Belly

[TiffanyK]

Ever since I had my surgery my belly has been huge! Is this normal? I'm sure this has happened for a lot of reasons, but will this work itself out? What should I be doing to fix this? I can't fit into my biggest pair of jeans and have been reduced to wearing my workout clothes. I even had my husband break out my maternity clothes that I had packed away. Thankfully I wore low rise maternity jeans and the cloth waist band sits below my incision. I hate that I have to wear this when I'm not pregnant.

[LindaRacine]

Hi Tiffany...

If you do a little searching, you'll find that others have posted similar questions here in the past. I think this is usually just post-surgical swelling that will subside over time, but hopefully some of the others who have had this problem will jump in to tell you how long it took for their swelling to go down and whether they think the swelling resolved completely.

Regards,
Linda

[LisaB]

Tiffany- I have quite a bit of belly swelling 11 days post oo. The nurses all told me this was natural and part of the process. It eventually subsides. I just don't know how longbthat "eventually" is.

[Mojo's Mom]

Oh, fabulous...a big belly and our hair will fall out. I'm so excited.

[ADMoul]

I hear ya'. I had a lot of fluid from transfusions and I had the pregnancy belly for quite a while. I have never been what you would call slim, but I'm one who actually experienced about a 10 lb. weight gain post-op, despite getting more aerobic exercise than I ever have in my life and trying to eat really healthy meals. Anyway, it took at least 3 months until I was fitting into my "normal" pants again and even now, it seems like my belly is still really flabby. A physician friend of mine said the body reabsorbs the fluid very slowly so as not to throw your whole system out of balance. The back of me looks a whole lot better but not the front!

[TiffanyK]

Three months doesn't sound so bad. My shirts are long enough to cover the maternity stretchy band so no one will know. It's not like I'm running around with belly shirts on!

Stephanie- Don't worry so much. It may or may not happen to you, but in the end it will all be worth it.

[JenniferG]

I too had the swollen belly (and the hair loss!) Sorry Steph! (Truly, it's not as bad as it sounds!)

I still have a slightly protruding belly, but I put it down to the amount of lordosis I was given. I guess yer innards have to go somewhere.

Hoping some kayaking might tighten my stomach muscles this Spring/Summer.

[Vali]

I remember getting up the next morning for my first steps post-op, feeling my belly and thinking 'oh my stars, how am i going to get rid of this with no sit ups?'. I had anterior surgery which resulted in me having a caesarian like cut. I think the swelling was due to this. It did go down slowly. In the meantime, i wore pants in one size up. I may be visiting this 'belly issue' again as tomorrow afternoon, i am scheduled for a hyster due to adenomyosis and fibroids. Keep up with the exercising and hold those abdominals in tight. Best wishes that all this should disappear soon!

[KathK]

Hi Tiffany,
Our surgeries were in the same week. I just wanted to let you know that I also still have swelling in my abdomen and also in my back, on both sides of the incision. I know that the swelling has gone down since the first week, however, I measured my waist this week and it is still 3 inches larger than before the surgery. The rest of me looks like a stick figure (in the words of my husband), so it's not really a good look . If I can get back in real pants at 3 months, I will be happy with that.

[debbei]

I had post op swelling of belly (and back of course), and I weighed a few lbs MORE than I went into the hospital weighing. Even so, my body (arms, legs, face) looked thinner--I think I was just retaining the water in my tummy. Within one month, 10 lbs dropped, which I think was mostly water weight, and the swelling went away.

[mary ann]

What is this about hair falling out after surgery???

[TiffanyK]

Mary Ann: Hair loss is common after a major surgery or illness. It's normally temporary and nothing to freak out about. However, I do feel like a dog shedding its winter coat though!

[titaniumed]

Hi Tiffany

A few months, and things will adjust. It gets better every day, one day at a time. Take it slow.

When I went home, I was looking like I was 8 months along, and nothing fit. I lost 40# in 40 days, but in the end, my waist size increased by 2 inches due to the change in shape from my construct. I had to buy all new jeans and slacks 2 inches larger.

I don’t feel that I lost much hair, maybe gained a few grey hairs, but that’s ok, I pay my hairdresser extra to cut them all out! LOL
Ed

[JenM]

Hi Tiffany-

Just wanted to let you know I also have the hair loss problem. I had my surgery on June 8. For the first 2 months I couldn't believe how much hair had fallen out every time I took a shower. It is still falling out alot, but probably about a week ago has slowed down alittle. I was starting to get scared as I lost so much in the front of my head you can almost see through my scalp. Someone I spoke to said you can take a supplement called Biotin. Has anyone here tried it before for hair loss, and did it help?

JenM

[jesscv]

I looked 4 months pregnant (according to my mom) at two weeks post-op due to all the swelling and constipation too, haha. I'm only 5'3" and 105 lbs, so my belly looked ridiculous and I was very afraid it would stay that way. But after about a month, I was totally back to normal