 oz of Water there, over 45 mins. I was able to hold it down, no dry heaving of slimeing (excess saliva production or drool).

In the mean time, I hope you start to feel better. Try and drink luke warm, NOT hot, fluids. Warmth will relax your esophagus and tummy. Put a heating pad on your back and/or shoulder to help gas pains. I had gas so bad it hurt to breath. The heating pad really helped. WALK WALK WALK. Just do a walk-about of your house every 30 mins or hour. Try and move your shoulders to get the gas loosened up. Also try and get gas x to help w/the intestinal gas. It comes in chewables and strips that disolve on your tongue.

Good luck

Hope some of this info helps.

I felt a lot like you describe for several days after surgery. The last thing I wanted to do was walk when I felt so terrible. I took frequent but very short walks. I took extremely small sips of liquid- apple juice was most refreshing and tolerable. My mouth would fill with liquid- almost foamy- my dr. told me to take an antacid. A heating pad did wonders for the shoulder pain- I would make myself walk for a while and then rest with the heating pad on my shoulder. If you feel naseus then I would recommend the pill that you were prescribed- I had to FORCE myself to take it as it also made me gag to think of having to take it and experience the poor taste but it was so helpful. Finally- I believe that the narcotic can make you feel a bit quesy if you have an empty stomach- which you probably do. I stopped taking the narcotic - never wanted to try and choke down an otc pain reliever- just dealt with the pain (the naseausness was worse). Please call your dr. and just run down your symptoms with him/her just to be safe and perhaps get some more suggestions. It took me a couple days to call but I am glad I did. This will pass and it does get better- took me a good 7-8 days. Try and walk and rest, walk and rest, walk and rest.

Hi Colleen:

They make a suppository for nausea. Not a nice thought, but better than suffering from nausea. Like some of the others said, please call your doctor to make sure everything's okay in there.

I love my band and my new flat tummy!

Sue

Call your surgeon and let them know...My husband had the same thing done on Thursday the 18th... Lap band and hernia repair. I also had surgery, just lap band. I am back to work today and he is still in the hospital...

We came home Friday evening, the entire time we were home until 7:30 saturday morning he was foaming and having to spit it out. I called and they said to bring him right back up since this ment his stomach was swollen shut. He has been there since with IV fluids and morphin to try and get the swelling down.

Don't mess around, you could get dehydrated and make things worse.

Good Luck!