Worried!!! Need advice!!!

This is how my journey has been. I am 4 weeks out I am down 36lbs woohoo!!!​  My trouble is this in that 4 weeks I have gone to the potty #2 1 real time and last wednesday I took a laxitive which was very painful. the reason I am scared is cause Tuesday we had to go to a hospital were they do weightloss sugery cause my fnl was having work done (not weight loss), while there a man comes in very upset. My snl come to tell us after going back to see how the surgery was going that the doctor we switched from was in emergicy surgery. Well the person in surgeries bowls burst and she  had a 20% chance to make it. They tried in ICU  all night to save her. They brought her back 3x. In the end she passed she was just a few years younger than me. I do believe she had the bypass.

What I need to know is there anything I can do to  help me go?

This has scared my husband from doing the surgery even though he is having the sleeve. I have the sleeve and I still have pain mostly under my right side ribs. I do go back to the doc on Tuesday next week. I would like some advice if you have any. Thanks

You need to make sure you use something to make you go. I sue a product called benefiber in my food everyday. Find something similar. Laxatives are not a good long term solution.

I would let your doc know asap.  I had bypass and I really dont know how different it all is.  I am not a doc or an expert but i do know that you have to be careful what kinds of laxatives you take.  I think many have this issue, especially with iron supplements.  I know a lot get put on a stool softner daily.  Alternatives to chemical laxatives include prune juice...but again...i dont know where you are in your eating and i dont know what your doc would say.  I do know that I did not tolerate the chemical laxatives well so i switched to the juice.  After the initial ....go...lol...there has been no painful cramping.  DO NOT TRY ANYTHING until you talk with your doc.  Now my doc would tell you to call the 24 hour number RIGHT NOW.  Dont wait.  I dont know how your doc is.  It truly isnt anything to mess with.  It is so treatable!  but you need to know if its just constipation going on or something a little more complicated.  I know with bypass i had to drink even more water than recommended for this issue.  but like i said, call your doc and please dont wait. 

Each patient is different is what "makes them go #2".  My surgeon refers to it as "everyone needs to find their own recipe".  You may need more water or mixing up your diet. Warm decafe coffee or tea helps some. Warm prune juice works for others.  Dulcolax suppositores often help with relief in the shortest time possible, usually an hour or less.  Daily stool softeners or mild laxative may be needed.  I had this issue at around 3 weeks post op, and I had my PCP write me a script for a liquid--tasted like chemical bananas--but it helped.  You can't compare someone elses "misfortune" for the issue you noted, as everyone is different.  I remember discussing the constipation issue on an office call with my surgeon at 2 week post op with a patient in the waiting room. She said she didn't have any issues, and I asked why?  she told me she would just eat a Snickers bar anytime she felt "plugged up". I can't recommend this as a solution, but this was her solution to the constipation issue.  Everyone goes through this. BUT, 4 weeks with 1 #2 seems somewhat difficult to comprehend. I would have called my surgeon long before now if that was happening to me. DAVE 

You should contact your surgeon and see what they think you should try/do...#2 problems are pretty common after these surgeries due to our diets. Once you got things cleared up you need to figure out what will work for you as the prior poster said. I take daily miralax and sometimes once a week milk of magnesia and drink a daily cup of coffee (miralax goes in it). That works for me but everyones recipe is different.

I have contacted my surgeon, on week three. He said try take a laxative. I did! He wanted to see me the next day but I had to go to be with family for a major surgery my fnl was having. So now I can't get in til Tuesday. Thanks for everyones advice.

Early on, I took Miralax in water every day before eating anything else.  It took a few days, but I have been regular ever since.  You can even double up on it, it is very gentle. 

Pleas a call your doctor and see what he recommends. I use benefiber each morning in my first glass of liquids,drink tons of water daily,and take a stool softener colace at bedtime That's what works for me.

I've been on protein-centric diets before that lead to constipation.  A lot of people take probiotics to help. 

I was always scared something would happen to me like the person you saw!  I worked with a woman (non-surgery) who went to the hospital several times for severe abdominal pain, which was just a major case of constipation.  The doctor would always joke and say she was literally "full of sh!#."  How embarrassing!

Good luck to you!

I assume that the first couple of weeks you were on a liquid diet and you aren't going to have much of anything to come out with liquids. Yes check with your doc as you plan but you probably aren't eating the big volume of food that you used to preop. Also remember you can't possibly know what the other persons issues were that caused her problem. Could be totally unrelated to her weight loss surgery and something completely unique to her. So don't let rumors and unsubstantiated information get you or your husband upset. Many surgeons also do other types of surgery besides the WLS. As for the pain under your right rib that sounds very much like it could be your gall bladder which often acts up after any weight loss surgery. Just relax and stay in touch with your surgeon.