Gastric Sleeve and Hiatal Hernia Repair

Hi All, I have searched and searched the forum but have not been able to find an answer to this question. 

January 26, 2010 I had Gastric Sleeve Surgery.  While he was in there he found my Hiatal Hernia and repaired it, I was YAY initially but OMG this repair has really been an awful thing.  I am two weeks post op tomorrow, for the first 8 days I couldnt hardly swallow liquids, now I can , still hurts but not as bad.

Today has been the worst day of all.  Everytime I eat my little pureed or liquid foods, some feel like they are sticking in the throat and I get a REALLY bad pain in my back and then I have to run to bathroom to throw up.  A small 3.5 oz of applesauce is taking me at least an hour to eat.

Has anyone else run into these issues, Im really sick of throwing up and I am worried that when I throw up Im throwing up all the everything I actually was able to get down.


Thanks
Ellen

Hi Ellen,

I am only able to eat about 1.5 oz of protein and 1 oz of fruit or vegetable in a sitting.  I am about one week ahead of you.  Do you get the feeling even when eating smaller quantities, what about with drinking milk or clear liquids?

My NUT told us if we over eat we'll throw up, if we eat too fast we'll throw up, eveything led back to vomitting if we weren't eating correctly.

If you are not able to eat you probably should contact your surgeon.

Take Care,
Lisa

Hi Ellen,

Welcome to the loser's bench.

While I understand everyone's surgeon is different, my post op eating guide was 10 days clear liquid only, 10 days full liquid, 10 days mushy.

You are already eating pureed food 13 days out, from the sleeve and also the hernia surgery.

I would suggest stepping backwords and going to clear fluids for a few days and let the tissues in the throat area and stomach heal a little more.  Hope you start to feel better soon.

Suzi

I was on clear liquids except for skim milk for 3 weeks. Everything hurt and  there's no way I could of went to mushies earlier, as far as my pain tolerance goes, big baby me.

I came home on full liquids for 2 weeks, then mushies/pureed for 2 weeks then anything as tolerated..I had a hernia repair too...but I could only eat/drink about an ounce or two at time for a long time....3.5 ounces sounds like a lot at one time...

Hey, Ellen -
I had my hiatal hernia repaired during my sleeve procedure as well.  I haven't had any real issues, though.  I can drink water and other liquids and take some puree, though my first couple of forees with that were less than successful.  I got sternal pain and had to stop.  Took smaller bites (hubby bought me a baby spoon, that helped), and really thinned the stuff out and that seemed to help. 

I was cleared for puree 48 hours after surgery - but I didn't try anything even resembling puree until 10 days out.  I was too worried.  And I'm still not on a purely puree diet....I'm too scared of effing something up.  I am up to eating ricotta cheese, sometimes with ground deli turkey in it, sometimes not.....lots of yogurt, refried beans (really thinned out with milk), and that's about it.  I have tried oatmeal a time or two, but again, super thinned out. 

I agree with the others, go back to basics.  Go back to fluids and see what happens, if you aren't keeping even fluids down, you need to see your surgeon!  You need the fluids and nutrition. 

Hang in there.....and best of luck! =)

<3

Thanks everyone,  My surgeon wrote a manual for patients which is  a good thing BUT not everyone is the same I guess that would be like giving out a manual for marriage (LOL) or children...  He allows anything that is liquidy to be considered a liquid.  I called and inquired this morning with the barriatric coordinator.  Just so everyone knows I am not eating the whole 3.5 oz of applesauce, I guess my post sounded like that.  I am getting down 2 oz at any one time.

My bariatric coordinator did say that I may be eating too fast... but I asked her if 2 oz in an  hour is too fast...of course she said no. 

I think you are ALL right, I just need to step back and go with what was working, I may just be one that has to be on real liquids longer then most due to the hernia repair.

Thanks everyone for you imput!

HH repair and VSG is what I had too.  I think the HH was harder than the VSG for me because I could not lift anything and felt a general weakness in my chest for approx 3 weeks.  I remember week 2 being tough maybe because I did not have the pain meds at that point.  I always found it harder at night. 

Now I was on clear liquids only for 10 days and probably should have been on them 14 days.  I know its miserable.  If you have to throw up you should probably stick to clear liquids.

All,  I too have a Hiatal Hernia; should I ask my surgeron to repair while he's in there?  I've always suffered from heartburn and was told about the Hernia twice, once after my hysterectomy and again after I had my gallbladder removed.  Each doctor told me a was separate surgery to have it fixed.  Do you think I get a two for one special?

Hi I know this is an old post, but wanted to know if you feel better now, I had a VSG with hiatal hernia repair on aug 22 2011, and feel really crappy, was it also hard for you to expand your lungs? I feel like Im not breathing right., on the incentive spirometer can get 1000, but before surgery it was 2200 I belch forever after each sip of fluids but Im able to get full liquids in for the most part, my next appt is tues so maybe this will be gone by then, I feel worn out at 5 days post op. any ideals to help this what helped you?