Swollen Belly....

Hi , I am 5 day Post-op doing good! Just when question how long til the swollen belly starts shrinking...? And I did start having normal bowel movements as of today! Thaks!

Parisflygirl

Hi Paris!

I'm about 10 days post op (1/7) from a TAH/BSO with a large, but horizontal skin incision and a big old vertical underneath and have generally felt fine (few hot flashes and some pain the first day). My belly keeps going down every day, but it is still puffy. I used a heating pad quite a bit (and still do first thing in am before I get out of bed - otherwise I feel stiff), and that really helped the swelling go down (but if you do keep it away from your estrogen patch - the heat will release the estrogen quickly and then you'll get nothing).

I can wear my khaki pants now, but not jeans, and the swelling gets worse if I stand or sit around too long. Walking helps as does laying down. Now that the swelling is down, I can see I'm quite lopsided! One side looks like there's a tennis ball stuck in, but it does correspond to where the doc had to do some tugging .

I get my staples out today (yippee!!) and hope that makes me feel better.

Glad to hear you are doing great.

Hi, Paris! Did you have an abdominal or vag hyst? The ladies with TAH seem to have more swelly belly and it seems to last longer for them, too. It has to do with all the internal trauma of cutting and pulling and stitching of your tissues. Swelling is the body's way of trying to protect itself, and you can't diet or exercise it away. The worst seems to be gone after 6-8 weeks, but then it can pop up again if you overdo activities or are on your feet for long periods of time. Healing continues up to 6-12 months, so you could have some swelling off and on up to a year, I guess. Wear loose, comfortable clothing and rest with your feet up as much as possible for the first 2 weeks. You can go to the top of the page a to "search" and type in "swelly belly." There are many pages with threads on this popular subject! Glad you're feeling pretty good. Take it easy and be nice to your body as it does the work of healing s
Ruthie

My surgery was on Oct. 9th, and i STILL have swelly belly!! My regular jeans do not fit right, yet.. I am told this takes lots of time. I am not a heavy person, either. I think a time frame is different for every individual woman.

Use search icon at the top and search by keywords "swelly belly" in the post op section of the pull down. You'll get to read LOTS of posts regarding that.

The more you're up and about the more inflammation you'll have. RESTING - feet up is very important the first few weeks to keep pressure off internal stitches. I walked to keep things moving along but it was limited. Also, the first week I limited my sitting time - no more than 15 minutes at a time several times a day.