I just got home 3 days ago being in Thailand for one month. Been taking my antibiotics, dilating, and pretty much resting all day at home and also taking my vitamins. Took my hrt injections (1/2 instead of full dosage) and it kinda made me feel much better.

But it's come to a point where this feeling is tiring and I wish I'm better and have the energy and the me who was so active mostly in the house and outdoors before I got srs. I mean, I don't regret having my srs at all but just this weak, tired, lightheaded, sometimes dizzy part of me still lingers regardless how good  I'm taking care of myself right now.

I know I'm still healing but will I wake up one day and feel energetic like how I used to be? When will I expect that feeling again? It scares me that I won't be like other girls who healed up quicker or I won't heal up and something might go wrong....

Hello, good to see you are home safe! 

I am also still tired. I am in my 5th week. But a lot better than the 3rd week. I had antibiotics for 3 weeks in total. The antibiotics contributed heavily to feeling tired. It can also weaken the immune system. When I quit them, I noticed that the healing went faster.

You had major surgery and it will go away eventually. I was really tired and it seemed like I hurt all over for almost two months...but it goes away.

Tiredness can come and go. Just relax and enjoy having time for yourself. And remember it can take many weeks for the effects of antibiotics to drain from your system.

When will your activity levels be at the old you? Depends on how your healing goes. And what activity you mean? Walking around doing stuff, shopping etc without feeling tired, probably by weeks 8-9.
Fast walking / doing upper body gym work - maybe around 3 months.

However there is NO timetable to follow. Every body heals differently and DO NOT gauge your healing to someone else's. Because they are not you and you are not them!!!!

It could be a few more weeks. This is normal after major surgery; your body is diverting all the resources it can into healing, and when the major phase of healing is over, *then* it needs to recover from that for a while.

I wondered the same thing about this being normal... and a close friend who had a hysterectomy said she had the same experience, and ended up talking to a bunch of people who all said the same thing (the initial healing phase went well, and then they were just exhausted and weak and dizzy for weeks).

I was not tired 1 month post-op. I had pain that limited physical activity, but I did not have the fatigue you describe.

Might not be a bad idea to get your blood pressure checked. Low blood pressure can cause dizziness. Anemia as well.

I had a surgical procedure down below last year (if only it was SRS *sigh*). It wasn't a major surgery but I was on the table for a few hours and when I woke I felt like crap. Full of drugs they discharged me and sent me home (It's the NHS and one of the ways they save money). I was told to bed rest for a week and boy did I need that week. Sitting wasn't an option for the week and the op site was still sore a couple months after, not helped by a post-op infection. It did serve as a taster to me as to what to expect from SRS when I do finally go for it.

Truth be told even though it was minor surgery for me, the body still needs time to heal itself. I can only imagine  based on my minor op, that with SRS the amount of rest is proportionate to the amount of major surgery undertaken.

Did everyone get that dizzy to almost fainting sometimes when going with someone to the store? I noticed that I went to T-Mobile on my 2nd day from getting home and I felt a little lightheaded but my body started getting a warm feeling like I knew something was about to happen like get dizzy.

This only happens when I go out somewhere for just a little and when I stand too long. I'm even afraid to go out to my mother in law house with  my other half because I feel like I might get dizzy and faint...but I am going to go see a gynecologist next week so I hope she sheds some light or tells me how things are since I got home.

I asked my surgeon, he told me that it is mainly caused by the anesthesia. It can take weeks, depending on how long you have been put under. The longer you are put under, the more it will go into the system: after some time the anesthesia will enter the fat cells, where it will be stored and releases slowly after many weeks.  In the worst case it can take 6 weeks. At the 6 week mark, one should feel a lot better.

Also, I ask my skin therapist today. She said it takes two years for wounds to be completely healed. After 1 year, things have settled, so any scar remediation has to be done in the 1 year mark, because after two years everything has settled permanently, including scars. She advised having scar therapy at the 6 month mark.

I hope this helps you feel better..

I just had an orchie 2.5 weeks ago (local anesthesia) and I'm already tired of healing from that. It was only a few days for the bad pain and most of the major swelling to go away, now just a few tender spots that don't seem to be healing very fast. Doctor said at my age expect 6 weeks to fully recover. It's normal to feel anxious from any surgery is like this and it's common to feel a) "What have I done!" b) "Will I ever recover from this?"

I also feel, part of this is my body trying to adjust to the chemistry/hormone changes. You are dealing with that + a much more invasive surgery on multiple parts of your body at once.

Also, the last time I had general anesthesia, it took a LONG time to recover from that. I was under for about 3.5 hours having some FFS done and I felt dizzy and weak for about 8 weeks, especially if I did any exercise. Simply walking down the street, 1/2 a block I would feel like I was going to pass out and would have to sit down for 15-20 minutes. I figured out this nasty stuff was in my fat cells and each day made an effort to exercise some to try to flush that crap out of my body.

The good news is, it sounds normal to feel like you do and while it's bad trying to deal with it, it will end.

Jojo it happened to me once. It was my 2nd week post op and when I woke up I thought I was fine. But then when I started to walk and go to the bathroom, I almost fainted and thought I would black out. I even had light fever the next day but it was due to I am forcing myself to go back to my regular activities which you shouldnt be for at least a month.

I was also feeling weak during my week 1 and 2 but I started to feel better and regain my strength after the 2nd week. That was the time when I was off antibiotics so I guess antibiotics has side effects. But then recovery period is case to case basis.

Quote from: Hanazono on November 27, 2014, 11:49:54 PM
I'm writing in now to request epidural anesthetic instead...

This isn't without complications either. I had this with knee surgery and my back hurt for several weeks after. I'm not sure if they can even use epidural for as long as you need to be under for GRS?

Yeah, I'm grateful they went with the epidural for me. (I think it may depend on the length of the surgery, but mine was about 2.5 hours, which is easily within the range of possibility for an epidural.) I had enough problems with weakness and nausea without adding *weeks* of recovering from general anesthesia to it!

Quote from: Stephe on November 27, 2014, 11:32:50 AM
I hope this helps you feel better..

I just had an orchie 2.5 weeks ago (local anesthesia) and I'm already tired of healing from that. It was only a few days for the bad pain and most of the major swelling to go away, now just a few tender spots that don't seem to be healing very fast. Doctor said at my age expect 6 weeks to fully recover. It's normal to feel anxious from any surgery is like this and it's common to feel a) "What have I done!" b) "Will I ever recover from this?"

I also feel, part of this is my body trying to adjust to the chemistry/hormone changes. You are dealing with that + a much more invasive surgery on multiple parts of your body at once.

Also, the last time I had general anesthesia, it took a LONG time to recover from that. I was under for about 3.5 hours having some FFS done and I felt dizzy and weak for about 8 weeks, especially if I did any exercise. Simply walking down the street, 1/2 a block I would feel like I was going to pass out and would have to sit down for 15-20 minutes. I figured out this nasty stuff was in my fat cells and each day made an effort to exercise some to try to flush that crap out of my body.

The good news is, it sounds normal to feel like you do and while it's bad trying to deal with it, it will end.

Thank you everyone and ty Steph. Exactly how I was feeling like I thought this anxiety that I was not healing and something might have gone wrong was really scaring me and the fact that I was tired, dizzy, and still unable to walk or just stand for long periods.

I was on epidural after surgery and it was a great feeling as there was no pain. Just the other meds made me feel dizzy, tired, and sometimes vomit.

It's been 4 weeks already since I had surgery. Although I am feeling like I'm slowly getting better but it's still not enough. I know I have to be patient but I kinda stepped down to dilate 1 to maintain my depth. After my stitches and healing is much better, that's when I'll go back to using dilate 2,3,4 then the bigger one.

At this point, I dunno if I'm doing things right or wrong but I just hope that I don't die or accidentally move wrong and rip a stitch. I did stop taking antibiotics and I've just been overly careful since I got home previously on sunday and it's now Friday.