I am 6 days post op. I still have gas pain. It feels like it is under my rib cage causing me to not be able to stand up straight or take very deep breaths. I am out of breath just from getting out of my chair and walking across the room. There is also pain in my back which the nurses told me is sometimes from the gas and sometimes from the way they lay you on the operating table.

My question is, IS THIS NORMAL? I know many others have reported the gas pain. I just left the hospital on Friday and am struggling getting in all my fluids, etc.

Anyone else have trouble simply breathing and taking deeper breaths? It really hurts to take those deep breaths. I also had trouble breathing upon waking up in the recovery room which they said my oxygen was at 100% but I felt as though I could not catch my breath at first. They said the gas pressure was on my diaphragm? Not an expert here, just want to make sure that this pain is normal and to ask others how long their gas pain has lasted?

Yes, I am walking as much as I can. The pain of it is quite bad even with pain meds because my back and rib area is so painful. If it were not for that, I'd feel pretty darn good as my incisions are not the cause of my pain.

Yesterday I took two of the gas-x strips. Not sure of really how much to take as I know this is normally taken for "regular" gas, not surgical gas that was pumped into us.

How many gas-x strips should one take to relieve this and does it always work?

As always, I appreciate this forum and the people on it, you all are so helpful, I guess it just helps to know you aren't alone in your suffering.

Thank you.

Wynter

If you are that short of breath, you  need to see a doctor.  Here's why.

I was short of breath like that after surgery too.  I assumed it was just from being really out of shape.  A couple weeks after surgery, I went to the ER for IV fluids because I was dehydrated from throwing up too much.  There I learned I had pneumonia.  They gave me a script for antibiotics but a week later the pneumonia had gotten much worse.  I ended up admitted to the hospital, spent some time in ICU on a respirator, ended up having to have lung surgery.

I was told by many of the nurses that it was the worst case of pneumonia they'd ever seen.  So don't get freaked out and think that's what's going to happen to you.  But see a doc so you can make sure you don't have pneumonia and if you do, you can get treatment for it before it gets worse.

Kelly, since my surgeon is two hours away, do you think I should just go to my regular doctor and have him check for pneumonia? That scares me to death. I've had pneumonia in the past and it was awful and that was without having had surgery.

Thanks.

Wynter

Yeah, your regular doc can do it.  And it can probably wait 'til tomorrow, since I'm assuming he's not in today.  If you can't get in to see him tomorrow, though, I'd go to one of those urgent care places.  Or the ER, if that's your only option. 

And maybe it's not pneumonia and just the gas, but I'd feel better about it if you got checked out.  The only symptom I had was getting out of breath really easy.  No coughing or anything.  I had no idea I had pneumonia and god knows what would have happened if I hadn't had to go get IV fluids.  I can't imagine how someone could be that sick and not know it.  When I went back to the ER after being on antibiotics for a week, I felt no worse than I had felt the week before.  I only went back because I was dehydrated again.  I started to catch on that something bad was wrong when they started rushing around, getting a CT scan of my lungs, talking about putting in a chest tube to drain out the fluid, saying they might have to put a tube in my throat to help me breathe... and I was still thinking, oh no, that won't happen, I'm not that sick. 

Seriously, if I'd not known I needed IV fluids, I think my partner may have come home from work one day to find me dead.  When they first admitted me to the hospital, he was afraid I was going to die.  No one told him I might die, but they kept telling him it was the worst case of pneumonia they'd ever seen and for a while they kept trying different IV antibiotics and nothing seemed to be working and then they were giving me so many drugs, and such strong drugs, that they were having to give additional meds to prevent really serious side effects and stuff.  I was pretty out of it by that point so I didn't realize how bad it was until after the real danger had passed.

I suspect I picked up some sort of antibiotic resistant germ when I was in the hospital for my RNY but there's no way to know that for sure.  But the next year I got that pneumonia vaccine, which they typically don't recommend for young people but I was terrified I'd get pneumonia again some how.

Im with Kelly, I would go to either your doc or an urgent care clinic just to make sure, post op pneumonia can set in pretty quickly if you cant get in the deep breaths, coughs, and turning, and moving frequently. If its just gas, it will eventually work its way out, but if its something more, it is better you catch it as soon as you can so you can deal with it. Plus it will ease your mind and relieve some stress just to know.

I'm with Kelly, you should get checked out.  I am not trying to scare you, but think of possible issues.  Not sure how long after surgery we have to worry about blood clots, but they can get in your lung also.  I was only thinking of this today, because I have a friend who is recupperating from a blood clot in the lung.  She was not a WLS pt. by the way.   If your doc can't see you, go to the urgent care or an ER.   Better safe than sorry.  Hoping it is nothing much and you are feeling better very quickly.  Will keep you in my thoughts in the meantime.

 i had surgery Thursday.  I still hurt and occassionally get that feeling like being really bloated with gas in me and almost like i am short of breath.  Today that hasn't happened.  But i was sent home with a spirometer http://www.amazon.com/Incentive-Spirometer-500ml-Capacity-On e-Way/dp/B000VSZPYM 
it helps you to do deep breathing throughout the day to really help so you don't get pnuemonia.  i have done it at least 4 times today and will every so often.  It feels good to do it and i am sure its made my lungs feel better.
Try deep breathing and holding it and let it out.  Also, moving around has helped that gas move around inside me too.
Kelly that sucks you went through that.