Scared and uncertain vsg'er

I am 5 days post-op, and unlike some other VSGers here, I did not have a painless, easy time of it. My nausea was ridiculous for two full days, and I still have tightness and pain across my abdomen today. I have some pretty awesome acid reflux too, even with the PPI.

All this aside, would I do it again knowing I was going to have a rougher first few days than others? Absolutely. Today I am feeling better, and each day gets better. I am still just on clear fluids and protein drinks as per my NUT, but I see her in two days to discuss full fluids and perhaps even some purees soon.

I am relieved to know that I have this amazing tool in my pocket, and I cannotwait to put it to its full use!

It's hard to hear but everyone will have their own experience. Some people have nausea or pain, others find it a very smooth recovery process. The same with rate of weight loss and challenges. You will read about people who lose 30 pounds the first month... but there are those who lose much less, especially if they start at a lower BMI. I mean, if it was about quick fixes, I could have lost faster this last month with a conventional diet, where it was easy to lose 10 pounds in a month. But this is a non reversible and long term solution. You will probably have a smooth recovery. You will lose weight the way your own body reacts, and at its own rate. You will have challenges eating or drinking, and learning how to live post op, and challenges adhering to the requirements to get to surgery and long term post op too. But the biggest question, which you must be sure of, is whether you are up to the challenge of the effort. Getting through surgery isn't the hard part, it's the rest of your life....

But here is the big thing. Most people, almost all, are glad they had the surgery. They have had to face their particular challenges and they have gotten through it. And seem to be healthier as a result. I'm still only a month post-op so not a veteran. I'm still figuring out whether I am glad of it or not at this early point as I am frustrated personally with my weight loss. But still, I am focused on the long goal, and hope that in 6 months or so, I will be absolutely happy.

Lengthy post, but ask questions, read all the forums. Be as educated as you can. It truly is scary, but also doable. I waited ten years reading and learning before I actually had my surgery, to be absolutely sure I was ready and committed.

Lastly, you ask about appetite. I am never physically hungry. I do get head hunger, and "want" to eat... like yesterday I wanted to eat after work and was scavenging in the cabinets for something...tomato soup with cottage cheese. But that is different than having your stomach feel empty. Likewise with thirst. I am never thirsty, but post op you must drink all the time to prevent dehydration. So I am drinking and drinking, sips at a time. And I kind of dislike having to do that. I have heard that longer term you can drink normally more so, and I hope it's the case. It takes a lot of sips to get in 64 ounces a day, and I should be drinking even more. In time....

Good luck, and trust yourself. You are your own best expert when it comes to your body.

As others have said, some worry is normal. I worried I was going to be the one person this didn't work for. That I was going to go through all of this and not have a good outcome. I have several chronic health conditions, and I finally decided that even if the only outcome was some of my excess weight off and an improvement in health, it would be worth it.

I don't regret it for a hot second.

I've had orthopedic surgeries before (2 knee surgeries including essentially a reconstruction, and 2 hand surgeries) and a couple of other procedures (heart ablation) and recovery from this was nothing compared to any of my orthopedic surgeries. While everyone is different, and I know some people have not had a breeze of recovery, chalk me up in the category with very little pain or issues. I quit taking the IV pain medication by the morning of day 2 because it wasn't really changing what pain I had, and I didn't like the side effects. I switched to tramadol (which I prefer over harder pain killers for my chronic joint pain) and it didn't take my pain down to zero, but it took it from the 4/5 level it was at to about a 2/3. For me, that's low enough to ignore. I didn't want to switch my pain meds again, because the pain was resolving quickly. I wasn't even taking the tramadol by day 4 except occasionally to help me sleep because it was uncomfortable to lie down for the first couple of weeks. Walking around often really helped with the little pain I did have.

I had a bit of nausea the first few days, but I was over a month out the first time I actually threw up, so I didn't have the horrible nausea/vomiting that some people have, either. Doc gave me a zofran prescription, but I never needed it after day 1 in the hospital.

Did it work? Boy, howdy. Most days, I still at 9 months out have to set reminders to eat and drink. I occasionally have days (since about months 6) where I'm very hungry most of the day, but I think it's because I go for days at a stretch eating very little and my body wants to balance things out. The first time I think I really realized that it was working was when I went grocery shopping with hubby after I was cleared for soft foods. I had old tapes playing in my head trying to get me to pick up junk ("Little Debbies are soft food, right?") but if I stopped to think about what the junk food actually tasted like, it wasn't appealing. It was like the head cravings got completely separated from the physical cravings for me. Combined with therapy, this effect has helped me stop emotionally eating pretty much entirely. I still occasionally have an urge to eat when I'm stressed, but I stop and think about it, and realize the food won't help and find something else to soothe myself with. I know the hunger and cravings won't stay away forever, but having these months with the effect of it being separated in my head along with therapy has really helped me change how I approach food in a fundamental way.

And that's not even addressing my other major issue pre-op, which was portion control. I literally had no concept of what a "normal" portion was, even though I'd been dieting since I was a teenager and used to weigh/measure everything I ate. It's hard to adjust to the reality that one bite too many will make me physically miserable for about 20 minutes, but it helps reinforce for me what a normal portion is, and get in the habit of eating slowly and stopping when I'm full.

In the end, it's just a tool. According to every vet I've spoken with, most of the effects are not forever. We have to take the opportunity to create new relationships with food and entrench good eating habits while we're in the "honeymoon period" or we're very likely to regain significantly afterward. I'm not far enough along to speak to long-term, but what I've experienced so far has been worth it more than I can express.

I'm off all blood pressure meds, and my auto-immune condition appears (knock on wood) to be going into remission. My rheumatologist says the VSG isn't a cure for the auto-immune, but it lessens the inflammatory processes. If we can gain a few years of remission from it, and then after that the medications work better, it's an over the top win, and that's what it's looking like so far. I'm also tapering off my migraine preventative and the medication I was put on for fatigue. It's looking like in another couple of months the only medications I'll be on are my migraine abortive meds and my allergy meds. That's a HUGE win. And you'll hear MANY stories like that here... off meds, diabetes in remission, etc.

If you're ready to take ahold of it, this surgery is life-changing.

The recovery is not that bad. I was back to work (elementary classroom) 14 days after surgery. This is a common experience. 6 months after surgery the two week recovery will be a distant memory, but the cumulative weight loss will be greatly improving your health and get you back to living your life. Yes, it helps significantly as far as how much you eat and how hungry you are. There is just no comparison. Don't talk yourself out of it.

I too was pretty worried about the pain - I mean who wouldn't be! I had my gallbladder out 9 years ago and it was a horrible recovery. The dr. thought I was crazy, but I was in severe pain for a week. I had back surgery and had literally no pain.

The only thing I experienced from my VSG/hernia repair surgery was nausea for 3 days - which in itself was not good. I had no pain from the incisions and no gas pain. I consider myself lucky.

What made me put aside being scared from the pain, was being scared that my body would eventually break down and I would end up in a wheelchair. Now that is scary.