Hunger and BM ? Quix maybe?

Ok I am a little bit concerned about this. I had my knee surgery on Wed. (9/16) But have not been hungry post surgery. I did eat something ( A Mcdouble) last night finally (Thur 9/17) at about 4 PM. But I only ate because I knew I needed to eat something logically. I have not even had the growling stomach you get when you have not eaten in a while. Food just doesn't look good to me!

I also have not had a BM since the surgery. This is what concerns me the most. But I'm not sure if this is because I have not been eating or if my bowels are messed up from the surgery. I have had a lot of gas over the last 2 days though. Not being bothered by my IBS for the last 2 days has been nice.

Dennis

[essdipity]

This is just a guess here, but I think it's normal and understandable not to have much appetite for a few days after surgery. That was a shock to your system, and it needs to adjust without being bombarded with 'requests' from other systems to work hard. As each day passes you should feel hungrier.

As to the waste elimination part, another guess. You are probably on narcotic pain killers. These are notorious for causing constipation. If that gets to be a problem, take an OTC remedy.

Give yourself time to recover, and best wishes that you'll feel better soon.

ess

[Sailorsong]

Thanks for your response! I suspect you might be right, though with other surgeries I've had in the past I was always ravenously hungry afterward (including after my 3x bypass). I also thought of something else. Since I'm sleeping around 20 hours a day my body probably hasn't been requiring that much in the way of nurishment. I have always been very sensitive to the droziness effect of pain meds. Which is one of the main reasons I try to get off of them ASAP. With me 3x bypass I stoped taking the pain meds within 4 hours after getting out of recovery. I am hoping to stop the pain meds today which should help in that area.  

Dennis

[Lulu54]

Dennis, You're not eating, you're not moving around and getting any exercise - your system is full of nasty drugs that slow everything down.

Ess is right - give it time and this too shall pass.

Lu

[slightlybroken]

Make sure you drink plenty of fluids (water or at least Gatorade to replace your electrolytes). The pain meds alone can stop things from going. The medication that they use to put you under can slow your bowel movements as well. It's just like Lu an Ess have said it takes a little while for things to get back on track.

Take Care

[kmil1999]

The gas you have, are you passing it through the bottom end?  (weird way to ask, but couldn't figure out how to ask politely, or that when be astericked out!)  or just belching?

Since you are not hearing your stomach growl, it is important that you are at least passing gas.  Passing gas let's you know that your bowels are working and everything will come along in time.

After surgery, there is a risk for your bowels not to work.  That is why they ask you if you are passing gas and listen to your stomach to hear bowel sounds

As long as you are "passing gas" you should be ok.  Just follow the good advice everyone gave you.

Get feeling better!
Karen

[Sailorsong]

I just had to chuckle when I read your post. Thanks so much for that. It was the worry about my bowels not working after the surgery that I was really worried about. But I had not heard about passing gas as being a good sign. I have decided to go to eat tonight for dinner at a mexican restaurant. That should get things moving especially since I like it spicy enough to melt your brain.

Dennis

[Fluffysmom]

Now I had to laugh; I like my food spicy, too.  There's a restaurant here called Salvador Molly's; they have lots of hot choices. Mexican and other international flavors.

Every year they have a contest to raise money for the Oregon HEAT fund; money to help low-income people with heating costs.  The contest is to see who can eat a full order of Great Balls of Fire, habanero chili fritters in spicy hot sauce.  If you eat all five and the salsa, you get your picture on the Wall of Flame.  There's a Toughest Tongue in Town event, and they crown a King of Heat.

Their website is fun, if you want something to do, check it out by googling Salvador Molly's.

If you're ever in Portland OR in February, you should check it out; sounds like you could win!

Kathy