I've Got Gas

[perzephone]

I took all my band-aids off this morning & took a shower, hooray! I was kind of hoping having the hot water pound on me for awhile would help the gas pains, but not so much. The Demerol isn't even touching the gas pain. I'm all for walking it off, but when the pressure builds up behind my diaphragm, I stop being able to take deep breaths & then I panic & find myself standing very still clutching a kitchen counter or the wall or something until the feeling passes. Forget trying to bend over, too. That just seems to push the gas right up into my throat, where it proceeds to make my armpits & boobs hurt. Both my shoulders feel like someone is pushing dull knives into them & then twisting said knives oh-so-slowly.

Normally pain doesn't phase me, but this is some incredibly horrible shit.

Comments

[moonvoice]

I know the pain of laparoscopy gas trying to leave the system well - it's agonising. Drinking heaps of water can help, because it assists the process; I don't know if you're staying hydrated, but about 3-4 litres a day can be really helpful. The downside is that it will make you go to the toilet more; but I still preferred 'toilet pain after laparoscopic procedure' over 'that fucking gas.'

Waterlogged

[perzephone]

Once I finished bitching about the gas pain, it went away. I think it wanted me to acknowledge it. Like, "bow before me, for I am CO2 and I am mighty!!!"

I think part of my problem is that I did get overly dehydrated during the prep stage. Thursday night they wouldn't let me go home until I peed... It was like the world's worst hang-over. It took 2 full IV bags of fluid, three of those pink hospital pitchers of water, a huge thing of apple juice, two mini juices, two small cups of iced tea, a cup of regular tea AND a super-sized iced tea from McDonald's before I could squeeze out enough to be considered worthwhile. I started drinking the tea because it finally hit on me that caffeine is indeed a diuretic, and even the nurse smacked herself in the forehead like, "Oooh, why didn't I think of that!" Of course, once I got home, I was up every hour after that to pee. I still feel like I'm sloshing when I walk :P Luckily, peeing is not something that hurts.