Question:
How do your guts feel after surgery?
I am sorry for the lack of eloquence in my question, but I didn't know how to phrase it. I am just wondering... when you wake up from surgery, do you feel different internally? Is there any feeling that would make you aware you just had your intestines re-routed (besides pain, lol). I just think it would be scary to wake up and feel the difference being minus a gall bladder, minus some stomach, etc (having DS btw). I know I am not generally aware of the location of every inch of my intestines, but post-op I am afraid I will! I sure hope you can understand my question better than I can ask it! It's just something that gives me the heebee-jeebees. Thanks for humoring me :) — [Anonymous] (posted on December 17, 2001)
December 17, 2001
I thought my guts would be sore & hurt after surgery, but there was no
pain. I guess morphine eliminates all pain. The only thing that I had a
problem with was when they made me get out of bed to go walk around the
same day of surgery.
No, it didn't hurt at all ... it just felt like someone stuck a ruler
between my brest bone and belly-button -- I couldn't bend in order to get
out of bed & they wanted me to do it by myself...UGH, but I did it.
The stiffness was from the tape on the incision + the incision itself.
They took me off morphine after 1-1/2 days & I did not need pain
medication at the hospital or at home. Of course, everyone has a different
pain threshold. Good luck!
— Betty Todd
December 17, 2001
I had a RNY, but I think a lot of the feelings in your guts would be about
the same.
The first two days, you feel a lot of pain. After that, it switches to
discomfort. I had to hold my tummy when I walked and couldn't stand up
straight at first. I also found that the outside incision was all that I
was aware of for the 1st ten days. It was only when my outside began to
heal that I became aware of my inside. None of it was worse than menstrual
cramps. You definitely can't pinpoint the exact spot of the internal pain.
Just a general tightness and discomfort.
— [Anonymous]
December 17, 2001
Nope, my insides didn't feel any different after RNY, after hystie, after
gall bladder. The incision was sore, of course, but the muscles. Ahhhhhh,
the muscles. They were just FURIOUS with me. I could swear my recovery
(from revision) was easier after observing surgery than the ones that came
before that observation! Just seeing what they did gave me an
understanding of WHY things ached, and took the mystery out of the whole
thing for me. Knowing that a certain of amount of discomfort will follow
helps, huh? Every now and then, I "gurgle", but I'm not
constantly aware that things are moved about. I actually thought about it
long & hard to determine if I felt "moved" under the muscle
and nope, just when I ate those tiny amounts and got full.
— vitalady
December 17, 2001
I had wondered the same thing. I never felt any pain on the inside and the
incision pain was very manageable. It just felt strange not to feel hunger
for days. It is in a different place, and you kinda have to figure it out.
I did anyway.
— Cheri M.
December 18, 2001
I am 6 days post-op. My guts seem to feel weird. no pain, just strange. the
first days 1-4 were the hardest. I felt
like my stomach was sticking out further, than before surgery.and I would
describe the pain as sore, like a child
getting hit in the tummy and having the wind knocked out of him. or a sore
muscle type pain.
— Cindee A.
December 18, 2001
I had an Open RNY on May 8th. Strangly enough, my insides did'nt feel any
different. The bad part was the god awful pain from the abdomial muscle
that was cut. That was very bad for many weeks. But my insides did'nt even
hurt that I can remember.
— Danmark
December 18, 2001
Hi, I had open RNY October 2 (65 lbs. down) and when I was still in the
hospital didn't really feel anything inside, but when I tried to walk I
felt like my incision would rip open and all my insides were going to fall
out! That was weird. That feeling lasted for a few days after I got home
too. I think my insides do feel a little different now, though. When I
eat and feel full, the LOCATION of my fullness is different. It seems to be
higher up. Don't know if that makes any sense to anyone.
— Jennifer H.
December 18, 2001
Well, the first thing I noticed was the pain...my poor abdominal muscles
didn't know what had hit them. But I will say that I've noticed a few
times, when the food goes from my pouch and dumps into the intestine,
further down than usual. I've felt a gurgling bubbling feeling in a
different spot than it used to be...this is down the left side, quite a
ways below, say the left nipple...sorry guys...it's not bothersome,but I'm
aware of a difference.
— Yvonne R.
December 18, 2001
Someone askewd me this question the other day. After the discomfort and
minor pain of surgery I FEEL EXACTLY THE SAME! I thought pre op it would be
wierd, but its not and with the exception of not being hungry and eating
little I feel fine!
— bob-haller
December 18, 2001
I had an open rny and when I woke up I wasn't in any pain. That
was a wonderful surprise. I had a PCA pump which allowed me
to control my own pain meds, so pain was never a problem. I was
bandaged and I needed help getting in and out of bed (the had me up
walking the halls the next morning) but my "guts" felt quite
normal.
My "guts" have always felt normal. Now I am three years postop
and
I only know that I had wls because I'm 150lbs. lighter, I can't eat much
food....and I have that ugly sucker of a scar.
— [Anonymous]
December 18, 2001
When I woke up in the hospital the pain hit me like a race car, but it was
all muscular. It's only the outside for quite awhile. They do bend back
your ribs and maneuver your muscle, so that is to be expected. However, as
the external pain began to subside, you begin to feel your insides! At
about two weeks out, I started to notice my insides would get a little
tender depending on what I ate, and then if I pushed where my pouch was it
would be sore. I've also noticed the bubbling and gurgling a previous
poster mentioned, in a very different place! I am still trying to figure
out where the heck this pouch is! You really won't notice much difference,
but experimenting with food will provoke different sensations in your new
system, so you'll notice that, but it's more of a reaction! :) Good Luck
with your surgery!
— Deborah W.
December 18, 2001
Nope, My innards felt/feel the exact same to me. However shortly after
surgery I had a gastric leak...but since there aren't very good pain
receptors in the area the irritation occured (behind diaphragm) the pain
manifested itself in my shoulder and side...strange but true. As far as
hunger, I feel my belly growl in the same area I felt it pre-op...I some
how thought it would feel different or less intense...not for me. The
incision hurts a bit the first couple of weeks, but it wasn't unbearable so
much as an awkward feeling...
— KimBo36
December 18, 2001
My "guts" felt no different until I got the JP drain removed.
After that, for about three hours, my gut felt like there was something
"missing" and that my stomach was going to "fall"
inside my gut or something. It was a really weird feeling, but it passed
soon and now a month post op, the only difference I do feel is I get full
much more quickly than I ever did before. And, of course, I am down 38
lbs, which helps too.
— Mustang
June 2, 2002
Heh heh. That's funny 'cause that's exactly what I wondered as a pre-op.
I couldn't figure out how to phrase it either and ended up asking about
what you did here. Anyway, I am 5 days post-op and my guts do feel
different. First of all, they hurt! I have really been in a lot of pain.
But today things are calming down and I feel a tad better. Also, when I
first woke up from surgery I couldn't tell any difference except being in
pain. But now I can tell that my intestines are shorter, but only since I
started eating... it seems that the food has a much straighter path to
follow than before (I had the DS). I don't feel a lot of winding around of
the food, it just seems to go straight down. It's not creepy or anything
and I expect that after I get used to it it will become my
"normal", but right now it does feel different. Hope that helps!
— Heather B.
January 30, 2003
I felt the same way being 4 wks out that my "innards" just felt
strange . Not in the sense of being painful but because if I laid on my
left side , things felt like they'd fall to that side and vice versa on my
right. It just feels weird.
— cinnamongirl
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