Gastric sleeve surgery is just the beginning of a lifelong journey toward a healthier lifestyle. Many think that a laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy will solve all their problems, and while it will make the journey to health a little easier, there is still a lot of hard work and lifestyle changes that need to take place.
Gastric sleeve recovery can take a couple of weeks if there are no complications, but your doctor will provide you with all the information necessary so you can take care of yourself in the best way possible.
Here’s what you can expect after gastric sleeve surgery.
How long is recovery from gastric sleeve?
After gastric sleeve surgery, it is advised that you take a couple of weeks off from work. During this period you will be able to take short walks, but the incision in your stomach will still be sore during this period, so it’s best to take it easy where possible.
In general, you can start to live your life as per usual (only much healthier of course), in as little as six weeks after surgery. Because your stomach was made smaller during the surgery, you will feel fuller more quickly so ensure you are going easy on your portion sizes.
What to expect after gastric sleeve surgery
Gastric sleeve is a surgery in which the stomach is made smaller by surgical means, this means that you will feel fuller after eating a small portion of food. But it also means that your body won’t be able to absorb the same amount of nutrients as it used to. This means that you need to be careful during your recovery, and add the right post-op nutrients to your diet.
Gastric sleeve recovery time
Immediately after surgery, you’ll spend a day in the hospital so you can be monitored to ensure there were no complications with your surgery. Leaks can occur, and in these cases, it is best that it is caught early.
The staff on duty will help you to manage any side effects that you may feel after surgery, these are most commonly feelings of nausea or constipation. After leaving the hospital, you will be put on a strict diet of liquids and protein shakes to ensure your stomach doesn’t have to process solid foods while it’s still fragile.
After 5 – 7 days you will be allowed to slowly start eating healthy foods that contain fiber until you have transitioned to a normal healthy diet.
While it may take 4 – 6 weeks to start living your life as per usual, heading back to work, and engaging in daily exercise, you will still be feeling the effects of the surgery for about a year after the surgery takes place.
This means that the weight will continue to drop off over the course of 12 months, during which you will have regular check-ins with your doctor to ensure you are implementing appropriate lifestyle changes.
Post-op gastric sleeve incisions
The incision made in your stomach for gastric sleeve surgery can cause some pain and discomfort for a couple of weeks after surgery. The most important thing is to keep the incision dry and clean so that it can heal effectively.
After about a week after surgery, you will be able to stop dressing the wound, as it should be sufficiently healed. At this point, movement can still cause a bit of pain, but it’s crucial to still engage in exercise such as daily walks to get the blood flowing and kickstart your weight loss journey.
But don’t get too excited yet, it’s important to keep your exercise light until being given the heads up from your doctor that more vigorous exercise is allowed. If you tackle intense workouts too quickly, it could cause your incision to open back up, which will set you back a couple of paces.
How long is your stomach swollen after gastric sleeve?
After gastric sleeve surgery, you can expect your stomach to be swollen, after all, your body has undergone a medical procedure. Swelling of the stomach should be at its peak about 3 days after surgery, but this is the body trying to protect itself.
After that, you will notice that the swelling will gradually reduce. A week after the surgery, most of the swelling will have gone down, but you may notice minor swelling in the stomach region for a couple of weeks after surgery at most.
Can you bend over after gastric sleeve surgery?
While patients are encouraged to get up and go for walks after surgery, there are a couple of movements that you will likely struggle with for a week or two. Bending over or engaging in activities that require you to twist your torso may feel challenging during this time.
This is because your incision is still healing, so try not to do anything that will stress the wound too much, particularly in the first week while the incision is still in its earliest stages of healing.
Signs of a leak after gastric bypass surgery
Your doctor will go over any warning signs with you before leaving the hospital, but sometimes it’s good to be mentally prepared before the time. If you experience any of the following symptoms, it would be best to consult your doctor as you may be experiencing a leak.
- Abdominal pain
- Chest pain
- Difficulty breathing
- Breathing pace increase
- Drainage from incision
- Nausea and vomiting
- Low blood pressure
- Pain in left shoulder
- Weakness
- Little urination
Recovery from gastric sleeve surgery
Learning about gastric sleeve after surgery is an important part of the decision-making process, after all, you need to know what you are in for. But while it’s good to prepare yourself, it’s important to note that 80 – 90% of gastric sleeve surgeries are successful, and patients lose 60 – 70% of their excess weight.
The important thing is to take care of yourself, your wound, and your diet carefully after surgery to ensure that you are setting off on this journey on the right foot!
If you have more questions about recovery after gastric sleeve surgery, please post them below in the comments or send us a mail. We’re happy to answer your questions!