How much did it hurt?

Hi guys! 

My surgery date is May 18 and I'm feeling super ready. I've studied and researched and asked questions until I feel very prepared mentally. I've been on a low carb pre surgery diet and I'm doing well. I'll start on just meal replacements 4 weeks before surgery. I got this! 

The thing I'm actually worried about is this: how much will surgery hurt? 

I've never had any kind of surgery or even injury!Is it terrible? I have a lot of tattoos and those didn't bother me but this is completely different I imagine! 

I'm 28 and I work out often and I don't have any health problems besides obesity, of course. So I expect to do well as far as getting through surgery safely.

So tell me please: how much did it hurt? 

We all experience pain differently and we all heal different.  So no one here can tell you how much pain you will experience.  

For me, I had to take pain killers just 3-4 days post-op.  My main annoyance in the hospital was nausea, not pain.  I then had a feeling like a very strong stitch in my side when I was switching from laying to sitting to standing for a few weeks beyond when I stopped taking the pain killers.  But never any pain that prevented me from sleeping or walking or functioning.  

Good luck!

Thanks! 

I didn't hurt much at all, it was more of a discomfort.  I took the pain pills for 2-3 days but they were essentially extra strength Tylenol. 

Nausea was my biggest problem after and the meds finally helped with that. I didn't have any pain meds after the first day, except for an occasional tylenol. The skin wounds were sore, not terrible, when getting in and out of bed - rolling with a pillow on top helped. I had some significant pain between my shoulder blades when doing too much - this lasted for the few weeks. My surgeon explained that this is displaced pain from the stomach removal (no pain sensors in the stomach). Resting and tylenol helped me with that. Some people attribute this to gas, but my surgeon said it's not from trapped air or gas. It was all much easier than I expected once the initial nausea passed. You can go up and down the stairs, wash hair in the shower. One very strict rule is no lifting anything that requires you to bear down. I took this to mean laundry detergent, cases of water. This is a big rule. Overall, I was not bothered by a lot of pain. Get some herbal tea for the first few days, too! Best wishes and good luck!

As Gwen said, everyone responds differently to pain.  I was hooked up to a pain pump in the hospital and took FULL advantage  

I walked around the nurses station several times on the afternoon and evening after surgery.  I didn't feel any discomfort.  When I was discharged from the hospital after two days, I didn't need the pain meds that my doctor prescribed.

I hope this helps, and the above posts are accurate in that we all deal with pain differently.

I used the pain pills the doctor gave me for 2 days after surgery, and nothing after that, not even Tylenol. I had the odd gas twinge for about 3 days total and found that getting up, moving, especially walking around made me feel a lot better than when I was taking meds. It was much, much easier than I expected it would be for me. I hope yours goes as well! Best wishes to you!

Mine hurt like a motherrrrr. I was surprised. What I'd heard left me with the impression it would be a cool breeze on a balmy summer day. Not so much. On a scale of 1-10, I'd need a bigger scale for how crappy I felt.

But the pain DID subside like magic after the first day. Very weird. The next morning, I was up early, got cleaned and dressed with relatively little discomfort. walked around the ward before heading home later that day. HUGE difference.

Thank you all for your replies! I know whatever pain I feel will be worth it. I'm excited and nervous and it seems so close and so far away!

I had my surgery on March 23, 2015. Not too long ago. I was also worried about the pain. For me it was not bad at all. I did take the pain meds while in the hospital. When I was home I would take the pain meds at night to help me sleep, because the moving in a bed that is flat was a little harder than in the hospital. The most painful part for me was the gas pain in my shoulder but that was gone before I left the hospital. Good luck to you!