Feeling weak/dizzy 1 month after surgery! (thyroid, infection, skin, blood pressure)

[ruben_tu]

Hi there, my brother (31 years old) had a small hernia surgery last 29 days ago, it was an outpatient surgery, we arrived at the hospital at 8 am, he went into surgery at 11 am and came out at 12 pm, we waited 2 hours so he could come out of the anesthesia, at 2:30 pm we were out of the hospital, he walked to the car. He seemed fine, all afternoon he rested, watched TV. The next day he woke up, and wanted to go to the restroom. He stood up and walked to the living room and sat on the couch, and said he was feeling dizzy. All of a sudden he fainted, i was really scared because it was the first time I saw someone fainted, I just saw how his eyes rolled back and I rushed to call 911, while I was calling, my mom rubbed some alcohol on his face and he became conscious again. The paramedics came and check his sugar level, blood pressure and everything was fine. The paramedics said that he needed to eat, because he was weak and that was probably the reason he fainted. He laid down on the coach, about an hour later, he said he wanted to go the restroom, while he was in the restroom he called us that he felt that he was going to faint again, we laid him down and call the paramedics again and they took him to the ER at the USC hospital in east L.A. * big mistake*
He spent 5 hours there and they just had him waiting sitting on a regular chair, when we told dozens of times to the nurses that he needed to be laid down since he had the umbilical surgery the day before, he asked the nurses how long would it take them to see him, and they just told him, not soon. So He came out and told us to take him home, that he was feeling better, and wanted to lay down.

We came home, the next day he was ok, he spent the whole day in bed. For over 3 weeks he was ok, he even drove the car to the store, ate regularly, normal activity around the house without lifting anything heavy. However, yesterday he woke up and was feeling weak/fatigue and a little dizzy and a little fever. I was around 3-4 pm when he started to feel good, he ate, walked around the house, we went outside to the store. This morning the same thing happened, he woke up feeling really tired and weak, it was about 3 hours ago that he started to feel good.

We went to the doctor this moring where he originally went ( where the insurance sent him) and they told him that he needed to go to his personal doctor because these symptoms don't have anything to do with the hernia or the surgery.

We're going tomorrow morning to see what the doctor says. Anyone has felt these symptoms weeks after having surgery ?

Any idea what could it be? He thinks it might be a blood infection or something

[Laura707]

Sounds like something is going on and hopefully the doctor can figure it out! Hope so and it is a quick fix..

[Roselvr]

My opinion is that he is dehydrated.
Is he drinking water? Gatorade?

I suggest Gatorade because it will replace electrolytes.

Can he pinch himself? How quick does his skin bounce back?
Is he peeing regularly? Does he feel like it's all coming out?

Not peeing & feeling weird is a sign of being dehydrated. It's been really hot where I am; even drinking people are getting dehydrated.

Have him ask his Dr to check. He may need to get a bag or 2.

Originally Posted by ruben_tu

Hi there, my brother (31 years old) had a small hernia surgery last 29 days ago, it was an outpatient surgery, we arrived at the hospital at 8 am, he went into surgery at 11 am and came out at 12 pm, we waited 2 hours so he could come out of the anesthesia, at 2:30 pm we were out of the hospital, he walked to the car. He seemed fine, all afternoon he rested, watched TV. The next day he woke up, and wanted to go to the restroom. He stood up and walked to the living room and sat on the couch, and said he was feeling dizzy. All of a sudden he fainted, i was really scared because it was the first time I saw someone fainted, I just saw how his eyes rolled back and I rushed to call 911, while I was calling, my mom rubbed some alcohol on his face and he became conscious again. The paramedics came and check his sugar level, blood pressure and everything was fine. The paramedics said that he needed to eat, because he was weak and that was probably the reason he fainted. He laid down on the coach, about an hour later, he said he wanted to go the restroom, while he was in the restroom he called us that he felt that he was going to faint again, we laid him down and call the paramedics again and they took him to the ER at the USC hospital in east L.A. * big mistake*
He spent 5 hours there and they just had him waiting sitting on a regular chair, when we told dozens of times to the nurses that he needed to be laid down since he had the umbilical surgery the day before, he asked the nurses how long would it take them to see him, and they just told him, not soon. So He came out and told us to take him home, that he was feeling better, and wanted to lay down.

We came home, the next day he was ok, he spent the whole day in bed. For over 3 weeks he was ok, he even drove the car to the store, ate regularly, normal activity around the house without lifting anything heavy. However, yesterday he woke up and was feeling weak/fatigue and a little dizzy and a little fever. I was around 3-4 pm when he started to feel good, he ate, walked around the house, we went outside to the store. This morning the same thing happened, he woke up feeling really tired and weak, it was about 3 hours ago that he started to feel good.

We went to the doctor this moring where he originally went ( where the insurance sent him) and they told him that he needed to go to his personal doctor because these symptoms don't have anything to do with the hernia or the surgery.

We're going tomorrow morning to see what the doctor says. Anyone has felt these symptoms weeks after having surgery ?

Any idea what could it be? He thinks it might be a blood infection or something

[MaryleeII]

Not to hijack this thread, but I agree it could be dehydration.

I have a thread, What's wrong with me? I've been experiencing dizzy spells and loss of balance, for different reasons. I did find that increasing fluids helped. If you're drinking and not urinating much, you need more fluids.

Basically, if you're dehydrated, whatever medications in you gets concentrated, so technically its like an overdose. I would really push the fluics, water, gatorade, limit stuff like coffee, soda, that increases dehydration.

[ruben_tu]

Thanks for the responses, we went to the doctor today and he had a physic exam, results will be on Monday, one thing that the nurse mentioned is that his blood was thick. It wasn't like that before. Is dehydration related in some way to having thick blood?

[Lee W.]

Symptoms

• Dry or sticky mouth
• Low or no urine output; concentrated urine appears dark yellow
• Not producing tears
• Sunken eyes
• Markedly sunken fontanelles (the soft spot on the top of the head) in an infant
• Lethargic or comatose (with severe dehydration)
• Dizziness

And yes, if dehydrated enough, the blood could be a bit thicker than normal...also the urine could be more concentrated. There is also a way of testing for dehydration which they use on my DH, who has it more than normal. They take blood pressure standing (if possible), sitting and lying down and that give them some idea whether or not he is dehydrated. If he had seen his doctor the next day after leaving the ER without being seen (I understand that...many times my DH would not agree to wait when the wait is endless and they wouldn't provide any way for him to lie down...that would be good if they did that when wait times are long), it would have been a good idea.

[Roselvr]

Originally Posted by Lee W.

There is also a way of testing for dehydration which they use on my DH, who has it more than normal. They take blood pressure standing (if possible), sitting and lying down and that give them some idea whether or not he is dehydrated. If he had seen his doctor the next day after leaving the ER without being seen (I understand that...many times my DH would not agree to wait when the wait is endless and they wouldn't provide any way for him to lie down...that would be good if they did that when wait times are long), it would have been a good idea.

Good point about blood pressure sitting and standing.

[ruben_tu]

Ok, so here is an update on my brother.

My last post was when he had the physic exam done. We went 3 days later and got the results. According to the results everything was fine, no infection, low blood preassure, etc... However when they drew his blood, he was weak and almost fainted again, he had to lay down for 30 minutes so he could control himself, since he was shaking a lot.

The doctor recommend him to take some vitamins "once a day". All of a sudden the next day he felt better, I told him, " it was all in your head, now that you know that there is nothing wrong with you you feel good. He started to drink a lot of gatorade as suggested here and that might've help too. It's almost a month later since my last post and it's been 5 days since my brother started to feel weak and a little dizzy in the morning again.
It's not as bad as before, since he would wake up at 12:00 pm and stay in bed until 2-3 pm in bed and not eat anything. These past 5 days ( except Sunday, he woke up at 8:00 am, took a shower) he has woke up around 11 am and eats something, but says he feels weak, and around 12-1 pm he feels good. He eats plenty of food and drink enough water, taking some vitamins, but I just don't know what could it be?

I know it's not a life threatening issue, but I worry about him, everything was going good, but he started to feel bad in the mornings again. Could it be depression?

[girljenn99]

I have been feeling the same way. I had my appendix out 11/11/10. When I wake up in the morning I am very weak and tired. I feel like I can sleep the day away. I get dizzy when I walk around. The doctor says its normal. I also had a c-section 8/30/10 so Yes to major surgerys in 11 weeks. My c-section didn't feel anything like this. I don't like feeling like this and it is very scary. I am a person who is always doing house work and moving around and I can't stand to sit or lay down all day.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by girljenn99

I have been feeling the same way. I had my appendix out 11/11/10. When I wake up in the morning I am very weak and tired. I feel like I can sleep the day away. I get dizzy when I walk around. The doctor says its normal. I also had a c-section 8/30/10 so Yes to major surgerys in 11 weeks. My c-section didn't feel anything like this. I don't like feeling like this and it is very scary. I am a person who is always doing house work and moving around and I can't stand to sit or lay down all day.

Your doctor should make sure you are not anemic or having a thyroid problem, but a major part of the problem may be having an 11 week old baby!

How much sleep are you getting? Do you have help with the baby? Do you have other children?

Also, are you having any problems with baby blues or postpartum depression?

Call your obstetrician's office and ask them to check a blood count and do a thyroid test.