When gearing up for any surgery, you are bound to have a lot of questions. For most patients, there is a lot of focus on the recovery period. And that’s with good reason. From dietary restrictions to pain levels, there is a lot you need to know.
One of the biggest questions to get answered is: how long does it take to recover from gastric sleeve?
To help you prepare for what is to come, let’s take a look at recovery from gastric sleeve surgery.
Directly After Surgery
Your sleeve surgery recovery time begins when you wake up from your procedure. At first, you will feel pretty good due to the pain medication and just knowing that the surgery is over and went well. You won’t move much this day and will spend most of it resting in your hospital bed.
The Day After Surgery
Most patients will go home the day following their surgery. However, in some cases, your hospital stay might be extended. This can impact your gastric sleeve surgery recovery timeline.
On this day, you tend to start feeling the pain more, though this will still be managed with medications for a while. You will also take a swallow test to check for any leaks in the stomach. Most likely, you’ll be encouraged to move a bit more, and if everything looks good, sent home before the end of the day.
The Next Two Weeks
Once home, it is time to embrace life after gastric sleeve. During this stage, your pain will steadily lessen, and your energy should increase. Expect to move a little more each day and potentially head back to work after the first week, depending on your job. Your diet will start with just clear liquids, but after about a week, you will move to full liquids. You should also see quite a bit of weight loss during these days.
Week Three Through Month Three
This is a lot of time lumped together, but once you exit the liquid diet stage, things tend to go quickly. At the start of week three, your doctor might ask that you start to incorporate soft and pureed foods. Pain will be much less noticeable or even gone entirely. A few weeks after that, you will be able to move into solid foods. By the time you are six weeks out from surgery, you will likely be cleared for all forms of exercise and lifting, though this can vary.
At this point, the recovery period is considered complete, though you may still be adjusting to some things that have changed after gastric sleeve surgery in Tijuana, Mexico.
Want to learn more about navigating post-surgery life? Check out Reasons Why You’re Not Losing Weight After Gastric Sleeve Surgery.
