If I hurt anything, would I know by now?

My hubby bought me a bowflex for Christmas and my sister and I have been using it for 3 weeks now - three to four days a week & walking on the other days (in addition to my 1-mile lunchtime walks).  Also, a week ago, I started doing my Hip Hop Abs workout DVD three times a week.   Now I've read a couple places (here and on a couple other sites I visit) that you shouldn't start lifting weights or doing serious ab work for at least 3 months after surgery in order to give your incisions time to heal.  I decided to ask about it here, because this site is the most helpful and supportive when I ask dumb questions.  I'm almost at 3 months - will be next Friday, but I started these workouts 3 weeks ago - so I was at 9 weeks when I started.   I hate to sound paranoid but I'm not very knowledgeable about these things, but if I started too early and hurt my incisions or anything else, I would be in pain by now, right?  Or know in some way that I did something too soon?  Other than muscle aches, I haven't had any other pains that would concern me, so I'm hoping I just healed fast and am okay.

The big worry is about hernias.  There's a considerably larger risk if your surgery was open rather than laproscopic.  After I had my gall bladder out, I was back to running after just a couple of weeks and that surgery was laproscopic (as was my RNY). My dad, on the other hand, had stomach cancer and much of his stomach removed about a year ago (large open incision).  He didn't start noticing problems until several months later and just had surgery to get his hernias repaired (he had several). Not sure if this helps much, but if your surgery was lap and you're not feeling any pain in the incision/scar areas, I'd say it's pretty likely you haven't hurt anything. Linn

Thank you for the info, Linn!  I had lap, so am probably okay.  My surgeon's office is closed today and tomorrow, so I will call them Wednesday just to be sure.  I sure don't want to end up with a hernia months from now.

I know my hernia issues didn't start until a few years after surgery but they did pop up at the incision sites. According to my surgeon the incision area is just the point of weakness, so if it’s going to happen, it’ll probably be at the incision point.

 

 

So there are no guarantees you’ll be fine to do whatever after 3 months either. I do think my hernia popped up when I was doing crunches though. You’ll know if you get one though, the pain is unreal.  It had me doubled over and intuitively pushing it back in. If you feel a sharp pain…stop.

Earl

Oh wow - good to know!  Thanks for the info Earl!

I was told to wait 6 weeks to lift anything.  I didn' feel ready so I waited another 2 weeks.  Then I started very slowly with perhaps 25% of what I could do normally.  After a few weeks I had worked up to some significant weight.  I had a hernia pop up at the incison.  It bothers me a little and hopefully it will help with insurance approval for my panectomy.