What was it like after surgery?

  Thanks!!!

Feel free to use it yourself any time you like...it isn't copyrighted!!

That is how I felt though...I have to believe you must have felt the same way...I think everyone does...

 Oh boy! I just read everyone's response to your post,...and I feel so bad, like somehow I am failing at this, because my experience has been far less positive and not nearly as upbeat as those who have posted. So, I am going to tell you my truth, how I experienced the after affects of this procedure and it is not all flowers and goodness.

I hope one day soon I can say that this was the best thing I have ever done for myself but just three weeks out today, I feel I have had a very difficult time. I am struggling with some depression, I guess it's better than the wild mood swings that followed me for ten days following surgery whereupon I broke down crying with such emotion and fear every few hours. I have dealt with daily debilitating stomach upset that only just today found out from my surgeon is probably being caused by my prescription medication Ursodial that I must take for six months. This is to prevent gallstones and so if you have this procedure you too will more than likely have to take it. Some people do fine with it, but those of us who don't really suffer, some violently throw up daily I was told. I had horrendous pain while in the hospital and was so drugged out from the general and then the pain meds that I was not able to walk and they didn't seem to care about helping me accomplish this. It felt like a Mack truck had run straight through me and even now, I still can't sleep on my left side and am very careful about how I turn in bed. The fatigue has been debilitating and I still struggle to do the basics. I am doing the bare minimum. I feel lonely and isolated. I had to go to the emergency room four days out for a weird and frightening reaction to my pain meds

 Sorry, hit submit accidentally,....i don't think of myself as a wimp. In fact, I am pretty stoic and strong, never a whiner. But, this was far tougher than anyone had told me it would be. I encourage you to do your research, good for you coming on and asking this question. Finally, I know that everyone experiences this procedure differently, so far I think you have a lot more positive responses until mine. I just had to be honest with you, but you may fare a lot better than I have. Good luck in whatever you decide to do.

I felt like I had done hundreds of sit up, but never took anything stronger than tylanol after the first 24 hours post op.

I expected to have issues getting in my water and protein. 3rd day post op I could easily drink my 64 ounces of water, and get in 64 grams of protein. I think that being able to get in all my protein was a huge part of my healing.

Now the head stuff, that was a problem. I missed my friend food. I missed my ability to numb myself with food. To stuff down all of my emotions by eating. THAT was what made my first 6 weeks post up so very hard. It wasn't any pain from the surgery, it wasn't complications. It was my head. It was my codependent behavior with food.

I expected it to be way worse than it actually was. The surgery itself was fast and I was out of the OR and awake (mostly coherent) within about an hour and 15 minutes.

-I didn't have pain, but pressure. I used the pain pump a few times because I was mistaking the pressure for pain but after the morphine didn't do anything but make me say weird sh*t I stopped pushing the button LOL 
-Immediately post-op had super dry mouth but it went away before I started drinking the water the next day.
-Had no pain with drinking, just didn't really *want* to drink anything.
-The only pain I had when I went home was residual back pain from being stuck in the hospital bed. I wanted to get up and walk way more than they "allowed" me the first day and paid for it the next day. The heating pad was my best friend for the first 2 or 3 days home.
-The worst part of full liquids was that I was sick.to.death. of sweet by the time two weeks was up. But I follow the rules and didn't progress faster than I was supposed to.
-I have not had any issues with food at all. There have been a few times I drank too fast but I learned that lesson quick. Once I ate too quickly and it came back up (in my defense, my 1 year old was in the hospital and I literally had like 3 minutes to eat before the next round of breathing treatments. It didn't work out, I don't recommend it!)

Otherwise this journey has been the best thing to ever happen. In a little over 4 months I'm down over 80 pounds. I can run 2 +miles, I've dropped 5 or 6 pant sizes, I'm much more conscious about the things I feed my family and my life revolves around food in a different way. I haven't had bread, pasta or rice and plan to keep it that way and I'm ok with it.

Your experience will be unique but the journey is what you make it. Enjoy the ride!

I'll be honest and say I was one of the ones that had horrible agony with the gall bladder removal part of my WLS surgery. I had no problems on my left side (RNY) but any movement at all left me feeling that a giant was ripping me in 1/2 on the right side. I was on pain meds for 4 weeks which took the pain from a 10 to about an 8. Once day, it just went away.

Absolutely no problems since. And no I do not regret having the surgery.

I was one of those who felt like I got run over by a truck. I had three c-sections and figured this would be a piece of cake. I took pain meds a week after giving birth, but took pain meds for 4 weeks after wls. A year later, its all a blur. I remember having fuzzy teeth, burping a lot, sitting with an ice pack on my left incision most the day, really getting bummed about food commercials, when I finally did eat, most things tasted terrible. I got food stuck a lot at first, and that can be scary painful. I would have to say three months out I felt pretty normal and got into a groove. One year out, I can eat about anything and feel pretty good.

 To be honest the first week was bad. I was depressed because I couldn't eat any food, I was in pain, and I was wondering why I did this to myself. After the first week it has been smooth sailing and I have lost 53 pounds in 9 weeks. Losing 53 pounds made the first week so worth it. Dont let it scare you it is worth any pain or saddness over food. It is the best decision I ever made and would do it all over again in a heartbeat. 

 Thank you for all of the replies. I have to remember that we are all different people and have different experiences.