The following post from our forum is from a man who had a tummy tuck with liposuction around the chest area 2 weeks ago. He has pain, is sore and falls asleep when watching TV or reading.

Date: 11/20/2011 Submitted by: GreggPain And Soreness 2 Weeks After Tummy Tuck With Liposuction

I had a TT on Nov. 7, 2011. I also had lipo around the breast, and he said he tightened a lot of muscles. The long tummy tuck scar doesn’t hardly hurt at all and he applied a long piece of breathable looking tape and said do nothing to it, just antiseptic cream the drain tube holes which I am and all looks to be healing very well. Thanks for the great advice which I read two weeks prior to surgery. Your lists and advice was invaluable!

Today which is day 13, I still can’t wear pants comfortably and am sick of sweat pants and have extreme cabin fever. The upper body lipo areas really are still sore and while I sleep ok getting use to my back, I am very sore in the AM and it takes about an hour for it to go down to a dull roar of pain. My question is how much did you fall asleep during the first three weeks? I was Doing great one week now if I am reading or watching tv I just fall into a deep sleep for up to 3 hours which didn’t happen at first. You didn’t mention much about that? What was your experience?

Oh yes, I am 61 and lost about 50 pounds, and had 10 more pounds to go before surgery, hoping that took it off. Too soon to tell. Maybe my age is slowing me down and I exercised everyday for a year prior and have not felt like doing any like you yet. I still get muscle spasms in legs and lipo areas. You sound incredibly in much better shape. Good for you! Gregg

RESPONSE

Date: 11/20/2011 Submitted by: Tanner

Greg,

Thanks for the good words.

Yeah, I was surprised how quickly those surgical drain tube holes closed up and healed up all by themselves. My scars from the holes (little circular marks actually) remained for many months and didn’t completely go away for a long time (almost a year).

That’s the first I have heard of a long piece of breathable looking tape being used on the incision area but it makes sense.

It sounds like the liposuction around the chest area may be causing you the soreness and pain that I didn’t have (no liposuction).

Sleeping on my back, I knew, was going to be a problem for me (I have some bad discs in my neck and can only sleep on one side). Fortunately the nurse that I hired to care for me for the first 24 hours taught me the trick of trying one side of my body up about 45 degrees so that it seemed that I was sleeping on my side but I was still on my back.

I experienced nothing unusual in my sleeping patterns during the first three weeks. I slept normally. During the days following surgery I would rest and take naps during the day, but I still slept OK at night. Nothing unusual to report. I never fell asleep while reading or watching TV like you indicate. Apparently your body need the sleep to help the healing process (maybe from the liposuction?).

With only 13 days out of surgery you are still in the “prime healing and recovery” phase. Hopefully, soon your morning pain will fade away. Can’t your surgeon give you anything to help the pain?

Question – Does you compression garment extend up and completely cover the liposuction area? I assume you are still wearing it full time.

Good luck on your recovery and let me know if you have any more questions.

Tanner

Follow-Up Message

Hello Tanner,

What really needs to happen is my Dr. and many others need to give you a bird dog fee, because I would have never done that in a million years if it were not for your very detailed website, and yours shows up as number one when you type in Tummy Tuck. You would think the Dr. office would give you more information, especially all of the hints on how to get ready for it because you are right it sure isn’t going to happen when you get home.

Thank you so much for your note, it made me realize I just need to cool it. I think I just have a major case of “cabin fever”. I am not one to sit around and I rarely watch TV, and I am sick of it already. Also, what I found out is one of the medicines and the knock out drugs caused a back up in the plumbing department and I wasn’t feeling very good from that and would sleep all day long which was strange for me, kind of like when you have the flu. Anyway, once again you came through and I can’t thank you enough.

How is your unrelated nerve issue coming? I agree with you, it seems awfully coincidental that it happened at the same time.

Yeah, the lipo really kicks your ass the Dr. said. You know I was only going to do exactly like you did, and at the last minute I am all swabbed up with that brown stuff laying naked on that damn table and he said you know we can tighten this and that and lip this area for only an hour more time, and like a good salesperson, I said oh sure go ahead without think how much pain that would involve later. When I saw you sitting up that first day I thought this is going to be a breeze, well not, but in the end I will be happy with the results.

Your sleeping idea worked, thank you for that too! He did give me two kinds of pain meds, Norco I think and Valium, but I tried to stay on Advil and that one you suggested the liquid cherry one, but I finally gave in and just took the drugs. Ahhh, maybe that was the sleep problem as well.

Your a good person to take the time with me and the others and document every step, I really appreciate it. If I get brave I think my wife and I may do our necks next, but that doesn’t hurt nearly as bad.

Response – Gregg,

What search engine are you using to look for tummy tuck information? When I type “tummy tuck” into the Google and Yahoo search engines I can’t even find my listing (at least not in the first five page results).

My ulnar nerve damage and muscle atrophy will always be there, but fortunately I have full use of may hand except some weakness in the fingers. I can pick up heavy objects and use it fairly normally except for some things like writing with a pen or turning a key in a car door to unlock it.

I am surprised by your doctor suggesting to do more work at that late stage. It sounds like a sales gimmick a mechanic would use on a little old lady. “Your car is already on the lift. While it’s up there do you want me to change the oil?” I am surprised that your doctor wouldn’t have discussed this with you before the surgery day, or at least the morning of surgery when you see him before going into the operating room.

I didn’t know about all the pain and soreness associated with liposuction. I guess it makes sense when you think about what they do to you.

Tanner

Follow-Up Message

I used Google search for “male tummy tuck”, and it came up first after the paid positions. In our biz we would pay big bucks for that placement. Again, thank you! Gregg