Spent the day in the ER. POST-op vomiting

Just looking for perspectives and voices of experience. I had rny 5 days ago. Was doing well until woke up at 4 am today with severe nausea, non-productive vomiting, flushes, sweating alternating with being cold. Contacted my surgeon who advised pushing water. Even sips of water made me literally fetch. After 9 hours of agony, I went the the ED, on the recommendation of my surgeon. Abdominal CT showed no problems. Now home and feeling better after IV fluids and nausea medicines.

my questions for you guys-

1. Why did this happen? My last meal was chicken broth 8 hours earlier.
   
   
2. is this to be expected? I didn't know if I was having some dumping variant, a manifestation of swelling of her pouch and normal recovery issue or if something was seriously wrong.
3. if this is normal, how long does it happen?
4. if you experienced it, how did you navigate it? Tips?

I am so sorry. This is not normal after RNY. It might have been dehydration. Did they give you an IV and anti-nausea medicine?

Yes. They sure did. And boy did I feel better!

I was definitely dehydrated by the time I got to the ER.

good for you for getting the doctor engaged before things got worse - definitely staying hydrated is job 1 that early out (followed by getting lots of protein and moving around). Hope you feel better now that you are hydrated!

A lot of people set timers to remind themselves to drink, or set hourly goals.

Drinking is now your job and there is no "winging it" - at least not for the next few months.

You should have a vessel, full of fluid, in your hand every waking hour and getting that 64oz (of anything liquid you can get down) is non negotiable.

Sip, sip, sip, walk, walk, walk, sip, sip, sip - is the path to wellness and success.

Glad you are feeling better!

How was your fluid intake the few days prior? If just the min or less - push more. I drink more than double the min recommendations (sometimes triple). 64 oz isn't enough in my opinion. Glad you are feeling better.

I was not dehydrated when the nausea and vomiting began. I became dehydrated because of the nausea and vomiting.

I had 58 oz of fluid the day before this 4 am episode began. I had been very vigilant about fluid and protein intake.

Have you recently stopped your post-surgery pain medication? I had severe hot/cold flashes when I stopped taking my narcotics after surgery.

I rather doubt that this is related to dumping. That normally happens fairly soon after having a meal with sugar in it; if you hadn't eaten recently, and chicken broth doesn't really have any sugar, I don't imagine that's what happened.

Thank you. That's really helpful to know. It didn't make sense to me either that this would be dumping, even though the symptoms seemed similar to what I had read about.

I had 4-6 doses of pain meds the first 2 days, 2 the next day after that and 1 dose around 8 pm each day thereafter. My last dose was 8 hours before the nausea episode began. I'm not in much pain, so I've stopped the pain meds since that last dose.

your instinct is spot-on. I'm trying to figure out why this happened to try to avoid another round. It was awful.

I hope your surgeon can tell you precisely what happened, and why. Some possibilities that occur to me are the flu, or an infection. If they gave you any antibiotics in the ER, they may have suspected infection.

Glad you're feeling better now. That must have been very frightening.