Bloated ?

Hi All -
I feel like a stuffed turkey.  I'm so bloated - at least I think that's what it is.  I'm not constipated, which is fortunate.

I put on a pair of pants this morning that I was sure would be just a little looser since surgery.  No such luck.  (  I've sworn off the scale for just this reason.  Put it away before surgery.  I figure I'll weigh at Barix at my two week check up. )

Anyhow, could the excess fluid and gas from surgery still be working it's way out of me?  I feel like I haven't lost an ounce. 

I have some Gas-X - should I try it ?

Lisa

I would have to say that yes, it is most likely still gas trying to get out. 

Try the Gas-X or peppermint tea.  It can't hurt!

After I had surgery I would become very bloated every time I ate dairy.  (This is because I became lactose intolerant after surgery.)  My stomach would just swell up like a hard balloon. 

Any chance you are eating a lot of dairy and may be having lactose intolerance problems?

Good luck with it, bloating can be painful...

...and using Gas-X probably wouldn't hurt .

Joylyn

I wouldn't bother with the Gas-X unless you're having gas pains.  If it's gas, the walking that you're doing will help it find its way out.  It's possible you could still be retaining fluids, and the best thing for that is to try to meet your liquid goal as best as you can.  I know it's really hard now but it can be done.  When I was less than a week out, I developed a UTI/kidney infection and had to get 100 oz into myself every day, all one tiny sip at a time!

I was wondering about lactose intolerance.  Last night I had a cream soup that I pureed and strained and I thought that I was going to explode.  I also had carnation instant breakfast made with skim milk.  Maybe it's a lactose thing.   I hope not....I really like the carnation instant breakfast.  That would be a bummer.

I'm going to go to the park for a nice long walk this afternoon.  Hopefully that will work more of the gas out of me.

Thanks !
Lisa

I too became lactose intolerant after surgery... it's not the end of the world, when I want or need milk I just buy lactaid instead!  I use skim and it doesn't  taste any different at all!

Could still be some swelling from the surgery as well - that takes a while to really go down. Even with laproscopic surgery there is a lot of cutting and moving around of organs inside your body. If you don't have pain chances are it isn't gas so I don't know if the Gas-X would help. And it sounds like you might want to watch the milk products - that could be part of the problem altho I would think they'd make you feel bad, too, if that was the case.

Glad to see you're not scale-obsessed because about this time after surgery you stall for a very brief period due to your body adjusting, and it can be very disheartening and scary when you're newly out and expecting big weight losses up front.

You've seen the pictures and testimonials of a bunch of us out here - its gonna come off - trust me on that one!

Hope you're feeling better soon.

You've gotten really great advice thus far - just wanted to say I hope you feel better soon!

Hi Lisa,

Two other thoughts to add to what everyone else has written.

1.  if you ARE lactose intolerant, you can still find "milky" things like almond milk (look for the unsweetened), rice milk (my fave - jus****ch 'cause it's a little higher in cals than cow's milk), hemp milk (haven't tried it yet), soy milk (silk, etc - all quite good).  Pre-surg, I couldn't tolerate Lactaid any better than I could tolerate regular milk, so I can't say if that will fix it for you, but even if it doesn't there are a ton of alternatives.

2.  Keep in mind that your abdominal muscles have been traumatized by the surgery, even though the incisions externally are relatively tiny.  They probably aren't back to the tightness that they were pre-surg... and you probably don't walk around keeping them tight and sucking them in because they're tender and not back to their regular strength.  That can also affect the way those clothes are fitting.  

hang in there... don't worry!

Karen