How Did It Make You Feel?

I had my RNY April 15th. I had some discomfort, not as much as I thought I would have. Took the pain meds every 4 hours for 3 days, then as needed, by day 5 none. Just felt like i had worked out my abs alot, little sore, nothing magor. LOW ENERGY was the killer, and some nausea I had started post-op, had an extra hospital day, because I just could not keep water down, and that is a prerequisite for discharge for MY Dr. They gave me some sublingual med, few days of that, I and I was OK. HARDEST part.., drinking the PROTEIN shake, I wish I would have gotten the chicken broth flavor for the "warmness", and not just the Strawberry Unjury, It is better mixed with crystal light pink lemonade... trust me... I had a hard time with the protein shakes, just because they were SO sweet, and I wanted something warm.. Beef broth was heaven to me. I remember thinking, "what did I get myself into", everyone I knew that had it.. kept telling me.. Oh,. you will be fine to go back to work in a week or so. I would have DIED.. My energy was soo low from nothing but fluids.. I advanced my diet to full liquids after the 5 days, it SAID 5-7.. and I am a nurse, so I let my body tell me if it was ready. Full liquids were a nice change.. but now I am on to phase 4. It is discouraging at first, the weight may or may not come off quickly.. I felt it should "go faster" because I was barely eating, but I had alot of fluids in me from the IV's, so now I weigh myself weekly. I am very glad I did it.. I am down maybe 15 since surgery, some people say they lost 30 in the first month, but everyone is different. I am able to eat "food" now, but have to weigh it to avoid overload.. first 3 nights at dinner I threw up ONLY because I either ate too fast, or too big of bites. I say take it day by day, it is definately a learning curve!!

Just want to say that all of you are so inspiring.

I expected to feel terrible and did not feel as bad as I expected.  I tried to get off hte pain meds quickly and should not have as fast as I did.  I had surgery on tuesday was home on Thursday and Friday was the worse day.  I went back to the pain meds and tapered down more slowly.  Within a week I was really just sore but could finally get out of bed without having to roll.  By the end of week 2 I only need 1/2 a pain pill to sleep and nothing else.  By the end of week 3 I wouldnt have known I had surgery! 

I have not had any complication as far a surgically.  I have never even thrown up.  I will say I did have that hormone dump where the first week after I woke up everyday thinking "WHAT HAVE I DONE" and cried and cried.  It was pretty bad but again after about 3-4 weeks it subsided.  Just try to have a good support system.  My Mom, Dad, and Husband did some research on their own as did I and we all knew me falling apart was a possiblity.  Having them to remind me it was just hormones and letting me cry it out helped.  When I was in it I couldnt imagine it wasnt the end of the world! 

Well I am late to this thread but...

I was actually in less pain than I expected. I had been worried about being able to keep things down and I didn't have any problem there.

The only thing that I didn't feel prepared for was the hormonal roller coaster. They had covered it at my surgeons but they said it would be like bad PMS. Perhaps it was because I was also menopausal but this was way worse than bad PMS to me. I was a raving loon through months 2 & 3. Mean, unhappy, b*tch.

Sometime in month 3 I turned a corner and it smoothed out from there. So be as prepared as you can be for those hormones. But other than that it was much easier than I thought it would be.

You can do this!

Thank you for your reply.  I was not aware of the hormonal side of things.  I already have PCOS and when it comes to that time of the month I'm already a mess.  I wonder if they will amplify?  I worry about all those around me, if so. 😕

Oh good I did have something to offer!

Don't let me get you worried. Estrogen is stored in our fat cells. When we start burning the fat all that estrogen gets dumped into our system. (Which reminds me of another interesting side of this surgery. I have learned so much about my body and how it works. Digestion, hormones, vitamins and how they are used and processed...it's amazing) I just wasn't prepared for being that crazy. My famous story is of me in a tirade and telling my boss that she "didn't like people to have opinions because she could not control those opinions". If I didn't work for a social services agency I would have probably been out on my butt. Fortunately, they are very understanding here.

Like I said I was right in menopause so I know that didn't help. I had my surgery in September so there I was facing the big food holidays right after. And I take an antidepressant, Effexor. Since we can't take extended release I had to switch to the regular Effexor. With the changes in how we absorb things it took me and my PCP some time to get the time/dosage all worked out. So I am know all of that combined was a big factor in my moodiness.

I just like to share that because it was so hard for me. I don't want others to think they are alone in that or just plain losing their minds. And it might help others prepare their loved ones and co-workers for possible extreme mood flucuations.  I would go from here  to  to  and back to  in the span of a few minutes.

It does get better. And I can feel you are going to do really great. Just hide the sharp objects for a few months. LOL

LOL :) Thanks for the heads up.  I will be sure to let everyone know.  Great info. Thanks for the warning. 

I had surgery April 24 and so did my husband. I didn't even need a pain killer in the hospital. It took him a full week before he could quit taking pain meds. I told the nurse that I didn't think I really had surgery other than the holes in my stomach. I am almost 2 weeks out and I feel amazing well. I thought I was going to be miserable for months because I was told to be prepared for that. I realize I haven't had normal food yet but I still feel great. My husband is slowly coming around. 

Just goes to show each persons experiences can vary so much from one another.  Also, I am so inspired by you and husband being in this journey together.  Good luck to both of you. 

We thought we would be more successful if we did it together. We talked about one going first and then a few months later the other, but we decided we wanted to go through the food stages at the same time so it was easier for the other person. It would be difficult for me to watch him eat normally while I was drinking protein shakes or vice versa. It has been a positive experience for me so far. He is still regretting his decision but I think as soon as he feels as good as I do that he will be happy that we finally took this step.