I had a great deal of pain. I was in the hospital overnight. They started me on pain pills the second day and I was sent home with them. The pain pills did not begin to touch the pain. It was bad for the first 5-6 days. I only started feeling better yesterday at a week out.

Thanks green for getting back with me. How hard was it swallowing pain pills? Gad you're doing better.

I was released from the hospital about 13 hours after surgery. I was in a great deal of pain. This is day 2 at home and the pain is getting much better. I was prescribed oxycodone to take every 4 hours. I have gotten a lot of relief by taking them as prescribed instead of waiting until I was hurting. I plan to start backing off of the pain meds tomorrow and I don't foresee any problems.

I wish you the best on your preop diet and your surgery.
Keep us informed.

Geoff

iPick did you have any trouble swallowing the pills?

The pills are easy to swallow. I'm drinking out of the 1 oz cups and I can take the pill with about 1/3 of one of those small cups of water. The doctor also prescribed liquid hydrocodone, but it doesn't seem to do as well for me in relieving the pain.

OK tks because I heard that swallowing anything was like razor blades in your stomach at first.

That's not true at all. The pills go down easy.

I'm 2 months post RNY and other than one time for just a few hours did I have any pain and that was from gas. Sure the incision sites are tender, but not any real pain. I had to stay in hospital 2 nights and was off pain meds by the end of the day after surgery. I too worried about swallowing, but nothing bothered me. Pills and water went right down. Sip and walk, sip and walk. Good luck and welcome to the site.

It was painful but not as bad as I expected it to be. I never started on Iv pain meds, was ok with pill form oxycodenes. Most of my pain was gas!! Could not release it, traveled to shoulder and back. I stayed an extra day in hospital cause of not passing gas. Once I did, it never stopped and felt soooo much better!! The day after surgery sounds like it's the hardest for most of us. I was pain free about day 5. Good luck, it's worth all of it!

after the first 8 hours post op I only took Tylenol for my first surgery the gas was what was horrible for that one. I was in 2 nights

my revision I actually begged to go home the day after I hated the hospital and I didn't even have much gas pain due to them giving me gas x then. I had no problem with meds as long as they weren't horse pills. some of my meds have been broken down to smaller dosages to make the pills smaller and others were changed to a capsule shape when possible. If you have problems with pills your doc can give you liquid for many meds. your going to be fine you will do so well you will surprise yourself.

Thank you all for responding to my question. I'm not a baby with pain so I should be fine. In any case I'll just do it because I'm so sick of gaining and losing weight me entire life.

In my profile pic my sister is on the left. She had GBS 3 years ago and you can see how great she looks.

My doctor actually prescribed me liquid pain medicine, he did not want me swallowing any pills for at least a week.

As far as the pain, it will be different with every single person. Some people are fine in just a couple of days, some people it is 2 weeks, it will depend on your body and whether or not you have any complications.

For me I had surgery on Monday morning and was released Tuesday afternoon. I was having a lot of gas pains the first couple of days which walking helps that, but it was hard for me to walk my tummy was hurting extremely bad, I could not stand up straight for days. After going home I noticed it was harder and harder to walk and I wasn't able to take deep breaths. On Thursday I started running a fever and by Friday it was 102 fever, so I called my doctor and they asked me to come back to the hospital, where I was admitted and didn't go home again until Sunday. It turns out I had a complication that only about 1% of people have. I had a large hematoma on my belly that bleed into the muscle, this is why it was so hard for me to walk around and stand up straight, and because of this I was not taking deep breaths and the bottom of both lungs had collapsed and infection had set in. The first week for me was extremely tough, but then it got better each day. By 2 weeks all of the pain was gone.

The best advice I can give you is take your pain meds, allow your body to heal, and try and walk as much as you can just out of surgery. This will help all the gas that is built up in your system which is painful, and it will help you keep your lungs expanding.
If you are worried about taking pills ask your doctor to prescribe you the loratab elixir liquid pain meds. Hope all goes well for you!

~Jessica
RNY 9-23-13

Jessica wow you had some trouble. I normally don't have trouble swallowing pills just was wandering if it would bother my new stomach. I think I'll be ok. My sister went through this 3 years ago but she doesn't remember everything that happened. She looks great now. Its her next to me in this pic. As far as gas... someone suggested bringing Gas-X strips that go on your tongue to relieve the gas.

Thanks for getting back with me.... I'm excited to get it over with.

I was talking to one of the nurses on the SCU floor that takes care of all of my surgeon's patients. All of his patients remain NPO (nothing by mouth) until the next morning when they can go down to radiology to make sure there are no leaks (RNY or sleeves) in the stitching so meds have to be given IV push or IV piggy back. The hard part about that is your mouth drying out during the hours after surgery until you drink the nasty barium. I'll be offered these green sponges that are wet down with water which is better than nothing I guess.

I would ask your dr what his normal protocol is for the day of surgery. I would also opt for liquid pain meds because they act quicker in the body, less for your stomach to have to break down right after a surgery but that is just my opinion. I've heard from many endo doctors that the intestines do not like to be touched and it can take awhile for normal functioning to return. I'm crossing my fingers for you!!

Thanks Katie... I just bought some liquid Tylenol and a pill cutter on amazon. Trying to be prepared for this. Getting a bit nervous.

Just had "The Last Supper" tonight. Tomorrow starts the 2 week diet.