Like how I look, hate how I feel

Is anyone going through this? People who know about my plastics ask if I am glad I did it. I still dont know. I am torn. Because overall when I look in the mirror, it is a great improvement, and that makes me happy. But I still feel uncomfotable, bloated and tight, constricted. I hate this feeling, and wonder if it will ever go away. If it does not, then it is not worth it.

I am almost 3 months post op, I thought I would feel normal by now, just an improved version. Instead, I still can barely do normal activities, and never feel normal. It is like a heavy weight on my abdomen, hard to stretch, hard to turn over to side, still difficult pulling myself up in bed. By nightime, my belly is like a stretched out pregnant belly and I have an outie belly button. I also still barely fit in regular pants, mostly in yoga ones or dresses for comfort.

Also, my breasts still hurt on areolas, it is painful when touched, there is scar tissue ridges forming. Also hurts at hip scars. When will I feel good? I have stayed away from here because I am really down and am eating badly and feel super fat and depressed.

Yup.  Sounds very familiar.  I spoke to my doc about this months ago.  Some of it is just the fact that the muscles are tightened and we're not use to having our natural girdle holding us in.  The rest is scar tissue and it needs to be broken up.  Stretches (cobra stretch - lay down on your stomach and lift and arc your top half off the ground and really stretch the ab muscles) and abdominal crunches and general core exercises.  And yes, it hurts like hell at first.  But it'll break up the scar tissue and make it more flexible.  The first few weeks of doing core exercises were just painful.  I'm not a big pain weenie, but this HURT.  And then it stopped hurting.  So there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The recovery from the LBL is long - longer than the docs tell you.  I think they consider you done when the incisions are healed and you're walking upright again, but there's still a lot of healing going on.

Every body heals at its own rate and some if us have very low pain threshold so it sounds like you might be a slow healer with low threshold on pain and maybe expectations.
Every symptom/problem you wrote of is within range of normal based on my past more than two years reading on this Board. My TT was 8/08/11. BL/BR 30/07/12. With both I had wound healing issues but as I live in Israel and Socialised Medicine I was in hospital longer than most but this Board was my salvation and as such even if we lurk and feel embarrassed to post we still benefit.
Take heed my words and don't fear the people here. This is the most accepting and non-judging group!
Some people decide on wearing their binder for longer than PS said and continue to wear it during the day to prevent/alleviate swell-hell. And as for areola/nipple - there are ladies that have numbness and others extra sensitivity. My BL/BR (anchor cut)complication was aright opened on the areola in a half circle and was later with local anesthetic restitched while I was in hospital. Guess which kind of nipples I got? I live alone and they may not get erect but they sure are super sensitive even after more than a year!
Hang in their lady-it does get better.
Mikimi in Israel

Thanks for both of your posts.

I had complications, opening incisions and seroma. Now most of that resolved, I am just beginning to try to exercise again. I was astonished how little I could do. I went from at my peak of being fit, active, and strong to what I felt like when obese. I am sure I did not regress that far, but it feels like it, and I have lost patience with this plastics recovery a long time ago!

After my VSG, recovery was a breeze, and I was excited with the immediate weight loss to make me happy. I was exercising and feeling optimistic about my body and life. This time has not been as emotionally rewarding, more of a checking out of life and missing all the fun and just wishing to bypass all this crappy wait.

I will try those cobra stretches, sounds like what I need.

And yes, I think I got the super sensitivity problem instead of numbness in nipple areola. I dont like this at all, used to never feel much there before for some reason. I had severely stretched and enlarged ones, pre-op,maybe that is why.

It really is so much longer recovery than advertised. I thought 6 weeks was it. No such luck.

Ugh, I will try to hang in and hope for the day, I feel super glad I did this. But mostly I just want to feel good and back to myself.

Just to give you some perspective, I started back on strength training about 2 months post-op.  For the first week back, I couldn't do any exercise that involved laying on my stomach.  When I tried flutter kicks (laying on back, lift legs slightly off the ground, and kick like you're swimming), I couldn't get past "lift legs."  Literally.  It's like the muscles to lift both my legs up had disappeared.  I could life one up at a time, but not both at the same time.  Tried again a week later, and at least that time I could FEEL the muscles trying to work.  Next time I tried, I finally got them up, and from there it got easier.  But it really was like starting all over again - very depressing.

WLS is inside our abdomen.
TT (or any other PS for after WLS) is pulling and cutting away and removing excesss skin off our body. The skin was pulled and MUSCLES TIGHTENED and then pulled cut away and sewn closed.
The abdomen is the core of the body and every muscle has been tightened. Pinch your abdomen and you probably can pinch a finger's worth. Muscles take time to heal.
Nipples heighten at the brush of a t-shirt by me and forget a highly air-conditioned room.
If you want to talk I am happy to call you or MyBariatricLife on my shekel. I love alone and like to connect and help others from my own experiences when possible.
My email is [email protected] if you want to write me.
My cell provider gives us a US number that calls straight into our cell but for those dialing from the US it is like calling long-distance within the US. 1-914-336-4218
Mikimi in Israel

I still was tight and had pulling sensations at 3-mos post op. I wrote about it here: http://www.healthcentral.com/obesity/c/276918/162080/bariatr ic-life-tells-months?ap=831

Then at 3.5-mos post op everything changed. All of those phantom pains stopped and I dropped down 2-sizes in jeans (a total of three sizes lost since the TT). I still have soreness at the upper abdo, but no other pains. Hang in there. It may change for you real soon. I wish you well.

Give yourself at least a year to heal

The 6 weeks is just for the compression garment.  You can stay in the compression garment longer if you have swelling.  I was in swell hell for well over year.  I stayed in yoga pants for 3-4 months as jeans hurt the LBL line.  I wore my compression garment at night so that I'd be flat for the morning.  If I was home in the evening, I'd put it on, if not, I'd look close to delivering... 

To help the scar line break up and to aid in the sensitivity, rub Gene's (from Sams) Vit E lotion into the scars in a circle motion getting both sides of the scar line.  It will help the scar, and break up the scar tissue.  Use on all your scars. 

Try Bikram Yoga. I did that before and as soon as possible I will be back it will help with nerves and muscles.