Question:
What is it with the gas pain after Lap surgery?

I keep reading about everyone having so much gas pain after Lap surgery,why is that and what seems to be working best for everyone to control it?    — Debbie K. (posted on June 6, 2002)

June 6, 2002
hi. i am 22 yrs. old and 6 days post-op from LAP RNY. This isn't really technical answer, but i think they fill you with gas to see your insides better. so then when you are in recovery, it hurts like hell, b/c your stomach and chest feel such gas pressure. i am just getting over the gas now. walking around helps alot, as does milk of magnesia. it is like a burp that won't come up times 50, not to scare you. But walking it off feels so much better. and it does go away after a few days. hope this helps you. goodluck!
   — Lezlie Y.

June 6, 2002
During the Lap surgery, the Dr. pumps you up with gas so that your skin swells up and they have more room to see your insides and also to work on your insides. After surgery some of the gas rises in your body and is very painful (at least for me it was.) Sitting up, walking and heating pads helped alot. It takes a little while for it to be absorbed and the pressure relieved.
   — Leah H.

June 6, 2002
My gas pain from the LAP surgery settled in my chest and back and I was in so much pain I locked out my morphine pump because morphine doesn't help the pain!! I thought I was having a heart attack!! At about 11 pm, I called for the nurse and they did a chest X-ray, and EKG and blood gases. I was hyperventilating from the morphine, so I had to do a breathing treatment, too. I wish I had known how bad it could have been!! Of course, others I know had no pain at all...GO FIGURE!!! The best thing for me was getting out of bed and walking and having my husband rub my back and front of my shoulders....hope this helps!
   — Linda D.

June 6, 2002
I had LAP on 4-10-02 and the gas pain did hurt (so did everything else-not like I'm dying pain but you knew you'd been operated on) but I was expecting that so I was prepared. When I didn't "go potty" for a couple days afterward I took a Correctol (after checking with my surgeon) and that REALLY helped get rid of alot of the gas. It took me about a week to get all the discomfort out.
   — Michelle W.