Things you didnt expect after the op.

[StephieAck]

Hiya all
I was thinking back over my two and a half months since my surgery and was thinking about things that I experienced post-op that I didnt expect.
My biggest things have been the horrible mouth I had for the first five or so weeks, I hadnt never heard of people having the same thing and it shocked and upset me.
When I say horrible mouth I mean that I had NASTY breath and very thick saliva that I had to constantly spit up, and I mean a LOT, I had bowls in every room of the house to spit it into and I had to carry packets of tissue everywhere with me to spit it up because if I swallowed more than a mouthful or two of it then my tummy would hurt and I would feel sick, so even when I went back to work after a month I had to try to delicately spit up into the tissues and hope noone noticed. This lasted for around five or six weeks and I hated it but then it reduced and reduced until around eight weeks post op it stopped and now I only occassionally get a tiny little bit of it but only in a morning and it is getting rarer.
Nobody warned me that it could happen and nobody else seemed to get it or at least they didnt talk about it, though I did find one lady who also experienced it, so I have decided to share that I had this just in case anyone else experiences it and feels abnormal or something.
Also, for around the same amount of time I felt as though I had swallowed a hair or something and always on the back left hand side of my throat, it made me feel rather queasy and at first I thought that it was maybe a scratch from the tubes during surgery but it went on for so long that I thought that it couldnt be that but I was totally miserable because it felt so odd and I was scared that it would be a permanent thing but then one day it just stopped and I am thrilled that it did.
I also wasnt prepared for just how quickly my skin would sag. It hasnt sagged MAJORLY, just noticably and mainly my breasts and my buttocks, I knew it would sag but I didnt realise just how quickly. Im doing things to try to prevent it and ease it but its still a thing that has shocked me.
So, how about everyone else, did you experience/are you experiencing anything that you really didnt expect?
Steph xx

 

[mandyl]

well i suppose first thing is the blips i had. i never expected it was like ill come home and be just fine. the emotional side too i dont really have food probs but i really wanted steve and of course he wasnt there.
on a better note i didnt expect the support and friends ive made. xx

 

[fatbutnot4eva]

I am only 4 days in so I can only speak for directly after the op, but I expected to be up and about 24 hours later didnt realise I woudl be knocked for six.
They say they give you a 2 weeks sick note but in all honesty a gp will give you that for sickness and dioreah !!
Hoping that this is the only suprise i am going to get and its all downhill from now x

 

[topsy]

I did think that as i got further down the line after my op (for bypass) that although i would be eating smaller meals i would be able to eat basically anything and enjoy it. However, still 7mths down the line and i don't enjoy food or look forward to what i am going to eat - but i live in hope that i go further still down the line that these little hitches will iron themselves out and i will enjoy food once again and be able to eat anything!!!! bliss

Sending hugs and fairy dust to all xx

 

[salski]

Recovery - I expected to be in hospital much longer than the 1 night I was.
I didnt expect to be back to work full time after only 2 weeks and feeling good
I didnt expect my belly to be soooo wrinkley!
I didnt expect to feel self conscious about my weight more than I ever was pre op
I didnt expect to be so please with the results but still get post op blues!
I didnt expect to have met lots of cool people through having my bypass

 

[StephieAck]

Good replies guys xx

Topsy...I LOVE how my surgery has changed my eating and I am thrilled that I no longer eat some of the foods that I used to, I think that maybe I am one of the unusual ones that DOESNT want to eat all foods, such as I will not be eating bread or cakes or sweets or even chocolate, the only chocolate I have is hot chocolate but even that is too sweet these days. I do hope that you get to eat everything that you want to in time and get to thoroughly enjoy it xxx

Mandy and Sally...I am totally with you on the meeting awesome people because of the surgery, I CANT hate my obesity too badly because it led me here and led me to meet you lovely lovely people that have truly helped on my journey so far.

Steph xx

 

[angelpie]

what a great thread steph. xx

 

[Sambucca]

Fabulous thread

I didnt expect to be in so much pain when I woke up after surgery. Oh my god, I felt like I had been run over by a bus. They soon had the pain under control with morphine but that was an excrutiating 20 mins or so immediately after surgery.

I also didnt expect to bounce back so quickly. I was sleeping on my side within a week driving after 2 weeks, back to my full time job after 4 weeks. Not everyone recovers so well so I know I had a lucky break there.

I dont think I was fully prepared for just how hard it was going to be to fight the head hunger. This operation makes it physically impossible to overeat now, but Im still as greedy as I ever was, and I hope that doesnt hinder my progress as I get further and further out from surgery.

I also didnt know how painful trapped wind can be. THe first time I got trapped wind - maybe 2 months post op, I actually thought I was having a heart attack. Ouch.

Thats all I can think of for now.

 

[fatbutnot4eva]

omg yes thats what trapped wind is like isnt it x

 

[StephieAck]

I did hesitate to post this thread in case any pre-oppers were scared by anything but I remember thinking "why did nobody tell me about this" when I got the horrid mouth/saliva thing and I thought that I was abnormal and it really did upset me, so I thought sod it, if we can be honest and share our stuff and it arms people with information about aspects that they didnt consider or expect then all the better.
Thank you all for adding your stuff, its brilliant, thank you xx
Steph xx

 

[jaxx]

I'm pre op and I'm thankful for this thread and this site. I want to know what to expect when I do have my op so that it won't be a shock. Thanks very much for this thread.

 

[hopelesscase]

oh i remember the mouth thing and there is refrence to it im my diary. I remember my GP saying that until yr mouth is back to normal yr not fully healed but i cant say i did all the spitting up just a lot of tongue scraping.

The thing i didnt expect from my bypass was to become soooo tiny. My firend even asked if i had shrunk height wise as i seem so small.

 

[pumpkin28]

i am pre-op and i am extremely grateful for all these pointers. keep them coming.

xxx

 

[StephieAck]

Carole...we are around the same height and it is funny the amount of people that have said that the slimmer I get the littler I look height wise lol
Steph xx

 

[BlueDiamond]

 

[tesmaralda]

The thing I didn't expect was how difficult the head hunger would become. Also the fact the at 8 months post op I can eat anything and everything I want and have been using many excuses to cover this up. I know I have to get back on track, I just don't know how to, it's harder that you think x x x

 

[salski]

The thing I didn't expect was how difficult the head hunger would become. Also the fact the at 8 months post op I can eat anything and everything I want and have been using many excuses to cover this up. I know I have to get back on track, I just don't know how to, it's harder that you think x x x

AGREED!

 

[juliebest]

hi all i had my surgery on 8th december 09,, i suffered alful dry mouth first couple of week, and my wound still infected now but not for much longer hopefully, its hard getting ure head round things this last week i have really struggled and tryed eatin things i should not did any body else go thru this stage ?

 

[sukay]

I am only 4 days in so I can only speak for directly after the op, but I expected to be up and about 24 hours later didnt realise I woudl be knocked for six.
They say they give you a 2 weeks sick note but in all honesty a gp will give you that for sickness and dioreah !!
Hoping that this is the only suprise i am going to get and its all downhill from now x

The hospital gave me a 4 weeks sick note. I was almost ready to go back by that point, but could NOT have gone back earlier. I was (and still am at times) shattered. My energy levels are terrible....... could be my age lol!!

 

[katstofat]

i didnt expect to have such a bad mouth, my lips and inside my mouth were very painfull and dry and inside felt like it was full of little cuts. my lips were very dry and kept pealing even though i put lipsel on then tried a
vasaline and moisture cream but nothing worked. drinking anything was very painfull. i also got a very bad rash on my body and through elimanation found out i was alergic to the fast tabs, now on diferent ones and ok, dont no if that was causing probs with mouth.
3 months down and still not sorted food out propperly, i can eat a lot of things but dont want to . over xmas i practically lived on cream crackers, i made a big pan of pea and veg soup and was really looking forwards to it but after 2 mouthfulls i was throwing up and it all went in bin. so it was back to crackers till i plucked up curage to eat something else. i didnt expect it to be like this but i still happy and i know i will sort it out,,,,,,,,,,,,kath x