Exhaustion!!

Hi all - 

I'll be 4 weeks post op on Monday. Generally doing well, although realizing I need much more than 64 oz of fluids, so have increased to about 80 - 90 oz. After 3 weeks off, I went back to work on Monday. Yesterday I felt exhausted. I came home from work at 5:30 and zonked on the sofa until 9:30 and went to bed and slept another 7 hours.

I knew I would be tired but am feeling weak this morning too ...am somewhat depressed but that could be just "life". I feel like I've taken a step back in how I feel from 2 weeks ago.

Some guesses as to the cause:

• You just had surgery and it's common to be exhausted
• Questioning the claims of the levels of protein in one of the supplements I'm getting, so wondering if I'm under-eating protein.
• Vitamins: Couldn't tolerate the chewables so my NUT put me on children's... maybe I'm not getting enough nutrition overall

Any similarities, thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

In my opinion and my experience your first guess is most correct.  I felt fairly good after a month after surgery, but I was absolutely wore out by the end of a work day (and I have a desk job).  I would say to just listen to your body.  If you feel tired, rest.  It will get better and your energy will return.

For some of us, it takes longer to get our energy back. It took 6 months for me to get mine back.

After surgery, I honestly felt like I'd been hit by a bus. For probably the first 6 weeks, I took a nap as soon as I got home from work almost every day.

Healing is hard work, especially if you're not getting enough protein. What are you eating right now? Once you can do shakes and/or some solid foods, you should be hitting 60+ g per day.

Children's vitamins don't usually have enough of what we need. It should be fine to take regular vitamin pills, though you may need to split them and take each piece separately. I take the generic version of Centrum and had no trouble swallowing half pills immediately post-op.

You will feel better I promise. It takes our bodies a while to adjust. 

I'm 4 weeks post-op today and today is my first day back to work.  In general, I feel really well.  BUT, it's 2 pm and I really could use a nap   and I have a desk job.  I think it just takes time.  

It just takes a while. You'll be on a roller coaster of feeling good and being exhausted for a while.

Assuming your vitamin levels were good before surgery, they wouldn't have dropped much in just a month.

What protein claims are you wondering about? There are some crappy companies out there selling some awful stuff, because supplements are really poorly regulated. Let us know what you are using, and we can look at it for you. As a pretty good rule, protein supplements should be 100% whey protein isolate. 

While I felt generally good after a week, i needed a nap ever afternoon for at least a month. Anyone who knows me knows I am not a napper. Your body needs to heal.

As far as protein I am just going to mention Premier. While I love it, and it is super convenient I don't think I am absorbing 30g of protein from it. When I have relied on it too heavily I have had my numbers dip. I decided awhile back to only count it as 20g no matter what the bottle says.

Thanks, all for the replies.

The protein powder I'm referring to is Metagen/Genepro. They claim 30g in 1 tablespoon, which sounded great to me in the first couple of weeks post op because of the small voume/protein ratio and that it dissolves in hot or cold liquids. They also make a claim of a 94% absorption rate. I did some research the other day, though and learned there's speculation that their claims are bogus. I suppose I'm not willing to take a risk and will double my portions on this, and also keep using my Blue Bonnet which I love. I also like the idea of calculating a 30g serving to 20g on that.

I'll also switch my vitamin to capsules. I'm finding I can get those down just fine... much better than my anti-depression medication - even cut in half.

Lisa

Genepro is one of the worst for spewing entirely false claims. They say they have 30 grams of protein, in only 56 calories. That is ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, SCIENTIFICALLY IMPOSSIBLE!

Please, please stop using that crap. If they lie that much, the product may be completely useless.

There are many, many extremely high quality protein supplements out there. Stick yo 100% whey protein isolate. 

Protein has 4 calories per gram. Even if yhere were no carbs or fat in a supplement, 30 grams of protein would be at least 120 calories. Stop giving those crooks your money.