Nissen Fundoplication-Post Op Fatigue

Welcome to the Healing Well Wrapped Club! Glad you've joined us!  This is a great forum.  I found it a few weeks before I decided to go forward with my Nissen, and the people here provided a wealth of knowledge, realistic optimism, and support, which was very hard to find anywhere else on the internet.  Because of that I decided to stick around and try to "pay forward" the help I received.

You are at a month-and-a-half through a process that takes a full six months for the majority of healing and a year for the rest.  It's difficult to believe that you've had major, major surgery when you look at the outside evidence.  You have 5 little slits that healed quickly.  In reality, your upper GI tract has been completely revised.  Your organs have been moved, your diaphram repositioned and stitched (and from your description, had mesh added), and your stomach has been stretched, wrapped, and stitched.  This is no small operation. 

It's very common to still be having eating problems at your stage of the game.  While every recovery is unique, most people are not back to normal at your point in recovery.  If you think about it, your stomach has every right to be rebelling right now.  It has been through a lot, and you can't blame it for complaining loudly and not wanting any food sent down.  If you've ever had a stomach bug, you have a bit of a comparison.  You don't feel like eating anything. 

If your stomach isn't feeling perky yet, be sure to continue to eat very carefully.  Smooth, bland foods (you can make them smooth via small bites and chew, chew, chew, or select a traditional soft diet).  Some here have found that liquid meals like Ensure can help restore energy.  Your stomach is likely irritated.  You could even have gastritis.  Baby that stomach as much as you can, and in the long run it will pay off with getting it feeling better sooner, rather than later.

Again, glad you've joined us! 

Hang in there...things will improve as you recover.

Best wishes,

Denise

I am on my 7th week of recovery and I too feel somewhat tired/exhausted at times. I believe its because I am now eating less and still healing which would account for lack of energy when you are consuming less nutrients. I went out and golfed this weekend, all went well for me but felt more tired after the golfing round that I did before the operation. I will continue to reintroduce other activities to see how my body responds. I am taking vitamins and some of those Ensure drinks to supplement my diet IOT get some addtional energy.

good luck with your recovery, my recommendation is to take daily vitamins and use the energy boosting drinks until you fully recover.

Hopefully all gets better, like you all are saying.  So I will try not to worry about it and just keep doing what I need to do.

Thanks again,

Mike