Question about pain

I haven't had the VSG surgery yet, but I was wondering about the pain. I had laparoscopic gallbladder surgery in 2000 and the pain was bearable, I can't remember taking any pain meds for it. My question is, do you have pain along the incision from where they removed part of your stomach along the staple area that closes the sleeve? If so, how bad is that pain?

My pain was very minimal. It was more just uncomfortable. Very little pain meds after leaving the hospital. 

Incision pain was no problem - just had to be careful when turning, 'cuz it would pull on the incisions.  The gas pain caused me the most discomfort.  Notice I said discomfort, not pain.  Lots of walking and liquid Tylenol were the keys to my happiness!

Hi and Merry Christmas Mevere!

I've had both laparoscopic gallbladder and VSG .  What they have in common is that discomfort which makes it hard to do anything that involves abdominal muscles, e.g. standing from sitting, moving position in bed, etc.   I guess that's from the incision you're referring to, where they cut the stomach.  That dissipates to a dull annoyance rather than a pain over the first few days.   The most pain from the VSG was the gas pain that shot up through my back and shoulders for the first day and a half.   Following that, I've found it manageable with some Gas-X strips.  At one week post op I went shopping Christmas Eve for two hours without pain at all.  

Good luck and happy holidays!

Co60s

Thanks and Merry Christmas to you too ChildOf60s. I saw a youtube video of a girl who had the VSG surgery and she was talking about things that she purchased to prepare for the surgery. One of them was the Gas-X strips. I think I will stock up on a few of those just in case.

Just so you're not disappointed....Gas-X works on gas in the digestive tract.  The gas they use during surgery is outside your digestive tract - outside of all of your organs actually.  Walking is the only thing I know of to get rid of the gas from the surgery.

Now, as your tummy wakes up and starts to work again, the Gas-X might help there.  God knows I had plenty of both kinds of gas!

Ahh OK. I didn't know that. Thanks for the heads-up Sandy.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm just trying to gather as much info as possible so I can be somewhat prepared.

I just had my surgery on the 23rd.  I do have pain at one incision site.  Not sure if it's where they took my stomach out of but it's the only one that hurts. It constantly feels like it's pulling and getting up and down hurts really bad.  The pain meds they gave me in the hospital and the tylenol with codeine I brought home help.  I have to be very careful which way I move and sitting and standing is painful but it's getting better.  The gas pain is tolerable and diminishes quickly with walking.  Not sure about the gas-x, I don't feel I need it but if I had it I might change my mind lol!

 

Good luck!

No incision pain but I had a constant pain pump for my incisions. My pain came from twisting or trying to get comfortable when laying on my side. Make sure you ask for a nausea patch to go behind your ear. I didn't get nausea until a week later for the most part when I finally took the patch off.