5 days post op sleeping
Hello all.. I had my gall bladder and Lap RNY on Tuesday. I am feeling okay. I am finding it hard to drink, drink and drink some more. I do not think that I am getting my protein in though..
Anyway, on to my question.. SLEEPING POSITIONS?? How did you guys sleep after surgery? I am a belly sleeper and now I cant obviously. How did you guys get a comfortable night sleep?
Also, few days after surgery, what did you consume as drink/food etc?
Thanks a bunch...
Hi Sheri how are you ...COngrats on your surgery...
As far as sleeping...i am also a belly sleeper and it was hard for me to get good sleep. I slept on the couch for a few weeks with lots of pillows all around. What also helped is that i saved my pain medication for bed time. IT pretty much knocked me out so i got some sleep.
Food and Drink....What i lived on immediatly post up was sipping water and sucking on s/f ice pops. I also had lots of chicken broth handy. As i progressed i started living on stallone puddings. They are great for getting in the protein..Good luck.. we are here for you.
LisaMarie
Hi, I had my Lap band surgery 11/1. I used a soft body pillow and wedged it up against me. It allowed me to sleep on my side, but felt like my stomach. I was sipping and sipping on water, tea, broth and s/f ice pops. I also had the same concern about the protein. But the following week my doctor put me on what they call full liquids and that included for me protein shakes (I like unjury, from unjury.com) cream soups, yogurt, and pudding. I also made pudding with the protein powder and it wasnt that bad. Good luck to you.
Hi Sheri,
CONGRATS!!!
I had my surgery 11-6, I had the same complaint I am also a belly sleeper ... about day 9 I started sleeping better, Now I am able to be on my side comfortably. Each day gets better. Try using lost of pillows around you.
The first few days after surgery I did the best I could - getting everything in is work ... lol
I am on a mushy diet
I EAT:
yogurt
scrambled eggs with 2% cheese
chicken salad (pulverized)
tomatoe sauce, riccotta cheeses and a tiny bit of Pastina
sf fudge pops
Protien supplments
water
crystal ligh****ered down
I hope this helps.
Take it a day at a time.
HUgs,
Britt
Sheri:
HI! 
Welcome to the NY OH family and 'other side' 
. I have a handout for my support group on fluids, I will cut/past below & hope the formatting looks ok!. As for sleep, 
A recliner is most helpfull to many postop early on. Getting in and out of bed can be challenging, I also was a side/stomach sleeper, I tried having Hubby sleep elsewhere for a while and use the whole King size bed 
(as any movement was bothersome early I didn;t have much pain but was sore, plus I felt I'd keep him up w/ trips to BR 1-2x night. I surrounded self w/ a body pillow on each side and that kind of helped as well not as much as sleepingin the recliner (only issue w/ that was worry cats would pounce on my tummy!) LOL! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Focus on Fluids
One of the main challenges for a gastric bypass patient over time is to maintain hydration. Your body needs just as much fluid after the surgery as it did before surgery, yet the new stomach pouch limits you to 1-2 ounces at a time. (NO MORE GUZZLING!) Maintenance of fluid intake may also be difficult because of the necessity to take in food or fluids, and not both at once. You must compensate for this by taking small amounts of fluid on a near-constant basis. Usually this means that you should carry your fluid source with you at all times.
*** We cannot overemphasize that the liquid must be a caffeine, carbonation & calorie-free. Patients who use fruit juice or other calorie-containing liquids for hydration may experience inadequate weight loss because of the calories in these fluids, and can experience dumping syndrome from the sugar. Caffeine is a possible appetite-stimulant, diuretic and irritant and can potentially cause ulcers in the new pouch and add to dehydration and low-iron blood (which we already poorly absorb iron post-op). Carbonation can possibly cause gastric irritation, if carbonated beverage also contains phosphorus it may act to leach calcium out of bones, and some feel it may stretch pouch/stoma.
Drinking at least 64 ounces of fluids post-op is a necessity. Water is the body's best source, and serves the purpose to aid digestion and absorption of food; it regulates temperature and circulation, carries nutrients and O2 to the cells of the body and removes toxins and waste.
Dehydration can cause/aggravate constipation, kidney stones, urinary infections, high or low blood pressure, difficulty controlling diabetes and migraines. Dizziness, clumsiness, muscle cramps in arms and legs, dark yellow urine, fatigue, irritability, are sunken eyes, low blood pressure and fainting, bloating, and a fast, weak pulse -- are signs that dehydration is setting in.
Fluids should be consumed on a near-constant basis, but not during meals and not soon following food. If you drink during your meal, you will tend to wash the food out of the stomach pouch, and consume more food than is desirable. It may seem strange at first to eat without drinking but it works fine. A good tip here is to actually not have any fluid on the table while you are eating. In addition to reducing your overall food intake, this new habit will encourage you to chew more thoroughly before swallowing, because you will not count on the fluid to wash down half-chewed food. Also note that soup is kind of like drinking liquids with food - soup is not an absolute "no-no" but recognize that it should not be a regular part of your diet.
Liquids should not be consumed for about 30-60 minutes after eating. This is because the food actually forms a plug that blocks the outlet from the pouch until it has all passed through. If you drink liquids on top of this plug it will create a very uncomfortable sensation and may also force food downstream more quickly than it should go.
A brief review on coordinating liquids and food:
ü Sip liquids constantly, even just before eating. Don't drink liquids while eating.
ü Don't drink liquids until about one hour after completing your meal.
ü When the stomach pouch is mature (six months or more after surgery) it is useful to wait two or three hours after eating before consuming liquid.
If you must choose between liquids and food (frequently true in the first months after gastric bypass) - choose liquids!
CLEAR LIQUIDS IDEAS:
***(VARIETY IS THE KEY TO GETTING THROUGH THE FIRST 2 WEEKS!)***
ü Broth any flavor (canned or made from bullion cubes) or strained soups such as chicken noodle without the noodles! Cup of soup brands strained.
ü ¼-½ strength apple or cranberry or grape juice (OJ may be too acidic at first).
ü Full or ½ strength Ocean Spray lite cranberry juice varieties (white, cran-grape, cran-raspberry, ****tail) these have 40 cal a glass vs 120 cal a glass of regular juices and are made with splenda. Available at Wal-Mart and PC.
ü Diet V8 Splash (Wal-Mart and PC) 10 calories a glass and made with splenda, full strength or watered in ½.
ü Carb Countdown dairy beverage. *has lactose.
ü Carb Countdown yogurt smoothies (black cherry, peach, strawberry & strawberry-kiwi) *has lactose.
ü Carb Countdown fruit flavored beverages in OJ section. (OJ flavored, orange-pineapple, orange-pineapple banana, Ruby red grapefruit & lemonade flavors).
ü Old Orchard Low carb juices (30-40 calories a serving with 6-10 G carbs/with different varieties) full or ½ strength. Cranberry, Cranberry Raspberry, Cranberry Grape, and White Cranberry flavors available.
ü Diet Very Fine juices.
ü Crystal lite (Wal-Mart) any variety (decaf tea, lemonade, fruit punch etc), diet Tang (Wal-Mart) diet Kool-Aid any variety (Wal-Mart). OR Carb options & Wyler's Light powdered beverages. NEW Wal-Mart-brand called great value, 4-C's and Crystal lite have to go sizes! To add to a 16 oz bottle water! NEAT!**NOTE MANY PEOPLE WATER DOWN EVEN MOR FINDING IT TOO SWEET***
ü Decaf tea or herbal decaf teas or decaf coffee hot or iced.
ü WATER, try it iced, warm or with a little lemon or lime to flavor, many like to add a little splenda to change the taste! Water may have a metallic taste initially this is normal and goes away.
ü Fruit 2O (bottled or/& they make a frozen Fruit 2O in raspberry and lemon! YUMM).
ü Propel Fitness water by Gatorade: Kiwi Strawberry, Peach, Orange, Berry, Black Cherry, and Lemon.
ü Diet Jell-O (you make or premade varieties).
ü Sugar-free Popsicles (Popsicle brand has original and tropical fruit flavors.
ü NO-Sugar added Fudgesicles (popsicle brand).
ü New Minute Maid light (Light Lemonade, Light Guava Citrus, Light Raspberry Passion & light mango tropical) It is a 5 cal/serving
juice (2 servings in a bottle)...0 fat 80 mg sodium 2 g carbs (less than 1 g sugar) 0 protein...(It comes in 4 packs 16.9 oz plastic bottles or 12 pk 12 oz cans).
ü Wal-mart has SAM's brand (called First-Harvest) non-calorie non-carbonated flavored beverages: cherry-limeade, lemonade, strawberry Kiwi and MY FAV peach-grapefruit. (4 pks of 20 oz size)
ü K-Mart has similar ones 1 L size.
ü Many many flavored waters popping up.
ü http://www.flavors2go.com/ Flavors2Go are designed to offer the delicate taste of real fruit, not the heavy, artificial fruit taste that people have come to accept.
***TIP
Keep a journal of each hour in a day for the first week of fluids. Write down what you drink in the hour and what activity you do! You should move every 1-2 hrs even if it is just walking around the house to avoid respiratory or circulation problems. This helps keep you mindful! Remember you cannot catch up on fluids later in the day OR take a 2 L soda bottle empty and fill it each time you sip some fluid with same amount this is a great visual as to how far to go and how much u have drank, set midday to have it 1/2 gone!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Take Care,
Jamie 
Lap RNY 10/9/02 Dr. Singh
320/163 5'9'' (lost 45# before surgery)
Plastics 6/9/04 & 11/11/2005 Dr. King
http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=c1132518510
"Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect, it just means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections!"
Welcome to the NY OH family and 'other side' . I have a handout for my support group on fluids, I will cut/past below & hope the formatting looks ok!. As for sleep, A recliner is most helpfull to many postop early on. Getting in and out of bed can be challenging, I also was a side/stomach sleeper, I tried having Hubby sleep elsewhere for a while and use the whole King size bed (as any movement was bothersome early I didn;t have much pain but was sore, plus I felt I'd keep him up w/ trips to BR 1-2x night. I surrounded self w/ a body pillow on each side and that kind of helped as well not as much as sleepingin the recliner (only issue w/ that was worry cats would pounce on my tummy!) LOL!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Focus on Fluids
One of the main challenges for a gastric bypass patient over time is to maintain hydration. Your body needs just as much fluid after the surgery as it did before surgery, yet the new stomach pouch limits you to 1-2 ounces at a time. (NO MORE GUZZLING!) Maintenance of fluid intake may also be difficult because of the necessity to take in food or fluids, and not both at once. You must compensate for this by taking small amounts of fluid on a near-constant basis. Usually this means that you should carry your fluid source with you at all times.
*** We cannot overemphasize that the liquid must be a caffeine, carbonation & calorie-free. Patients who use fruit juice or other calorie-containing liquids for hydration may experience inadequate weight loss because of the calories in these fluids, and can experience dumping syndrome from the sugar. Caffeine is a possible appetite-stimulant, diuretic and irritant and can potentially cause ulcers in the new pouch and add to dehydration and low-iron blood (which we already poorly absorb iron post-op). Carbonation can possibly cause gastric irritation, if carbonated beverage also contains phosphorus it may act to leach calcium out of bones, and some feel it may stretch pouch/stoma.
Drinking at least 64 ounces of fluids post-op is a necessity. Water is the body's best source, and serves the purpose to aid digestion and absorption of food; it regulates temperature and circulation, carries nutrients and O2 to the cells of the body and removes toxins and waste.
Dehydration can cause/aggravate constipation, kidney stones, urinary infections, high or low blood pressure, difficulty controlling diabetes and migraines. Dizziness, clumsiness, muscle cramps in arms and legs, dark yellow urine, fatigue, irritability, are sunken eyes, low blood pressure and fainting, bloating, and a fast, weak pulse -- are signs that dehydration is setting in.
Fluids should be consumed on a near-constant basis, but not during meals and not soon following food. If you drink during your meal, you will tend to wash the food out of the stomach pouch, and consume more food than is desirable. It may seem strange at first to eat without drinking but it works fine. A good tip here is to actually not have any fluid on the table while you are eating. In addition to reducing your overall food intake, this new habit will encourage you to chew more thoroughly before swallowing, because you will not count on the fluid to wash down half-chewed food. Also note that soup is kind of like drinking liquids with food - soup is not an absolute "no-no" but recognize that it should not be a regular part of your diet.
Liquids should not be consumed for about 30-60 minutes after eating. This is because the food actually forms a plug that blocks the outlet from the pouch until it has all passed through. If you drink liquids on top of this plug it will create a very uncomfortable sensation and may also force food downstream more quickly than it should go.
A brief review on coordinating liquids and food:
ü Sip liquids constantly, even just before eating. Don't drink liquids while eating.
ü Don't drink liquids until about one hour after completing your meal.
ü When the stomach pouch is mature (six months or more after surgery) it is useful to wait two or three hours after eating before consuming liquid.
If you must choose between liquids and food (frequently true in the first months after gastric bypass) - choose liquids!
CLEAR LIQUIDS IDEAS:
***(VARIETY IS THE KEY TO GETTING THROUGH THE FIRST 2 WEEKS!)***
ü Broth any flavor (canned or made from bullion cubes) or strained soups such as chicken noodle without the noodles! Cup of soup brands strained.
ü ¼-½ strength apple or cranberry or grape juice (OJ may be too acidic at first).
ü Full or ½ strength Ocean Spray lite cranberry juice varieties (white, cran-grape, cran-raspberry, ****tail) these have 40 cal a glass vs 120 cal a glass of regular juices and are made with splenda. Available at Wal-Mart and PC.
ü Diet V8 Splash (Wal-Mart and PC) 10 calories a glass and made with splenda, full strength or watered in ½.
ü Carb Countdown dairy beverage. *has lactose.
ü Carb Countdown yogurt smoothies (black cherry, peach, strawberry & strawberry-kiwi) *has lactose.
ü Carb Countdown fruit flavored beverages in OJ section. (OJ flavored, orange-pineapple, orange-pineapple banana, Ruby red grapefruit & lemonade flavors).
ü Old Orchard Low carb juices (30-40 calories a serving with 6-10 G carbs/with different varieties) full or ½ strength. Cranberry, Cranberry Raspberry, Cranberry Grape, and White Cranberry flavors available.
ü Diet Very Fine juices.
ü Crystal lite (Wal-Mart) any variety (decaf tea, lemonade, fruit punch etc), diet Tang (Wal-Mart) diet Kool-Aid any variety (Wal-Mart). OR Carb options & Wyler's Light powdered beverages. NEW Wal-Mart-brand called great value, 4-C's and Crystal lite have to go sizes! To add to a 16 oz bottle water! NEAT!**NOTE MANY PEOPLE WATER DOWN EVEN MOR FINDING IT TOO SWEET***
ü Decaf tea or herbal decaf teas or decaf coffee hot or iced.
ü WATER, try it iced, warm or with a little lemon or lime to flavor, many like to add a little splenda to change the taste! Water may have a metallic taste initially this is normal and goes away.
ü Fruit 2O (bottled or/& they make a frozen Fruit 2O in raspberry and lemon! YUMM).
ü Propel Fitness water by Gatorade: Kiwi Strawberry, Peach, Orange, Berry, Black Cherry, and Lemon.
ü Diet Jell-O (you make or premade varieties).
ü Sugar-free Popsicles (Popsicle brand has original and tropical fruit flavors.
ü NO-Sugar added Fudgesicles (popsicle brand).
ü New Minute Maid light (Light Lemonade, Light Guava Citrus, Light Raspberry Passion & light mango tropical) It is a 5 cal/serving
juice (2 servings in a bottle)...0 fat 80 mg sodium 2 g carbs (less than 1 g sugar) 0 protein...(It comes in 4 packs 16.9 oz plastic bottles or 12 pk 12 oz cans).
ü Wal-mart has SAM's brand (called First-Harvest) non-calorie non-carbonated flavored beverages: cherry-limeade, lemonade, strawberry Kiwi and MY FAV peach-grapefruit. (4 pks of 20 oz size)
ü K-Mart has similar ones 1 L size.
ü Many many flavored waters popping up.
ü http://www.flavors2go.com/ Flavors2Go are designed to offer the delicate taste of real fruit, not the heavy, artificial fruit taste that people have come to accept.
***TIP
Keep a journal of each hour in a day for the first week of fluids. Write down what you drink in the hour and what activity you do! You should move every 1-2 hrs even if it is just walking around the house to avoid respiratory or circulation problems. This helps keep you mindful! Remember you cannot catch up on fluids later in the day OR take a 2 L soda bottle empty and fill it each time you sip some fluid with same amount this is a great visual as to how far to go and how much u have drank, set midday to have it 1/2 gone!!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Take Care,
Jamie
Lap RNY 10/9/02 Dr. Singh
320/163 5'9'' (lost 45# before surgery)
Plastics 6/9/04 & 11/11/2005 Dr. King
http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/members/profile.php?N=c1132518510
"Being happy doesn't mean everything's perfect, it just means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections!" (deactivated member)
on 11/19/06 7:17 am - MT
on 11/19/06 7:17 am - MT
Sheri,
Hun I slept for the first 2 weeks in a recliner in my Mother livingroom because it was so much easier then the bed for a while. I took some pain meds at night and I was in lala land though sometimes I did not stay asleep all night long but then I napped during the day as well. 
Taking in all the liquids is hard at first but it will get easier for sure. Just try to get your protein in, it really helps in the healing. I was on a puree diet when I got home so I was eating things like:
Cottage Cheese
Fat Free Refired Beans
Carb Control yogurts
Protein Shakes
Pureed meats and tuna
S/F Ice Pops
S/F Jello
Ok I think that is all but I am sure I forgot some....I wish you all the best! 
Debra P 
Taking in all the liquids is hard at first but it will get easier for sure. Just try to get your protein in, it really helps in the healing. I was on a puree diet when I got home so I was eating things like:
Cottage Cheese
Fat Free Refired Beans
Carb Control yogurts
Protein Shakes
Pureed meats and tuna
S/F Ice Pops
S/F Jello
Ok I think that is all but I am sure I forgot some....I wish you all the best!
Debra P Most Active
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