Coolsculpting - My Journey to Recover My Stomach - Portsmouth, NH

I am a 48 year old woman, 5'6" tall and 148 lbs. After having two 10 lb babies my stomach has never been the same even with diet and exercise. I am only 8 lbs from goal weight, and I do not see how my stomach will be what I want. So I went for a consultation for coolsculpting and Dr. Ballentyne said I was an excellent candidate for the procedure.

I arrived 10 minutes early, feeling anxious about my decision to undergo the cool sculpting procedure. Once I made the appointment, I found more and more negative reviews about the procedure, so I was concerned. I was taken into the treatment room about 10 minutes later than my scheduled time which made my anxiety slightly worse. I was having two large tip treatments on my lower abdomen and one smaller tip on my upper abdomen. Once I changed, Dr. Ballentyne came in to with the placement lines for the procedure. Once done, the clinical technician took over. When she placed the cooling gel on my abdomen it was an initial shock at how cold that was on my skin. She then placed the large tip on the cooling gel and my abdomen was sucked into the machine. I had excellent placement of the fat in the tip. It was hard to breathe but within a few minutes I became comfortable. I read on my iPad for the next 60 minutes. When the procedure was over, she released the suction and revealed a very red, "stick of butter" as she called it. It was more like two sticks of butter and she massaged it smooth. She let me touch the area and yes, I could feel a change to the inside of my stomach, crystal like feeling to the fat cells. We proceeded through the remaining two sessions. I was at the clinic for slightly over 4 hours. Dr. Ballentyne saw me before I left and warned me that I would be very sore because I had such good results from the treatment.

As I drove home I started noticing the tingling in my lower abdomen. I took Advil after arriving home and proceeded to rest. The afternoon turned to night and my stomach became very swollen and a stinging pain occurred. It was tolerable but unsettling. Trying to sleep was nearly impossible. My stomach hurt feeling numb, tingling and like I had been punched. Having 2 c-sections, this was nothing compared to the recovery from them, but it was still quite painful.

24 hours post procedure, my stomach is huge! Looks like it did when I was 6 months pregnant. I have taken photos every day and will post when I'm closer to results.

Day 3, my upper abdomen is starting to go down slightly, but my lower abdomen is a giggly jelly belly filled with fluid. I continue to take Advil for the swelling and drinking a lot of water. Yoga pants are my clothing of choice since there is no way I could get my jeans over the swollen lower abdomen.

I'm optimistic I will have a good result.

My lower abdomen continues to be very swollen. My upper abdomen is tender but seems to be fine. My stomach is numb, sore, not painful. I'm hopeful the swelling will subside over the next few days. I'm certain it's so swollen because the procedure went so well in that area. Other reviewers said they were swollen as well so I'm not concerned....yet!

Worst day so far. I went back to work today but had to call the doctor because of the swelling and burning pain. They wanted me to come in to the office so the doctor could take a look. They were really great! I saw the doctor and he reiterated that because I had such good results, I would experience a lot of soreness and swelling. He examined my stomach and was very pleased with the way it appeared. Basically to take it easy, and get through this week. I decided to call it a day at work and went home to rest.