I've got my first laparoscopy booked in for the 24th of September. Needless to say I'm getting very nervous about it. Hopefully I'll finally find out what's been going on with me. What I need is advice. Can any of you give me any advice for before and after the laparoscopy? Is there anything I can do or should be doing? To make me more comfortable or whatever just any advice will be helpful at this stage.
Thanks for reading
Jemma
Hello. I had mine three weeks ago. I was apprehensive as I didnt know what to expect. They found I had endometriosis during mine and so when I woke I had three incisions... One in my belly button and two either side of my tummy. When I first woke I was very groggy and in a lot of pain. It hurt even to breath! I was given morphine a couple of times and drifted in and out of sleep. The morphine was good for the pain but my goodness does it dry out your mouth and stuff. I was so thirsty but then for the first hour or so when I had a drink I was sick. This made things a bit tricky because I could only leave to come home after I'd been for a wee. I had my op at 11.30am. I came round from surgery about 1.30pm and was back on my ward by 2.30. I was on my way home by 6pm. When I got home and was able to sleep for a few hours I felt so much better in myself when I woke up, then the day after I was better again. I would say that one of the things that was most uncomfortable was a pain in my right shoulder from the trapped gas they pump inside but again that lasted for about 2 days. My tummy obviously felt very tender but I found it was worse if I stayed still for two long so kept getting up and just walking round the living room to keep mobile. After about 3-4 days i only took painkillers for bed and then after 6 days I stopped taking them altogether. The painkillers I got from the hospital made me constipated so I just took paracetamol and ibuprofen and they worked just as well for the pain.
I also found that any pf my underwear that had anysort of lace type pattern at the top kept attaching to the stitches so I was worried I was going to pull them out! I hope this has helped, I would have liked to have known what to expect beforehand so I knew what was normal! Just make sure that you relax and take it easy afterwards. All will be fine, good luck! Xx
Thank you you've put my mind at ease a lot. I'm just nervous because I haven't been under anaesthetic since I was 6 so nearly 20 years have passed. Did you have trouble with the gas bubble? I've heard it can travel up to your shoulder after the surgery.
pleased to have helped. Yes I had trouble with the gas bubble but only for the first two days or so then it went. if im honest, id say that was the most painful part!
My stitches are dissolvable and was told they would be gone within about two weeks... Thats a lie! They are still going strong. I've since googled dissolvable stitches and they say they can be there for a long time so once the wounds heal go to your local GP and have a nurse remove them! I wish I had known this, i'm back to work Friday but know they wont let me do my job with stitches so its now a waiting game to get an appt at my GP surgery!
I just wanted to say that I also had my first lap 3 weeks ago to diagnose my endo and had a very similar recovery. The very worst part for me was immediately upon waking up from anesthesia. It just felt like the worst menstrual cramps that could be possible. They had to give me a lot of pain medications to make it tolerable. I left the hospital about 6 hours after I went under anesthesia. They needed to make sure I was able to use the bathroom on my own before sending me home. (It wasn't easy!) The first 48 hours of recovery was a bit difficult but just make sure that after a day or so if possible you at least start to move around a bit... I think that definitely sped up my healing process. I walked around the house a few times a day, whatever I felt I could handle without over doing it. Within about 6 days I didn't need prescription pain killers anymore, and I was out driving and running errands on day 7. 
... I also had minimal problems with the gas traveling around my body, thankfully... so maybe you'll luck out too. My last tip is to be sure right away to take stool softeners. Between the anesthesia and the pain killers I did get extremely constipated. Good luck! Happy to answer any questions of course.
Hi I had a Lap on Tue & it was my first ever op. I cannot tell you how terrified I was!!! I cried all the way to theatre & was still crying when they were putting me to sleep. I can't say I enjoyed any of the experience but it wasn't as bad as I imagined. Coming round was strange & I had the shakes due to the anesteic which is normal apparently. It lasted for about 45 mins but the oxygen mask helped with this. I was surprised that I had zero pain in my wounds!? The drugs they used must have been pretty good! I came home yesterday morning & I am a little sore now as moving around more & although I've been prescribed codeine I'm only taking paracetamol & ibuprofen as don't fancy being constipated. Luckily I didn't get the shoulder pain. Everyone reacts differently but hopefully you won't have any problems. Good luck!
Thanks for all your help guys. I'm just getting really nervous about it now. Just thought it would be best to ask on here and put my mind at ease so that worked
Hi
I had my lap 5 years ago and will be having another in a few months time... as others have mentioned the gas is a bugger! I found that moving around helped considerably. A few tips:
before surgery, try to eat lightly for a few days - the reason for this is Anesthetic slows down everything including the gut so ideally you want to be as empty as possible before you go in so you don't end up constipated after.
Take loose fitting, low cut PJ bottoms with you to the hospital (you will be bloated afterwards because of the gas).
Take your own sanitry towels so you can get changed out of the 'nappy' that the hospital give you after.
If you have someone coming to the hospital with you on the day and they are staying. While you are in recovery ask for them to go and buy you a nice cold bottle of water because the hospitals tend to give you water out of a jug that has been sat on the side (YUK) you will also appreciate the coolness on your scratchy dry throat.
When I woke up I felt ok, it was when I was in recovery I started to feel pain and they gave me morphine!! wowzers! I went very strange on that stuff... i don't have any recollection of it but apparently I got very agressive. I'm not saying to not have it but people react differently to different drugs. I highly reccomend it becuase I didn't feel the pain at all.
When you ge home make sure you have someone on hand or at least have someone that can visit regularly to make you food and the odd cup of tea because you will be barely able to bend to get off the bed let alone lift a kettle (in fact they tell you specifically not to lift a kettle for 2 days).
on that note, make sure that you have cleaned and tidied your house before you go in so you come home to a calm environment instead of worrying about having to clean the dishes, toilet, do laundry etc...
most importantly make sure you have recorded plenty of TV shows and Movies so you don't have to watch crap daytime TV during your recovery!
Sorry - that was a bit of a ramble but I hope there were a few helpful pointers in there for you....
if you have any questions or just need someone to talk to, feel free to message me.
You'll be fine, I promise
Thank you. You've cleared up so much in that so don't worry about the ramble haha. I'm going to have my mum there when I get home and I'm sorting all the house and everything out over the next few weeks so there's nothing for me to worry about when I get home. I've been advised to drink peppermint tea to help with the gas bubble. Don't know if that works or not but we'll see. How long did you take to recover?
I can't stand peppermint tea so I can't help you there but I did have strong mints and I'm not sure if they helped or not. I took 4 weeks off work in the end but I'm fairly sure the pain I was having was due to the coil they put in at the same time. Your stomach muscles will take a while to heal so getting up from a seated position or getting up from a laying position will feel the worst... Like you had a HARD day at the gym!! 😊. I would expect you to feel mostly normal by the end of week 2 (which is how long they sign you off for at the hospital). If they don't give you a certificate don't forget to ask for one.. Saves you having to go out to the GP when you should be resting! Like I said before, any questions or reassurances needed you can message me! 😊
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